Dat noob - ID please!

[Bloop]

Meet 'Dylan'. He's my first Dat and knowing absolutely diddlysquat about them I could do with some tips and an ID please (common and latin name) as there seem to be a lot of different types and very subtle differences which I'm having trouble with.

He was my bro-in-law's for 4 months but was given to me yesterday. He was originally bought at around the 4.5" mark as a 'Siamese Tiger Fish' but hasn't really grown in that time. He was purchased from a freshwater tank in a lfs - and therefore been kept in freshwater (despite being told by my lfs yesterday that they need brakish water - who is right?) and fed a diet of prawns & bloodworm. He's feeding fine in my tank although he's lost the yellow/gold since being moved and is hiding more than usual.

Managed to bag these pics whilst the bogwood etc was removed (trying to catch 2 red-tailed botias to re-home).

 

[krichardson]

What you have there is good looking 'Thinbar' dat,NTT=North Thailand Tiger.They are a little less common in these parts than the indo dats,supposed to be the shyest of the group,cant remember the latin name atm,reaches a foot in length if it lives long enough,eats smaller fish but can be trained to take shrimp and other meaty foods.You can find more info up on the top of the datnoid page in the stickies.

 

[Fish Room Plus]

real nice Thin Bar datnoid

 

[geeimatree]

some are from brackish water and need to be acclimated slowly to freshwater, but since he is already doing well in freshwater he should be fine

as for the no growth - dats grow EXTREMELY slow, so no worries about that

im no good with ID but if that is a NTT then yes, it is the shyest of all the dats and some people are unable to ever get them to get stable (thats what i heard anyway)

 

[krichardson]

It may have been sold as a Siamese Tiger but it is not an ST,they are super rare and small ones of the size your fish was purchased at damn near dont exist,your thinbar does not require brackish conditions,its good that your thinbar is eating foods other than feeder fish,after it has some time to settle in, the color should return,no aggressive tankmates or you will rarely see him good luck.

 

[benzjamin13]

Nice Thinbar. Dats are slow...I mean SLOW when it comes to growth.

 

[krichardson]

real nice Thin Bar datnoid

Yup!

 

[Bloop]

thanks all - sure is an amazing fish to me!

he's not in a big tank yet (only 125L) but I'll be upgrading to a Juwel Trigon 350L in the new year sometime. Shares a tank with (amongst others which I will be re-homing soon, inc the 2.5" Texas cichlid you see in one of the shots) a small 4" poypterus endlicheri and a pair of Ctenopomas 'Leopard Bush Fish'. I thought the mouths of my Ctenopomas were amazing till I saw the Dat yawn earlier - nearly fell off my chair!!

How do you sex them btw? Also I'd like a red-spotted severum in about a month - I've kept severums before and have always found them very peaceful. Any issues with the Dat at all?

 

[TCZeli]

Scientific name - Datnioides Undecimradiatus. This species is a freshwater fish, not brackish.

Very nice looking.

 

[flemming]

nice ntt,how big?