Silver Scats In Freshwater Will They Survive

[Nickelback]

Hi mum has bought two Silver Scats tiny babies and has put them in a tank with no salt freshwater as the petstore said he has them in freshwater.Problem is they appear not to survive according to what I've read about them in freshwater.Is there any chance of their survival in freshwater.Has anyone ever brought them up in freshwater and had success?My other half has a mollie who is exceptionally healthy and he has had a long time in freshwater and mum has had three mollies in freshwater too that are doing great and apparently their suppossed to be brackish fish(petstore didn't tell us) so they survived is there any chance of the scats surviving too.

 

[CFC]

Some people have reported some success with keeping scats in very hard and alkeline freshwater but its pretty much a sure thing that they wont live long and healthy lives if kept without salt in the long term.

Mollies are pretty bomb proof and can be kept in anything from freshwater right up to full strength sea water, unfortunately the scats are not quite so hardy.

 

[robbhp]

i have two silver scats, great fish and supper happy, i do run mine in a brackish set up, but i know people who don't. when they are young i dont think it is that bad, it is just later on in lifer they move down stream and into higher SG water. i do hope you know how fast they grow

 

[AMS]

I agree with CFC. There have been reports of people keeping scats and monos and hard, alkaline freshwater successfully, they truely need brackish to full marine water to thrive. Be aware that chances lean heavily towards your scats NOT surviving in complete freshwater, it is a crapshoot at best in complete freshwater. Scats are not a fish you want to purchase unless you can provide them with brackish to marine conditions.

 

[Nickelback]

Thanks for that.How quick do they grow?

 

[robbhp]

i will find some pics for you, there was about 2-mouth between the pic , just let me upload them for you

when they were little nippers

now they are to big

but soon to be in a big tank

 

[AMS]

They grow very quick! They will eventually reach a foot long when adults, they eat massive amounts of food.

 

[Nickelback]

Thanks for the reply AMS mum actually took them back to the pet shop and told him she wanted to return them and he said rubbish he has his in freshwater.So some of the pet shops probably aren't that informed just like us.

Thanks robhp I'm probably confusing you all as each time I reply somebody else has replied and all my replies don't match up because I'm replying at the same time someone else is

 

[robbhp]

there you go, like i said the pics where taken about 6 weeks a part

 

[Nickelback]

Thanks for the great pictures robbhp your fish look gorgeous.You must feed them good quality food for them to look that good holey dooley they did grow quick Thanks for that

 

[robbhp]

anything to help mate

 

[Nickelback]

CHEERS

 

[nmonks]

robbhp --

The fish you have are Selenotoca multifasciata, which will get to a least 20 cm in captivity, quite possibly a bit more. In the wild they are supposed to exceed 30 cm in length, but I have yet to see a captive specimen this size. This is the species of scat that I have personal experience, looking after them for many years while a student.

This species will survive in freshwater more or less indefinitely, but it will noticeably more sensitive to poor water quality that standard freshwater fish. Usually, this manifests itself as things like finrot and fungus, which are easy to deal with, but also things like lymphocystis and pop-eye, which are essentially untreatable (though they may go away by themselves, eventually). You will find them much easier to care for at an SG of at least 1.005, and ideally 1.010 upwards. They don't need marine conditions, though they will thrive in them. They do not need a constant salinity, and in fact varying the SG with each water change is an excellent idea.

Selenotoca papuensis is a very similar "dwarf" species. Both are traded as silver scats. Selenotoca papuensis has much thicker bands and bigger spots.

Silver scats are lovely fish. Even as they mature, the silvery colour remains rich, I think like moonlight. My specimens were completely peaceful. They don't seem to exhibit the aggression sometimes observed with archers and monos.

Selenotoca spp. are believed to have venomous spines in the dorsal. Handle with care.

As for mollies, the problem with them is they aren't one species, they're a bunch of hybrids. Some specimens do fine in hard water, others get all fungusy. The only 100% safe way to keep mollies is to keep them in brackish water; trying to keep them in freshwater has something like a 50% success rate. Spend any time on the Livebearers forum, and you'll read a lot of messages about mollies with fungus or the shimmies or fin-rot.

Cheers,

Neale

 

[Nickelback]

Thanks so much for all that information Neale it is appreciated