Trouble In Paradise....

[BecciMac1987]

Ive got a tank roughly 120 litres with 2 GSP's, 2 scats, and a shark catfish. All has been fine until the last few days when one of the scats has had literally its whole tail eaten by the other, and the shark is constantly hidden under one of the filters. I dont have any way of seperating the scats.
My tank is very bare and there isnt anything breaking up the line of sight so could this be the problem? I had plants in there but they all died cuz of the brackish water. Im thinking of putting out a thread begging and pleading for fake plants and completely rearranging the tank to avoid territory issues-could this be the problem or have I got incompatable fish?
Help!!

 

[nmonks]

It sounds much more likely the GSPs bit the scats. GSPs are fin-eaters in the wild, and while some don't bother in captivity and work fine with community species, this isn't always the case. Scats aren't normally aggressive or nippy.

The shark catfish may well get bullied by the GSPs, and it's a gregarious animal anyway, best kept in groups of 3 or more. Your tank is really a bit small for this selection of livestock. If it was 120 gallons, you'd be okay, but 120 litres just isn't enough to allow all these fish to do well in even the medium term. Scats get to about 20 cm in length under aquarium conditions, and shark cats about 20-25 cm. Both these species are really only suitable for tanks upwards of 250 litres. GSPs can easily get to 15 cm, and are quite plump animals so need a fair amount of space and filtration despite their seemingly modest length.

For a relatively small tank, you would be better off with knight gobies, Neovespicula depressifrons, figure-8 puffers, sailfin mollies, Limia, halfbeaks, flounders, etc.

Cheers, Neale

 

[BecciMac1987]

Ok thanks for that info. Ive got two fluval 3+ filters so I think thats adequate for the puffers?
I will try and rehome the scats and catfish ASAP. Obv P@H got it wrong....again.
In which case, can I keep the puffers?

Also, I thought it may be one scat bullying the other as one chases and nips the other constantly, whereas Ive never seen puffers bother them. I obv could be wrong though.

Thanks for your help xx