Starving an Indo

BuffaloPolypteridae

Feeder Fish
MFK Member
Aug 5, 2013
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Buffalo
About how long can i get away with starving a 3 inch Indo dat? He is in a tank w/ a leopard ctenopoma and albino senegal bichir so hes got some teachers, seeing them side by side, ctenopoma and dats are quite similar.

Found him at a new LFS today, im pumped on this store and this dat. Cleanest one ive seen around here, ZERO dead fish, huge plant selection, huge FW fish selection, first store ive seen around here with Dats. Also first one ive seen with some of the rarer Cory cats (also picked up a sterba)

He wasnt quite stable yet when i left my house for work, hopefully hes settled in by the time i get home for some pics
 

Empyreal

Fire Eel
MFK Member
Sep 2, 2013
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+1 working on my indo dat to get on pellets as well. Ive heard they are hard to stabilize but mines been stable ever since I put him in my tank.
 

rich4297

Jack Dempsey
MFK Member
Sep 18, 2012
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Mine went a month and still won't eat pellets. The ctenopoma will get eaten after awhile they don't get very large. But they are awesome fish.


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BuffaloPolypteridae

Feeder Fish
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Aug 5, 2013
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Buffalo
^ oh yes i know, the cten is a resident teacher fish of the grow out so he doesnt stay with the big preds growing out for very long. Any suggestions on how to get him on pellets or freeze dried? I have the best luck with freeze dried brine shrimp as far as breaking them to dead anything goes

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JsikM

Spotted Gar
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Jul 8, 2008
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I've had datnoids that I starved for so long they looked like a piece of paper swimming in the water. Some are more stubborn than others when it comes to getting them to eat pellets. Since you just got him I would let it settle in first and toss in some pellets to see if it eats it right away. If not I would stuff him full with something it would eat like frozen or freeze fried food before I begin starving it until it gets hungry enough to eat pellets.
 

BuffaloPolypteridae

Feeder Fish
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I offered some freeze dried brine and some sinkers because my other fish in the tank need to eat anyway lol i didnt see him take anything but its all gone now i got home from work. He looks much better now, much more stable. I like how his middle bars are kind of like racing stripes haha so close together. Sorry for the crappy pics! Had to toss some exposure as i didnt want to stress him w/ flash or lighting. Hes a cool little guy, im so glad i noticed them! The tank looked empty so i didnt give it a glance at first, then as he was netting my Borneo hillstream loach i saw that it said tiger datnoides so i had to ask, and there was like 12 of em hidden out of sight! Got the biggest one

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BuffaloPolypteridae

Feeder Fish
MFK Member
Aug 5, 2013
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The Dat is taking hikari sinker pellets! Is it better to feed these guys up top or on the bottom? He seems to kick up a lot of sand when snagging the bottom pellets and idk if ingesting some is going to be bad

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JsikM

Spotted Gar
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Jul 8, 2008
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Bay Area
The Dat is taking hikari sinker pellets! Is it better to feed these guys up top or on the bottom? He seems to kick up a lot of sand when snagging the bottom pellets and idk if ingesting some is going to be bad

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Nice! Either way is fine, as long as it is eating the food. Pretty sure having sand isn't going to kill your fish or else everybody who has had sand in their tanks would be complaining about it lol
 

BuffaloPolypteridae

Feeder Fish
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Aug 5, 2013
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Lol i know with small bichirs eating too much sand w/ their food can cause blockage issues, and no other bottom feeding fish of mine strikes their pellets quite as intensly as this dat haha so just had to be sure. All that tank ever gets is freeze dried brine shrimp and hikari sinkers so he should be fully broken shortly.

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