My datnoid story

poly-nomial

Fire Eel
MFK Member
Nov 15, 2009
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knew jerzay
My Datnoid story

It all started about 3 months ago. I wanted “Gold” Datnoids, not some glow Danios for a 5g tank like a normal kid would want. Not only did I want these $15-20 fish, I wanted 3 of ‘em along with a whole other setup. My parents said “no” to another tank so I stopped pursuing that. I still wished and prayed for a nice hoard of Datnoids, but I wasn’t getting another tank…


When the Green terror was small and harmless

So, about 2 months later after seeing a picture of a Datnoid community with Siamese, North Thailand and Indonesian Datnoids, the idea was revived. I found out that Datnoids are rare, expensive as adults, and picky eaters, etcetera. I was under the impression (based on what I’d been told by employers at local pet stores) that Gold Datnoids were the same as regular Datnoids. Not so. Not only are Siamese/ Gold Datnoids practically extinct, those that remain are adult or close to it. Adults cost about $1000... So after more research, I came to the conclusion that Indonesian Datnoids were the cheapest pretty ones.

So my mind was set. I had to get rid of my Green Terror (which I was eager to do as it was developing an attitude towards my Polypterus Delhezi) to accommodate the very fragile fish the size of a quarter.


Green terror being a terror and displaying breeding colors

So this was around the time I started getting bombarded with difficulties (but some good news, too).

First of all, my dad wouldn’t let me post an ad of my Green terror on Craigslist or any website as he was not keen about having strangers know our address. Also, if you ship a fish, it is good to guarantee live arrival, which I couldn’t do. So he told me to find a local fish store that would take her. (He didn’t know that I wanted Datnoids in its place.)

So, the next day I searched “LFS in New jersey,” It came up with several dozen. I called 25 of them: either they didn’t have any Datnoids, or they had no idea what they were, or the business had shut down (unbeknownst to me) and I found myself talking on a personal line to someone who asked what Datnoids were and why I was calling them.

I had pretty much lost hope by then. But, fortunately I remembered Ryan Clark from whom I had previously considered purchasing Datnoids. So, I sent him an email and asked him about the Datnoids and if he’d take the Green terror. He replied, “The Datnoids are quarter sized; $20 for one, 15 for multiples.” He also would take the Green Terror.

I was very excited to hear this. It was a great price. I searched on Mapquest and found that his address was 1 hour and 11 minutes away……

I exuberantly told my mom about the great price, the great size, etcetera. She was interested until she heard the “1 hour 11 minutes part.” That put me down.

Having it shipped to me but would have been costly, although not as much if it were from California (where most Datnoids are from). Nonetheless, adding $35 to the whopping grand total made me cringe.

By this time I was perfectly fine with getting “only” 5 Datnoids.

I received yet another email asking,” how far from shark aquarium are you?”
I searched it. 33 minutes. My Mom had said, “One hour is too long. 30 minutes is another story.” We arranged to meet at 9-9:30AM, but he replied hour later with a miserable update: “I won’t be in the area until around 6-7:00PM”.

That was not good. Later, while having my regular 8 o’clock snack, I heard my Mom on the phone with my dad who told her that he wanted to go with me. I understood his thought.

So now my dad is home from Mexico and all is well. I re-wrote this story as a Word document so he could read it (horrible hand-writing). After reading it, He casually said, “Does he still have them in stock?”
“Yes”
“Do you want to go this weekend?
“I most certainly do.”
And the conversation ended. I tried to contain my excitement. Inside I was wearing a big smile though.


Now that it was coming true, I re-aquascaped the tank to make it Datnoid safe. I also started doing daily 2g water changes a day 7X a week instead of the normal 12g 1X a week.

So today (15th Feb. 2010), during daily routine, I noticed the Green Terror harassing the Polypterus delhezi. The Polypterus buried himself because he felt threatened. So I put the Green Terror in a different tank.


She was not very happy about the new abode.

Apparently, the GT was in breeding mode evidenced by pits she had dug and the plants she had destroyed.

Typical female Green terror becoming an adult

I slipped a piece of paper on my dad’s desk. It was difficult to endure the lazy and painfully slow vacation days so I entertained thoughts of Datnoids and how they would be mine in a couple of days. My Dad ignored the piece of paper so I propped it up again. When he got home, he asked,” What
is this?”
“The Datnoid guy’s number and address.” (A short yet painful pause followed.) “I put it there so we could talk about a time.”
“Uhuh,” he said.
End of conversation, but it evoked happy feelings in my stomach once again. The Datnoids were not forgotten. He later asked me what day I wanted to go and how much they were. He also asked how I was going to keep the fish alive for a 1.5 hour trip. I had already planned that long ago . . .

So I quickly e-mailed Ryan to reserve five Datnoids and to set up a time to meet. Unsure of the time, he said he’d let me know. So I stayed up until 1:00 AM. to no avail. The next day, I checked my emails every 10-20 minutes. After waiting all day until 8:30, I called Ryan who set the time for 2:30pm. I apologized for bugging him so much; he didn’t care. :D

I went to bed early that night to fast forward to the big day; Saturday, February 20 2010. I was so happy, because I had seen and heard about shark aquarium and the cool fish they carry and so on. This only sweetened the deal further. Well, Ryan didn’t want the Green Terror so I gave it to shark aquarium for which I got store credit.

I awoke early the next morning. I had some donuts, let my dog out. Time was passing quickly. I was counting the hours and minutes until we left. I had nothing else to do. I had done my chores, my homework, and the equipment for the trip was ready, etcetera. So I decided to write what I have up to date. So here I am with 1 hour a 33 minutes until I leave.

Shortly before leaving for the store, I took the Green Terror out. She splashed violently, which meant she was healthy in spite of being in a 2g for 3 days.

45 minutes later, I was at The Shark Aquarium with my green terror and a wallet full of money for the Datnoids, a divider, and some frozen bloodworms.

So we walked in and I held up the cooler to the lady.
“I e-mailed you a couple weeks ago asking how much credit you’d guys give for this fish and you said $15,” I explained.
“Do you have the email,” the store clerk questioned. They wanted proof.
“Uh, no,” I said.
“Well you need it to get store credit.”
“I was not told that in the email,” (which was true).I actually wasn’t)
“What’s your email address?”

She disappeared up some old stairs and re-appeared minutes later and said,
“We tracked the email. We’ll take it.”

So, problem sorted. Relieved, I continued on into the store.

So I took several pictures. They had Rhombeus, Huge Oscars, Exodons, Rare piranha, Armatus, Tigrinus, Paroon sharks, Afrowanas to name a few. So I was entertained for the hour we waited.








Ryan was late. My dad was getting impatient. I was getting nervouse. Did he forget? What if he didn’t bring enough datnoids. Were we supposed to meet at his house? All these questions disappeared about 10 minutes later when he appeared.

We went out to his car and out came the bag with five Indonesian Datnoids. I inspected them; they seemed fine. My Dad held the bag while I fumbled around with my wallet. I was trying to act professional but I was spilling my coins all over the floor. With the transaction finished, we left.

I constantly checked the cooler. It always fine. So I entertained myself by looking at the 137 pictures I took and deleting some blurry ones.

The day was perfect. I had just gotten over a previous case of poison ivy so I felt great. The sky was blue, the sun was bright, it was warm outside; everything was perfect.

I was careful to acclimate them and netted them in. Every thing was perfect. I watched them for a long time. One of them yawned (a cool characteristic of Datnoids); I felt so confident.

The next day was a horrible one. The morning and afternoon were fine, but the evening was saddening: 2 Datnoids dead. Bam! 30 dollars down the toilet, 40% of the fish gone, total of $400 potential dollars GONE. I was devastated. I had waited and hoped and prayed for these fish for the last 3 months of my life and they all were dying on me. They had gill flukes, which are impossible to see with the naked eye and very lethal if not treated early. Datnoids are especially susceptible to it. Then my Delhezi got the dreaded disease. Nonetheless, he still ate. One of the Datnoids ate but the others didn’t.

So I was actually pretty sad for the next few days. My tank was falling apart and looked horrendous; the water was dark and yellow from the Tetracycline, the java moss and amazon sword were rotting from insufficient light and the disease was spreading to other fish. BLEH!!
I think what keeps me pursuing this hobby is the idea of growing fish to beautiful, healthy and active adults that thrive under my care. Now it was shattered.

To top that off, the other two datnoids were not eating. Ryan claimed they ate flakes and pellets, yet they refused ANY food I gave them. So a couple days later, my Mom picked up food and fluke treatment for me while I was at school.

So as soon as I got home from school, I made a nice mixture of mysis shrimp and brine shrimp and tossed it into the tank. To my relief, they all stuffed themselves. Hope was renewed once again.

Now a couple days later they are still eating and continuing to improve. I don’t plan to make any more transactions with Ryan; he meant while and I wished well, but it didn’t work.

Well, that’s my story. A sad and somewhat devastating climax, but it is starting to turn out right now. Now I just need a bigger tank ;)
 

gangster

Arapaima
MFK Member
Apr 17, 2008
13,412
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Dang....long story....intresting though. Just keep doin your research and you'll be fine. Check craigslist regularly....you'd be suprised....ive seen a number of free 55g tanks.
 

janzal3

Candiru
MFK Member
Feb 9, 2009
310
2
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Maryland
Great story and extremely well written. You've described in perfect detail how most of us feel when getting some new fish and exactly how it was for me when I asked my mom to take me to the fish store (about 35 years ago) Good luck with those Dats - It looks like you've done your research.
 

megalops///

Feeder Fish
MFK Member
Jan 26, 2010
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www.floridasportsman.com
Nice write-up bro. Glad you finally got some IT's.

rclark is trying to dump all the IT's he got. He was suppose to get ST's, but got "scamed" instead. Wonder whats he's gonna do with the money? just sayin'
 

vanimate

Blue Tier VIP
MFK Member
Jun 3, 2005
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Good story. Hope the dats work out for you
 

rclark12

Candiru
MFK Member
Mar 2, 2009
375
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new jersey
Glad to hear they are eating david, but im telling you it should be no problem feeding them pellets, all i feed is cicslid gold and "aquarian" flakes. And still haven't lost any dats to gill flakes. Im sorry to hear that 2 died, but glad everything is goin well.
Good luck man, hope you grow them into monsters :D
 

phillydog1958

Jack Dempsey
MFK Member
you're a good writer. it's nice to see a young person capable of using the language properly. most people your age use internet and text lingo and probably can't put a paragraph together. the only thing is that, you have to remember that this is life. don't over dramatize. you attempted to create a short story from an episode that probably does not warrant it. good luck with the remaining dats and keep up with your writing. maybe that's your calling. ;)
 

haynchinook334

Giant Snakehead
MFK Member
Feb 14, 2008
14,479
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\m/(O_o)\m/
OP...How did you come across that your Dat's died of gill fluke?
 

poly-nomial

Fire Eel
MFK Member
Nov 15, 2009
2,644
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68
knew jerzay
haynchinook334;3934083; said:
OP...How did you come across that your Dat's died of gill fluke?
There was a bunch of slime around their gills. And before they died they were breathing really heavily and flashing constantly.
 
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