Origin: The parents of this fish originally lived in the Indo-Pacific Ocean region near the shores.

The adults swim far up into fresh waters. Many of the young are caught in fresh water areas and end up in aquariums throughout most of the world.

Maximum Size: In aquariums they can grow to be about 8" long and become too big for most home aquariums.

In very large aquarium with lots of good food they can grow to be about 15" long, which is really an immense fish.

DrTom and Nevin once saw some living a swimming pool that were probably bigger, possibly much bigger.

So if you get one and take very good care of it with excellent water and premium foods, it will almost surely outgrow your aquarium, and you will need a much much bigger aquarium sometime in the future.

Behaviors: This is a very active swimmer that is not too aggressive.

Compatibility: Some recommended tank mates include, other Brackish water fish like Monos, Archer, and White Tip Shark Catfish.

Click here to read more about compatible groups of pet fish.

Temperature: Green Scats can live pretty well from about 70 to 80-degrees F., but they're probably most comfortable at about 75 to 78-degrees F.

Click here to learn about aquarium temperature, aquarium thermometers, and aquarium heaters.

Feeding: Premium Fish Food Flakes when small and Premium Pellet Food when larger.

Click here to learn more about and shop online for premium fish foods.

Water Conditions: Green Scats seem to be tolerant of a wide range of water conditions. Probably a pH of about 7.8 with moderate hardness is best, when they are young.

Most water in the US seems to be OK, so it's probably best NOT to adjust the pH or the hardness of the water. As they get older they need proportionately more marine salts in their water.

Eventually they may need to live in marine water like the water in the Pacific Ocean, where their parents lived as adults.

Here in our facilities the water is hard and the pH is usually about 7.8. We ship them in this water.

Click here for a lot more information about aquarium water conditions.

Aquarium Size: When young and less than 3" long, it's probably best to house one in at least a 30-gallon tank, but bigger is better.

They'll soon need 50 to 60-gallon aquarium. Then an aquarium with 100-gallons, 150-gallons, 200, 300, and maybe bigger.

Decor: Green Scats do not need gravel, and a layer of gravel more than 1/4" thick will usually fill with bits of uneaten food that will contaminate the water.

Click here for more about aquarium gravel.

Live Plants are beautiful and improve the water quality but are not really compatible with these fish that will constantly need more marine salts in their water, and those salts will soon kill the freshwater plants.

Click here for more about live Aquarium Plants.

Aquarium Filter: Bio-Wheel Filters are highly recommended. A Penguin 200B Filter in an aquarium with 30-gallons of water is OK, when they're small, but a Penguin 350B Filter is the right size for a 30 to 50-gallon aquarium.

When they grow to be 6" long they'll need to live in an aquarium with at least 75-gallons of water and have at least two Penguin 350B Filters along the back edge of that aquarium.

The bigger aquariums will need proportionately more Penguin Filters. Click here to learn more about aquarium filters.

The addition of Lava Rocks will keep nitrates in the ideal range. Click here to learn more about using Lava Rocks in aquariums.

Life Span: these fish live for many years with excellent water and premium food.

Gender: It's not easy to tell the males from the females, when they're young and sometimes, even as they mature.

As females mature they may fill with eggs and become plumper, which may be a clue to their gender.

Breeding: Apparently there are reports of observations of this fish breeding in the wild, but no such reports about them breeding in aquariums.

Popularity: In spite of the comments above about their eventual size,this has been a rather popular for many years.

We like to tell our customers what we know about each type of fish, then let each customer decide which fish to buy as pets.

Names: The scientific name of the Green Scat is Scatophagus argus.

Variations: There is just the one species but some have quite a bit of red and are called Ruby Scats.

Click here for a lot more information about keeping and caring for Scats, including a picture gallery.

We hope you've enjoyed reading these comments.