Datnoid Craze?

[redtailfool]

I dont know if im the only one that noticed this. But is seems like every other
member in MFK are crazy about datnoids nowadays. Didnt seem to be this way before. What happened? Is it all the awesome dat pics were seeing?? What is it?

[fishnutham]

lol that and cats have really taken off too i think its market trend

[rottbo]

because dats are awesome and alot more people are joining the site i want some but dont have enough room right now untill i get all my ponds set up in my new house which i am procrastinating about because man it sucks resetting all these things and i have to figure out how to arrange them all so they all fit logistics suck!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[cougar579]

I think people want something when they here there is a shortage. When the word came out about FRT's being hard to find and "illegal" it seems everyone wanted one. I felt the same way too. I was searching and searching found a few and then said to myself,"wait a minute" you got rid of your last FRT for a reason, why get another one". Hey, at least I am honest.

[michael]

Why did you get rid of your last FRT? And yes redtailfool it got me as well. Dats are starting to take the aro and rays places as the #1 fish in the hobby! I love dats. Love the way they fight, swim, attack, etc. I am trying to get as many as neo..lol. i do plan on doing a 180 asian with like 25 dats, my korean perch and FRT. sand and 2 pieces of driftwood, done!

[rottbo]

Why did you get rid of your last FRT? And yes redtailfool it got me as well. Dats are starting to take the aro and rays places as the #1 fish in the hobby! I love dats. Love the way they fight, swim, attack, etc. I am trying to get as many as neo..lol. i do plan on doing a 180 asian with like 25 dats, my korean perch and FRT. sand and 2 pieces of driftwood, done!
180 would be way to small for all those fish you would need alot bigger tank than that more like a 400

[rallysman]

Its all thanks to MFK.

[M|L]

If it ever comes to a day where I'm only allowed to keep one fish, it'd be a widebar dat. :)

[ewurm]

I majored in economics so I offer this: This is a simple case of supply and demand. Neo bought all the Dats within the Western Hemisphere, and other people want some. People always want what they can't have!

[OddBaller]

all i can say is if you guys want a pulcher........ get em while their available........ there won't be anymore coming around for a good some time after next week.......

[Pangong_ilong]

all i can say is if you guys want a pulcher........ get em while their available........ there won't be anymore coming around for a good some time after next week.......
WHY?

[OddBaller]

WHY?

like ewurm said....... supply and demand....... one has got to give....... and well my supplier is down to his last few hundred....... and as far as i know....... noone else in Asia has em in those quantities........ I'm doing one more shipment then they are going to be available in small numbers like before....... FYI my supplier has been collecting them for over six months.......

[Pangong_ilong]

THen, need to find one or two.

[redtailfool]

i guess partly because of supply and demand. I bet if dats were at petsmart , all you folks ( including me , of course ) wouldnt be so crazed over them. Guess exposure is another thing.

Theyre just very addicting. Im not into Stripes as much as say, Ming or Neo but to me the stable color and quality of the hue is more important.

[Steve_89]

Ive wanted them for years but I can never find them in AUS.

And when I do they cost me $400 + and they are usually indo :(

I finally have 3 that im happy with though...

[ADAMBOMB]

dats are kool

[R1_Ridah]

That's have a little bit of something for everyone =-)

Predatory, colorful, appealing shape, personality,..........

Hopefully I don't miss the bus this time :naughty: My goal is to fill my 600 with at least 50 Widebars :drool: :drool: :drool: :drool:

[hewhorunswithscissors]

gosh, I am sure I will get flamed, but I just don't think dats are "all that". Cool fish, yeah, but way over rated. I got widebar real cheap (got lucky) about a year ago. Nice fish, I guess getting close to 10" now. But when I see people selling or buying for hundreds of dollars each I just think "why?". I am just no a huge fan. I like my dat, they are a neat fish, but there are a lot of other really cool, interesting, odd, nice, big fish that can be had at more reasonable prices. Dats are way overhyped IMO.

When I see a tank full of dats (have a couple of friends that have real nice collections of all the species), I think "yeah, that's nice".. but its not jaw dropping or anything. I wouldn't waste my money on a collection of dats. 1 or 3 is cool... and then there are other cool fish out there that are MUCH harder to find, much more "unusual" that are cheaper and just as cool!

Flame away... but just expressing my opinion.

[redtailfool]

gosh, I am sure I will get flamed, but I just don't think dats are "all that". Cool fish, yeah, but way over rated. I got widebar real cheap (got lucky) about a year ago. Nice fish, I guess getting close to 10" now. But when I see people selling or buying for hundreds of dollars each I just think "why?". I am just no a huge fan. I like my dat, they are a neat fish, but there are a lot of other really cool, interesting, odd, nice, big fish that can be had at more reasonable prices. Dats are way overhyped IMO.

When I see a tank full of dats (have a couple of friends that have real nice collections of all the species), I think "yeah, that's nice".. but its not jaw dropping or anything. I wouldn't waste my money on a collection of dats. 1 or 3 is cool... and then there are other cool fish out there that are MUCH harder to find, much more "unusual" that are cheaper and just as cool!

Flame away... but just expressing my opinion.


Hey its cool... we all have our preferences. Nobody can force what fish you like and dont like. Whats underrated and overrated for you.

[Fried_fish]

gosh, I am sure I will get flamed, but I just don't think dats are "all that". Cool fish, yeah, but way over rated. I got widebar real cheap (got lucky) about a year ago. Nice fish, I guess getting close to 10" now. But when I see people selling or buying for hundreds of dollars each I just think "why?". I am just no a huge fan. I like my dat, they are a neat fish, but there are a lot of other really cool, interesting, odd, nice, big fish that can be had at more reasonable prices. Dats are way overhyped IMO.

When I see a tank full of dats (have a couple of friends that have real nice collections of all the species), I think "yeah, that's nice".. but its not jaw dropping or anything. I wouldn't waste my money on a collection of dats. 1 or 3 is cool... and then there are other cool fish out there that are MUCH harder to find, much more "unusual" that are cheaper and just as cool!

Flame away... but just expressing my opinion.

Interested in sell or trade your dat to me? Just let me know what you want for it and I can get it for you :naughty: It seems people are just crazy over wb dats and not really any other dats. So it is a supply and demand thing.

[hewhorunswithscissors]

Interested in sell or trade your dat to me? Just let me know what you want for it and I can get it for you :naughty: It seems people are just crazy over wb dats and not really any other dats. So it is a supply and demand thing.


:grinno: nah... I like my dat. Its not that I don't like them.... I don't want to get rid of my big boy. he's cool. Just not the cool-EST. Cool enough to keep, but not cool enough to buy more at $200 each!

Yeah the widebar thing is interesting. They are nice looking... but I also think the thinbars are pretty cool looking.

[Fried_fish]

:grinno: nah... I like my dat. Its not that I don't like them.... I don't want to get rid of my big boy. he's cool. Just not the cool-EST. Cool enough to keep, but not cool enough to buy more at $200 each!

Yeah the widebar thing is interesting. They are nice looking... but I also think the thinbars are pretty cool looking.

Well I can get you whatever you feel is "cooler" than your wb dat. IMO WB dats is not over rated infact for a long period of time I believe they are under rated. They come from Thailand which is a country that treasure this fish so much that exporting them is illegal. So most of the Pulcher that we get are coming from places like Malaysia.

[DiXoN]

i have kept dats for a couple of years now and love them.
dont think i would not have one in my tank.

[Nic]

i blame MFK and ecz for my obsession i want 2 more thin bars and 1 or 2 nice wide bars

[hewhorunswithscissors]

Well I can get you whatever you feel is "cooler" than your wb dat. IMO WB dats is not over rated infact for a long period of time I believe they are under rated. They come from Thailand which is a country that treasure this fish so much that exporting them is illegal. So most of the Pulcher that we get are coming from places like Malaysia.


I am looking for 3 pieces of Belodontichthys dinema (8" or more) and several pieces of royal loach (Leptobotia elongata) and Himantura oxyrhynca or Dasyatis laosensis.

Find me those for sale here in U.S. and you can HAVE my Dat free.


I am not an importer, so they need to come from a US supplier or importer.

[Jesse]

I've loved dats since the first time I saw one thirty years ago when I was 6 years old. A now-defunct LFS in my hometown had two 8" widebars, labeled "Datnioides microlepis", for $17 each in a 125 gallon tank. Of course, back then everyone thought there were only two species: D. microlepis and D. quadrifasciatus.

[OddBaller]

I've loved dats since the first time I saw one thirty years ago when I was 6 years old. A now-defunct LFS in my hometown had two 8" widebars, labeled "Datnioides microlepis", for $17 each in a 125 gallon tank. Of course, back then everyone thought there were only two species: D. microlepis and D. quadrifasciatus.


You would be surprised how many Suppliers, Importers, Store Owners, don't know the difference..........

[Jesse]

You would be surprised how many Suppliers, Importers, Store Owners, don't know the difference..........
Not surprised at all. In the U.S., most aquarists and aquarium industry folk who aren't into datnoids think there are two species ("gold" and "silver") as opposed to the currently recognized five. NGTs weren't available in the U.S. until recently. Thinbars (D. undecimradiatus) were available but weren't described as a separate species until 1994. Widebars and Indos were previously thought to be geographic variants of the same species (some taxonomists still adhere to this view). Widebars (D. pulcher) weren't described as a separate species until 1998. Then there was that recent switch from Datnioides to Coius and now back to Datnioides just to confuse us all. :screwy:

[ewurm]

i guess partly because of supply and demand. I bet if dats were at petsmart , all you folks ( including me , of course ) wouldnt be so crazed over them. Guess exposure is another thing.

Theyre just very addicting. Im not into Stripes as much as say, Ming or Neo but to me the stable color and quality of the hue is more important.

I bought a Gold Nugget Pleco, and now they carry them at Petsmart, and it isn't quite as impressive to own. Still an awesome looking fish though.

[vanimate]

I only have 7 dats but i need more! ;)

[PufferXtreme]

I first found out about Dats while trying to find Brackish fish varieties. I have since learned that not that many Dats are brackish. I think it's a chance thing - loads of people finding out about a 'new' species they knew nothing about previously and doing their best to get one. It's like trends, they come and go with people thinking that they were the first to get into something. We are all chasing the eastern hobbyists who were rocking the Dat vibe years before I was born!

[shoefreak03]

all it takes is to own one nice stable dat and you will get hooked. love their personalty and compatability with other fishes. i dont think they are that hard to find but the challenge is to find the perfect bars (weird bars if that is your thing) and also be very stable (bright yellow with nice solid dark bars). these will go well with my dream of asian arrowanas being legalized in the U.S. so i can own one and put them all together MFK style (i am just a guppy compared to most MFKers).

<~~ that one got me hooked, my first dat.. :grinyes:

[R1_Ridah]

<~~ that one got me hooked, my first dat.. :grinyes:[/QUOTE]

This is what got me hooked. Raised this guy from 2" to his current size 7+"

Pix was taken a few months back.

How can you not fall in love with PULCHERS :drool:

[R1_Ridah]

This is obviously not my tank but w/45 Pulchers in my tank it looks close to it =-)

Thanks to one of ODDBALLERS suppliers :thumbsup: I'm loving my new Y BAR :woot:
This is has symetrical Y bars on both sides.

Never thought I'd find another one after selling the 12+" I had :(

I'll post a video of my tank once I reformat the size. It's an awsome sight when all of them come up to the top to wait for food. Just like puppy dogs.

[Vince]

Dats are all cool and stuff, but I'm more into Siniperca Chuatsi :)

[astronatus]

I dont know if im the only one that noticed this. But is seems like every other
member in MFK are crazy about datnoids nowadays. Didnt seem to be this way before. What happened? Is it all the awesome dat pics were seeing?? What is it?
I traded a too-large silver aro for a widebar dat, and I have fallen in love with him, even when he ate one of my 5.00 silver dollars.

His colors are so bright, and that huge mouth...but what really won me over was his intellect--he watches me. Like an oscar, but even more intently studying people walking in front of the tank. Id love to have a large tank with nothing but dats in there. Awesome fish.

[redtailfool]

I traded a too-large silver aro for a widebar dat, and I have fallen in love with him, even when he ate one of my 5.00 silver dollars.

His colors are so bright, and that huge mouth...but what really won me over was his intellect--he watches me. Like an oscar, but even more intently studying people walking in front of the tank. Id love to have a large tank with nothing but dats in there. Awesome fish.


Astronatus - agreed. Dats are very personable. Three things i like about dats is that they have personality, beauty and they get big =) ...

[Datnoid101]

Can anyone recommend a site or distributor that would be able to sell me the diffferent types of dats? I live in Hawaii and they are scarce. I love dats because they look cool. From the spiked mohawk to the very balanced shape of its body. The size its mouth can open and that it can still be contained with other fish. I just wish there were easier ways to get them off of live food. I feed the two I have mealwoems and crayfish. Only one eats the mealworms and he is growing way faster than the other.

[David R]

I've wanted a dat for ages, but after selling my 150g about 4 years ago I havent had a tank big enough until recently. I've had mine for about 6 months and he's grown quite qucikly. I love the way he hand-feeds, but it' starting to get a little scary as he's getting more bold/aggressive and he's getting big!
I'd like to get a couple more, but I'm worried about mixing them when mine is around 5-6" and the ones at the LFS are around half that (and theyre still expensive here in NZ!).

[SmileyZx3]

I got one about a month ago and it was really timid and hid all of the time. Now he is out in the open and will take food from your hand. Such a durastic change.

[ewurm]

They are very impressive fish, but what else do you like about them besides coloration? I have seen a few people mention some things, but I am interested.

[tukang ikan]

I like their way of stalking their prey, they can stare at the feeder fish for a while, even turning upside down. But what caught my eye in the 1st place was their coloration.

[redtailfool]

They are very impressive fish, but what else do you like about them besides coloration? I have seen a few people mention some things, but I am interested.


very, very personable.. and when they get large, they get taller ( widebars ) , giving it a somewhat boxy look that makes it stand out in the tank.

[aquaoahu]

I never was into Dats until I found a 7" Microlepis for $60 at a LFS. Now, I want more but it's very rare to find them here at 5"+ at any LFS.