Dat tankmates info

Hey guys I`m moving in a few weeks and Looks like I can`t fit my 225 into my new basement
So I`m going to have to sell it and buy a tank that isn`t 3 feet wide.

I really want to keep Dats in the new tank ( I`m thinking maybe 6x2x2) And I was thinking of what tankmates would be good for dats. My old Dat I got as a tiny little fish and I grew him out with Bichirs and I had him for about 6 months and he still wouldn`t take pellets.

I`m thinking if I get some dats small, I`m thinking 3 at first and then adding maybe another one or two when the first 3 are stable and possibly eating pellets. I don`t want anything that would compete with them for food. I have tried to google lots of information on who are the best tankmates and I keep seeing tinfoil barbs pop up, I had 12 fully grown tinfoils in my 225 last year and they ate a good 80% of the food that hit the surface.

I was thinking of keeping it with Clown loaches on the bottom (maybe a bichir or two) or other predatory fish with similar feeding habits or maybe have the dats as the only predators with last mouths and have a mormyrid or a group of them, something unusual. If I could find a flag tail that would be good too.

What can you guys recommend? I`ll be getting the dats small and I`d like to get them pellet trained as my main focus

Umm I reassembled it last time and the tank is honestly a burden to me at this point, its kinda old and beat up so I`m just going to downgrade to something nice and new. I don`t actually need a 5x3 footprint aquarium haha

Thanks for the advice, Why do people recommend cichlids? I currently have some blood parrots in my 225 and they eat any and everything that touches the surface, I`m just thinking it would be easier to keep fish with the dats that have similar feeding habbits, a Eel of some kind, Leopard Ctenopoma, Bichirs etc.

Until I could get the dats on pellets

Does that really work though? Because I had a little dat before that I tried to pellet train and Only times he would eat pellets is if I stuffed massivore inside of frozen smelt.
I put him in with some cichlids and he never learnt to take flakes and I had to try and hand feed him to the point where I was worried about him so I sold him to another aquarist.

I want to go round 2 with dats but I would like to make keeping them fed my main priority, so I was thinking of not having too much competition. I mean once the dats are feeding on pellets I can add cichlids without any issues. but If i have lots of other fish I`ll be back to where I was before, worrying about the little dats not getting enough food.

Does that make sense?

Some good tankmates I thought of were
Severum
Frontosa
Geophagus
Uaru
Silver dollar
Elephant nose
Knife fish (similar diet)
Tire track or fire eel (similar diet / feeding difficulty)
Bichirs or loaches


Also, to break down an aquarium you have to spend a long time removing every trace of sillicone from the joints (or the new silicone won`t stick or seal) to the point where you can remove the panes of glass. I actually smashed a 3x2 side peice for the aquarium moving it down some stairs when I first got it and got a new one made and added it onto the tank, looks really nice and clear compared to the rest that are kinda aged.
its not difficult, just time consuming and you may end up spending money to replace mistakes