Dat Questions

I purchased some dats about 2-3 weeks ago, and when i first got them, they were aswome, great colors, adn swimming around. Now they just sit in the top corner of my tank all day, and are very dark colored (to blend in with the black background) Everytime they come out my uro or convict attacks them and they go back into hiding. I had the heater in the corner, and they would always sit by it. But the water is around 80 deg so it cant be cuz of the water temp, also 1 of the idiots has a heater burn... so i moved the heater more towards the mid.

So my questions are.

1. Are they a sensitive fish, like easily scared of otehr fish?

2. Are they noctournal?, because now i notice they often come out when the lights go out and swim around like normal.

They are about 4-5" and eating very healthy. They are just acting like weiners. If i have to i'll get rid of the uro and the convict.. no problem, they'll just be hard to catch

T1KARMANN said:

all hearters should have a heater gaurd on them then the fish wont get burnt

welcome to the world of dats if you try to keep more than 1 dat per tank the chances are they will nearly always be black until you have had them for ages and they get stable

indo dats and thin bars are the types of dats that suffer from the turning black all the time thing some dats will never color up like some of the nice dats you see on the net and others will never turn black its the luck of the draw

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Yeah i know i need a heater guard..

But i think my dats are Widebar dats, and there real colorful when there out swimming, but like is say there mostly hiding, and thats why there really dark, to blend in with the background.

I'll attempt to catch the uro and the convict.. It will prolly turn into an hour project though heh!



Heres a pic, are they Widebar, or thinbar?



Thanks guys

vanimate said:

oh yeah, it doesnt look like a widebar or thinbar to me, but a indo (microlepis)

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ahh an indo!

Thanks for all your info man

Steve_89 said:

Nice indos! Nice stable colors.

They are nocturnal and will usually always come out when the lights are off. But just give them time. It took my 12 inch indo almost 2 months before he started cruising the tank during the day and he still occasionally does his pitch black stance in the corner but will always come out at night.

Once the indos get bigger they will eventually lose their nice stable color Mine only shows it occastionally. Still great fish though.

Just give them time to come around. Its good that theyre eating for you.

I also found that having some sections of the tank heavily planted makes them feel more comfortable. It even brought out some color on my guy.

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Thanks!

How big to indo's get? around 12-15"?

Also half my tank is planted pretty heavy, and the other half is big rocks and driftwood, and the just hang out in the top corner where the big rocks are, right above the power head. Hopefully they get some guts and start swimin around.