I recently introduced an indo dat to my tank about a month ago, seems to be healthy, eats like a pig, and gets along with my AT dat and gar just fine. Most of the time, it hangs out by my large piece of driftwood, and turns almost the exact same color as the wood. For short periods during the day, and when feeding, it regains its stripes, but then goes back to stealth mode. I have lots of caves and hiding places for the fish to go, but the indo seems a little stressed out. I know many dats change color to blend into surroundings, but if its stressed, I'd like to help it out. Anyone know if this behavior seems normal?
Datnoid Seems Stressed
- Thread starter Dionysus
- Start date
I hope it's normal, because all mine do the same thing. lol
Indos are notorious for being like that.
Indos are notorious for being like that.
Just sounds unstable. What other fish do you have in there? Sometimes, having Dither Fish would help.
Ive heard indos tend to be unstable, but didn't know how often. I have an AT dat thats 6", a little smaller than the indo, and it never changes color or pattern, much more social. The First 2 weeks I had the indo dat, it seemed to be stable more often, but has began hanging next to the driftwood and in caves more often. It still looks healthy and eats every time, and if your Indonesian Datnoids behave the same, I don't think I'll worry about it then.
If he don't need to hide you don't have to let him. Try changing the tank layout a lil. Mine would constantlly hide in a big piece of driftwood so I took it out. Seeing I don't have any fish that he needs to hide from it's gone.
I've personally found that if they want to hide like that they will. Bare tank with nothing in it, they'll go into that crazy vertical position in a corner and look worse than ever. Besides, IMO empty tanks look like crap anyway.
Good water quality, and make them feel comfortable is the key. I've found that the more you feed the more they hide. These are ambush predators, if you give them a never ending buffet then theres no need to come out of their hole and look for food. I feed two times a day, two times a week.
Only times I've seen them "unstable" is when their bellies are full.
Good water quality, and make them feel comfortable is the key. I've found that the more you feed the more they hide. These are ambush predators, if you give them a never ending buffet then theres no need to come out of their hole and look for food. I feed two times a day, two times a week.
Only times I've seen them "unstable" is when their bellies are full.
I had 6 Indos that hid all the time. I then got a GT and they were swimming around more. Then I got a pair of Salvini Cichlids and move the GT and they started to hide again.