Datnoid ID chart

[Brazzen1]

Sorry if I'm resurrecting an old thread but his is the Datnoid ID sticky so here goes. I see that some online sellers offer Datnioides undecimiradiatus as the Indo Dat (The Wet Spot) while others offer like Foster & Smith call it a gold Datnoid. I've also noticed that some sellers call datnioides microlepis the Indo datnoid. Which is the real Indo? Also I've heard that Indos are more aggressive than other dats, is this true? Thanks all.

 

[koltsixx]

Someone looking for this?

ST = Datnioides pulcher, aka "widebar datnoid"
IT = Datnioides microlepis, aka "Indonesian datnoid"
NTT = Datnioides undecimradiatus, aka "thinbar datnoid"
NGT = Datnioides campbelli, aka "New Guinea datnoid"
AT = Datnioides polota, formerly D. quadrifasciatus, aka "silver datnoid"

here is another one


View attachment 69971

This was on page 2 and 3 of this thread and is the correct way to identify Dat's by appearance and scientific name. So even if the fish is named improperly by the site you can identify it using these two charts and responses. Another way to tell is price, Indo Dat's/Indo Tigers/ Datnioides Microlepis(which means small scale if I remember correctly) is the most commonly and least expensive of the Dats available tied only price wise with maybe American/Silver Dats possibly due to low demand on the American/Silver Dat despite it's lower availability. Thin Bars/NTT's/ Northern Thai are vastly different in appearance and their scientific name I believe(Datnioides undecimradiatus) means half/or thin radiating in reference to it's thinner bars. I could be wrong about the exact translation but I'm almost positive undecimradiatus does indeed refer to the bars size on the fish and it being half or thinner when compared to other Dats.

So when the Wetspot says they have undecimradiatus they're incorrect(unusual as they're pretty good with I.D.'s usually) but in this case they're calling and Indo Dat a Thin Bar Dat's scientific name when the fish pictured is obviously an Indo/ Microlepis. Also any site that says Gold Dat usually means Indo, I'd say 98% of the time.

 

[Brazzen1]

Thanks, I was going by what was posted here, I just mainly wanted to check and see if anyone had experience with these companies as to which kind I was going to end up with, I love them all. So when someone says Siamese Tiger Fish are they talking about the Indo, I remember this was what TFH call microlepis in an old issue. They did recommend brackish water and since they are so aggressive the only thing that you can keep with them was puffers, with the puffers usually getting the best of them. The issue was from the 80's, I still have it somewhere.

 

[koltsixx]

Thanks, I was going by what was posted here, I just mainly wanted to check and see if anyone had experience with these companies as to which kind I was going to end up with, I love them all. So when someone says Siamese Tiger Fish are they talking about the Indo, I remember this was what TFH call microlepis in an old issue. They did recommend brackish water and since they are so aggressive the only thing that you can keep with them was puffers, with the puffers usually getting the best of them. The issue was from the 80's, I still have it somewhere.

Again the answer is in the posts quoted. Siamese Tigers are Datnioides Pulcher not Indo's which are Microlepis. Originally Siamese Tigers/Pulcher was the most commonly available of the Dat's. Due to their stability and attractive colors but more so them being an important food fish they where decimated in the wild. The inability to breed them in captivity meant all fish available as food or in the pet trade was wild. So the pet trade decimated the juvenile population while the food industry decimated the adults, a two fold attack they haven't recovered from. With the loss of Siamese/Pulcher the similar Indo/became the next target of the trade.

As far as the recommendation for keeping them in brackishwater by TFH and other sites back then, I can only venture a guess as to why. Since Siamese Dat's come from freshwater basins I imagine the recommendation probably came from them being susceptible to illness back then. Remember big tanks were even harder to find back then and water quality issues where more prevalent. The hobby has come a long way in a short time and perhaps with the water quality issues back then the addition of salt was a relatively effective method of preventing certain diseases in Dat's as salt helps reduce nitrite effects on fish and makes breathing easier in polluted(from a fishes own waste) easier then without it and helps relieve stress in said environments. At least that's my best guess from my understanding.

 

[Brazzen1]

Thanks koltsixx for your help, I think now I can try my luck at one again, the first one eventually starved itself. :-( But thanks to MFK I have more knowledge about how to maybe prevent this from happening again.

 

[azzam_azree]

nice info bro.

 

[momiloco]

Hi, I'm pretty new at keeping Datnoid, about 6 months now.
I have a 9 inches IT and 7-8 inches AT.

Looking at the chart in the first page, the Sumatran based IT look awfully similar with the now extinct ST. Is this true? Or is Sumatran based IT also have now extinct?

I would assume that the 3 bar IT (clean, unclean, odd shaped, etc) that sometimes we see are just the natural defect of an IT?

Can anyone enlighten me?

Thanks

 

[krichardson]

I'm not sure if the Sumatra name is just a marketing creation or the location that the dats actually come from but the so called Sumatra dats look like nothing more than indos to me.They look more like indos than they do the ST.

 

[momiloco]

I'm not sure if the Sumatra name is just a marketing creation or the location that the dats actually come from but the so called Sumatra dats look like nothing more than indos to me.They look more like indos than they do the ST.

Hi bro,

refer to the picture above. I circled the 'Sumatran' IT and an a proper ST.
I called it Sumatran as that part is Sumatra, Indonesia I believe. The other part of the Indonesia where most of the IT are found is Kalimantan.

By looking at the two tigers in the picture above, I saw that they are pretty similar, except for the Sumatran tiger's 3 stripe are not so clean. Of course it can only be due to the illustration.. lol..

Just that my previous understanding of a 3 bar IT is a variation/ genetic defect of a proper 4/5 bar IT. From looking at the chart above, it seems that there are proper 3 bar ITs from the Western Indonesia (Sumatra) and the normal IT are from the eastern Indonesia (Borneo/ Kalimantan Barat).

Please correct me if i'm wrong.

Thanks

 

[krichardson]

Hi bro,

refer to the picture above. I circled the 'Sumatran' IT and an a proper ST.
I called it Sumatran as that part is Sumatra, Indonesia I believe. The other part of the Indonesia where most of the IT are found is Kalimantan.

By looking at the two tigers in the picture above, I saw that they are pretty similar, except for the Sumatran tiger's 3 stripe are not so clean. Of course it can only be due to the illustration.. lol..

Just that my previous understanding of a 3 bar IT is a variation/ genetic defect of a proper 4/5 bar IT. From looking at the chart above, it seems that there are proper 3 bar ITs from the Western Indonesia (Sumatra) and the normal IT are from the eastern Indonesia (Borneo/ Kalimantan Barat).

Please correct me if i'm wrong.

Thanks

That is a great illustration and I have enjoyed looking at it many times over the years.With respect to the two collection locations of the indo dats I see very little if any difference in the fish that are supposed to be from the two areas.
I have heard of three bar indos being referred to as "oddballs" and the multi barred indos referred to as "classic"indos.I cannot speak on whether or not the three bar indos are some kind of genetic defect as you say since I have seen no research material which supports such.There seem to be almost as many three bars as there are classics and,in my opinion,the "true oddballs" which are the split bars and oddly shaped barred indos.
The ST is still in a class all it's own as even the best looking three bar indo still does not compare to a pulcher.