Do IT's eat plants?

[robroy]

Got a question-kept Dats for years but never in a tank with live plants. I've some Java Fern and Anubias on my driftwood in my tank which have been there for months. Not long after I added a 10" or so IT I began waking up in the morning and finding big chunks taken out of the Anubias-sometime sll the leaf is gone leaving just the stem. The Java fern is left untouched. It's only happened since the introduction of the IT. The tank houses smaller NTT and AT and some Polys and a Fire Eel. These have been there for months together with the plants

Are they known for this as I always thought they wouldn't be interested in plant matter?

 

[kno4te]

K krichardson

 

[krichardson]

K krichardson

......cant say I've ever caught any of my dats eating any vegetation nor have I noticed any evidence of such activity.

 

[robroy]

......cant say I've ever caught any of my dats eating any vegetation nor have I noticed any evidence of such activity.

Absolutely-it’s crazy because I’ve never come across it with Dats. Just my luck as the Anubias was established and started to do well

 

[krichardson]

Absolutely-it’s crazy because I’ve never come across it with Dats. Just my luck as the Anubias was established and started to do well

Sorry about your plants,that would certainly bother me.

 

[Vancouver_98683]

It is possible a Dat is eating the plant. It could of been torn off cleanly from one of their chases. Mixing dat species can lead to bullying. I’ve had indos that would eat algae wafers. Other members have mentioned this as well.

 

[tlindsey]

From my experience with Senegalus Bichir the poly's would nip and actually witnessed one of them test tasting a Anubias leaf lol. So wouldn't rule out the Polypterus.

 

[robroy]

Possibly but the Polys have been in there from day 1 with the plants-it started after getting the Indo

 

[robroy]

It is possible a Dat is eating the plant. It could of been torn off cleanly from one of their chases. Mixing dat species can lead to bullying. I’ve had indos that would eat algae wafers. Other members have mentioned this as well.

I see-its definitely lcean bites on the leaves

 

[eeJamBOYan]

Ran through some Indonesian fishing videos, local knowledge from fishermen and resident fish enthusiast claim that Datnoid switch to plant matter as part of their supplementary diet in the wild.

Came to no surprise as to what happen to your plants after introducing the Dat.

I have no scientific evidence for this claim.

And yes i do feed my Dat the occasional Algae wafers and herbivore diet ever since. Mine feed strictly on carnivore pellets so there are no problems introducing green pellets.