Bought my first Dat today!

[Gr8KarmaSF]

After waiting so long, I finally bought my first Dat today. :D He is only 3 inches. He seems so shy though, I dont mind the shyness, I just hope he can grow nice and big while holding his strip and gold colors. Will he always be a shy guy or might he change once he grows alittle? He is currently with a silver aro, severum, bichir, tin foil, leporinus, and silver dollars in my 180gal. (All are pretty young still, and yes I already know that once they grow out I will probably get rid of some)

Can anybody tell me anything about Dat behavior?!?! Thanks!!!

[turtall]

I envy you. Had a small one years ago but lost it with tanksful of fish during a winter power failure that lasted some 3 days. I want another one now. They like Salt in the water as they're brackish water fish. we used to put a TEAspoon full of salt per gallon in a 26-29 gal. Congratulations.

[Gr8KarmaSF]

Thanks turtall, hope you can get another one soon! :)

[Vince]

I envy you. Had a small one years ago but lost it with tanksful of fish during a winter power failure that lasted some 3 days. I want another one now. They like Salt in the water as they're brackish water fish. we used to put a TEAspoon full of salt per gallon in a 26-29 gal. Congratulations.

But not the Pulcher (widebar) or the microlepsis (Indonesian). These are pure freshwater fish. The brackish species are the silver datnoid (quadrifasciatus) and the thin bar...I think.

Although salt is always good for "some" fish, not all fish require it. You can also train that fish to eat beefheart, or frozen bloodworms. I would fatten it up nicely with feeders, and start training it to eat your less expensive food.

They love clean water, and does not tolerate high pH or low pH.

http://www.fishbase.org/Summary/SpeciesSummary.cfm?ID=50395&genusname=Datnioides&speciesname=pulcher for the pulcher info, and

http://www.fishbase.org/Summary/SpeciesSummary.cfm?ID=14506&genusname=Coius&speciesname=microlepis

[thefishofdoom]

how much it cost u if i may ask i got mine for $20 at 3 or 4ins so i was wondering what price u paid for compasment

[shoefreak03]

congrats on the new dat. word of advice, it only takes one dat to kick start the obsession for more dats.

post a pic of that little bugger... do you know what kind it is (widebar, indo, thin bar, silver, NGT)???

[Steve_89]

Congrats on the awesome pickup!

Expect to see more outgoing behaviour when he packs on some more size.

[zhuangsw]

After waiting so long, I finally bought my first Dat today. :D He is only 3 inches. He seems so shy though, I dont mind the shyness, I just hope he can grow nice and big while holding his strip and gold colors. Will he always be a shy guy or might he change once he grows alittle? He is currently with a silver aro, severum, bichir, tin foil, leporinus, and silver dollars in my 180gal. (All are pretty young still, and yes I already know that once they grow out I will probably get rid of some)

Can anybody tell me anything about Dat behavior?!?! Thanks!!!

congrats on getting ur 1st dat. i got a couple of them, and i love them. i esp love how they can grow until giant size! i have seen 1feet or more in size dats.

what color is it now? is it stable? the thing about dats is that there are different quality dats.

Some dats are always black and unstable no matter what tank environment they are in, the rest of their dat tank mates can be stable but their color will always be black and unstable, its in their genes. Where else, some dats are always stable no matter how.

So when you chose dats, make sure you pick those bright stable dats from the tank. so that it will save u lots of unnessary worries and stress.

Dats are predatory fishes, and they dont really eat pellets. they love live feeders, but for some individual dats, they may not take to market prawns immediately and you have to starve and train them to accept mps. Dats can also be trained to eat dried shrimps. But since yours is a small one, pump it up with market prawns 1st.

They do well in groups a handful in a tank, as they love to play and chase each other round the tank. But if there the bully gets too extreme, do seperate them..

[BIG REDD]

congrats on the pick up

[vzgoth]

Congrats ! ! ! :clap :clap :clap

I've been looking for 1 for years!

Just too cheap to pay for the shipping! :ROFL:

Any pics yet? :drool:

[Gr8KarmaSF]

My new Dat seems stable in color and behavior. I paid $40 for a 3 incher here in Cali. Not sure what kind thou, I will post pics soon. :D

Im also gonna try to get him to eat mainly pellets with the occasional feeder.

[redtailfool]

Wheres the pic!!??!? Itll be fun growing them out. Just be patient because they grow slow. But they do grow ! lol..

[Gr8KarmaSF]

I keep on hearing that they grow supha slow, how slow are we talking about (given good h20 and a varied diet, etc.) are we talking about an inch every 3 months or what?!?!? :)

Pics coming I promise!!! :D

[BostonPatriot]

Nice pickup. I have a 3" or so. I payed $24 and it is a indo tiger. They are really rare here in Mass. so I didn't mind paying a few more bucks. My dat was EXTREMELY shy for the first two weeks and wouldn't even eat with the lights on. Now it is the owner of the tank. It swims all the time and eats like a horse.(with the lights ON!) It even comes up to the glass when I approach the tank. Just give it some time and it will become your favorite fish in the tank!

[blacktip]

Congrats on the dat. I can't wait to see pics. The only dats I have seen lately in cali have been Indos, so my guess is that is likely what you have, but would need pics to be certain.

I have had my little 3" Indo for two months and he has grown about 1/2". If you want him to grow faster, stuff him with live feeders stuffed with high quality flake food. I did that for a while, but I don't have a quarantine tank for the feeders and I have received a couple of bad batches. Fortunately, they didn't mess up my dat, but I lost a few other fish that he was in with.

Me personally, I'm in no hurry for my little guy to grow and I'll stick to frozen foods for now.