Bye Bye Cichlids...... Hello Dats!!

  • We are currently upgrading MFK. thanks! -neo
You can just stop feeding the krill altogether if you want.
At that size it's good to start experimenting with a smaller pellet to try and get them converted to them as early as possible.
Also, shrimp is good too. Go to one of those markdown stores(here in MI I go to Aldi's) and get a bag of medium sized shrimp(I get mine for $3.50 a pound). With that stock and the size of your dats a pound should last you about a little over a month. Just de-thaw it in a glass filled with your tank water and de-shell and dice it after it is de-thawed.
Bloodworms, pellets, and shrimp is a good varied diet for young datnoids. That is what all mine get, big and small.
 
Well, I lost 2 of the smaller IT's. Which sucks, but I knew I would probably lose a couple when starting with them, so I didn't get too upset. They died after I did a water change. I think I could have poured the water back in the tank to quickly, so now I do smaller more frequent water changes and gently pour the water in the tank.

Then I started noticing some of them scratching themselves on the rocks. So I added aquarium salt and raised the temp of the tank to 85 degrees from 82 degrees. I also added an air pump to keep the water oxygenated. Since then all has been well as far as the tank is concerned.

The little IT's are eating very well. They are eating frozen shrimp, frozen krill, live ghost shrimp, frozen bloodworms, and even an earthworm I put in the tank. They come to the top of the tank and attack the food as soon as it hits the water. The only thing they haven't started eating yet are the pellets, but it is just a matter of time.

My larger NTT's on the other hand are lazy as hell. They stay at the bottom of the tank and will only eat krill if it happens to drift in front of their mouth. Even when I put in live ghost shrimp the small IT's would chase them around the tank and the NTT's would just wait for one to swim in front of their face before they would eat it. Anyone have any suggestions? I tried not feeding them for a while (2 days) but they still were not aggessive when I put the krill in the tank. They just sit there waiting for some krill to drift by them instead of going after it. Are they normally this mellow or is something wrong?

Here are some updated pics of the tank.
 
IDK how people kill dats... Do a 25% water change a week, keep the water at 80-81 degrees F, and feed them whatever they'll eat. Its not rocket science nor engineering so it shouldn't be a problem. I tend to believe people over think the fish keeping hobby. Just take care of their basic necessities and everything will be fine, after all they are wild animals.

Oh and your NTT's aren't lazy, if they were hungry they'd eat.... trust me. Its a different sub-species, so their behavior will be noticeably different. I feed all of my dats feeders that i catch from the local waters and supplement it with live ghost shrimp, frozen blood-worms, frozen mysis shrimp, and whatever else they'll eat. All of my fish are tanks and have never been sick.
 
Well I'm glad you're having success, but my goal is to get my dats on pellets. I live in the burbs of Chicago, so it's not like I can go out and net feeders all year round. Not to mention the fact that pellets are better overall for the fish.

As far as losing my dats, I obviously have no idea why they died. I had the exact parameters you stated in your post. I did a 20% wc and woke up the next morning with 2 dead dats. They were my smallest, at less than an inch long, not sure if that makes them more sensitive to changes in water conditions.

What type of Dats do you keep?
 
sazhar;4053974; said:
Well I'm glad you're having success, but my goal is to get my dats on pellets. I live in the burbs of Chicago, so it's not like I can go out and net feeders all year round. Not to mention the fact that pellets are better overall for the fish.

As far as losing my dats, I obviously have no idea why they died. I had the exact parameters you stated in your post. I did a 20% wc and woke up the next morning with 2 dead dats. They were my smallest, at less than an inch long, not sure if that makes them more sensitive to changes in water conditions.

What type of Dats do you keep?
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Ya, dats that are >1'' are very sensitive, so you may of just shocked them. Or, they could of been runts and very susceptible to sickness or what not... who knows.

Sorry, but I don't drink the pellets are best cool-aid. Theres no proof to show that it's best. Easiest? Yes. Cleanest? Yes. I just believe that feeding predators what they eat in the wild is the best policy. BTW, this is just from my experiences, I'm not trying to criticize anyone. My dats grow fast! In particular, my AT which I got @ 1.5'' in noverber of 09; now he/she just under 6''. And nothing beats seeing these get all excited when I bring there live food in. mostly all of them eat outta my fingers. Its very rewarding.

I keep mostly IT's, but AT's(silver) are my favorite by far. They have a very distinctive attitude, almost like a loner. The rest of my IT's are between 2'' and 6''. i got them all when they were right at 1''. For the first month they were really dark, Now they change back and fourth. I believe thats what they do in nature. I have a ton of cover for them to hide in or around and they do as they please. I like it when they're comfortable, not if I can see them or not. Also, I only turn my light on if I'm doing maintenance. They HATE light. I get really pissed off when people post up pictures with completely bare tanks with Dats. It's the farthest from natual for a dat as it gets. Why do you think they swim at wierd angles and so fourth? Because they like cover. Some people are just ignorant and selfish. It's bad enough that we take them outta there wild habitat. Sorry for the rant, but I had to say something.

Feel free to ask me any Q's and I'll do my best to answer.
 
What type of live food do you feed your dats? Do you feed a variety of things? I'm trying to get some ideas. I'm willing to try anything it if they happy and start growing quickly.
 
sazhar;4054905; said:
What type of live food do you feed your dats? Do you feed a variety of things? I'm trying to get some ideas. I'm willing to try anything it if they happy and start growing quickly.
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I mostly feed them mosquito fish(Gambusia affinis) as a staple. But twice a week I give them 50 ghost shrimp. On top of that I feed them 2 frozen squares of blood worms and 2 frozen squares mysis shrimp. And since a catch the mosquito fish the overhead stays pretty low.
 
megalops///;4055146;4055146 said:
I mostly feed them mosquito fish(Gambusia affinis) as a staple. But twice a week I give them 50 ghost shrimp. On top of that I feed them 2 frozen squares of blood worms and 2 frozen squares mysis shrimp. And since a catch the mosquito fish the overhead stays pretty low.
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Wow, how many Dats do you have? Do they eat all of it at once or does it take acouple days to eat all the live feeders? I fed mine a dozen ghost shrimp and a dozen pink minnows today, and they pounded them. There are a couple of ghost shrimp left hiding under a rock, but the minnows are all gone. I have 4x1.5" ITs and 3x3" NTTs. I figure I will feed them live feeders a few times a week and frozen feeders the rest of the week.
 
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