Dats and Gars

xander

Manjuari
MFK Member
Sep 6, 2007
8,535
57
555
Singapore
i tried this combo before, the dat was roughly 1', the gars were from 12-20" plus. for the most part, my tank was large enough to prevent any interaction between the 12"ers and the dat, but the dat would occasionally steal food from the 2' gars mouths. kinda risky, but probably no where as bad as peabass, as ime dats are pretty calm fish. if you're intent on this combo, imo it could work(i think conner has this combo now), but u'll have to watch them carefully. certain things would greatly reduce risks, ensuring they're of a compatible size(remember dats pack on a whole lot more mass in the mass to length ratio compared to gars), and that you feed carefully(perhaps let the dat get its fill before moving on to the gars) certainly would help. but as far as i've seen, dats aren't the most aggressive of fish, and problems only seem to occur when the dats steal food from the gars mouths. that's my limited experience with dats.
 

killarbb

Candiru
MFK Member
Jul 19, 2008
609
3
48
iowa
i have one of each together. no problems now.....the gar is missing an eye from a previous tankmate. it was a silver dat.


proceed at your own risk
 

Conner

Fire Eel
MFK Member
Dec 27, 2008
4,461
24
68
Kentucky
I've got a 7" indo datnoid in a tank with (10-16") 1 spotted gar, 2 florida gar, and 6 shortnose gar, and I haven't had a single problem with them. The gars are usually more aggressive feeders than my dat is.
 

aidenb

Feeder Fish
MFK Member
Nov 26, 2007
1,420
3
0
Canada
I've had my dat steal food from my gars mouth, I handfeed the gar now so there's really no problems between the 2
 

Bennlfer

Jack Dempsey
MFK Member
Aug 18, 2009
671
96
31
Nunya
Thanks everyone for your responses :) What would you guys suggest.. Another Gar or a Dat? Should i even put another fish in my tank? My sig shows my current stock.

Edit: My tank is a 135 gallon. 6 feet by 18 inch footprint.
 
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