Silver Dats-Info and Opinions

[balton777]

I've only ever seen Dats for sale here a few times, but I went into an lfs today and they had three 1.5" silvers. I made an impulse buy and brought them home.

In some of the recent threads I've read thru, people were saying AT's are the most common. The other three times I've seen Dats for sale they were always IT's. Also more people here seem to have IT's than AT's. Are AT's the most common Datnoid or were those people mistaken?

Another thing is I see now that AT's are brackish fish but the lfs had them in fresh water. Can they live in fresh water as well as brackish? I don't have the means or desire to set up a brackish tank. Maybe I should take them back. What do you guys think?

Here's a few pics. I couldn't seem to get all three in a pic together but can you guys confirm I'm ID'ing them correctly. Thanks.

 

[Hao]

yes AT are most common and cheapest they can live brackish/freshwater and those are AT

 

[protectandserve21]

Very nice! Great find.

 

[Angler]

yes AT are most common and cheapest they can live brackish/freshwater and those are AT

I agree. They can be kept in brackish or fresh. They are the most common around here.

 

[balton777]

Thanks, I appreciate the info. One more thing, are these most likely wild caught?

They're trying to eat broken up pieces of pellets but can't seem to process it. They'll put them in their mouth for a few seconds and spit it back out as debris. I wonder if any of it is going into their stomach. I haven't seen any poop.

 

[Angler]

I don't know if they are most likely wild caught. That is great that they are trying to eat pellets. I have a 2" AT that won't even try to eat pellets. Don't worry about them spitting it back out. They just aren't use to pellets. The fact that they are taking it into their mouths and chewing it up means that they will probably be eating pellets soon.

 

[balton777]

alright I'll keep trying. The guy at the lfs said he's been feeding them guppys.

 

[DaveB]

I love ATs but in my experience they're harder to keep. They seem to be more prone to mysterious diseases and are super picky eaters. Neither of mine would touch anything but krill and both ultimately stopped eating altogether, grew listless, and eventually died despite all my best efforts. They lived in the same tank with 5 perfectly healthy and stable ITs so it's an odd contrast and totally puzzling.

I saw a fat happy one the other day but figured it's just one of those fish I'm cursed with and didn't buy him.

But other people have good luck with them, so maybe it's just something in my water. I really liked their personalities, even more than the ITs, when they were healthy.

 

[balton777]

I love ATs but in my experience they're harder to keep. They seem to be more prone to mysterious diseases and are super picky eaters. Neither of mine would touch anything but krill and both ultimately stopped eating altogether, grew listless, and eventually died despite all my best efforts. They lived in the same tank with 5 perfectly healthy and stable ITs so it's an odd contrast and totally puzzling.

I saw a fat happy one the other day but figured it's just one of those fish I'm cursed with and didn't buy him.

But other people have good luck with them, so maybe it's just something in my water. I really liked their personalities, even more than the ITs, when they were healthy.

Sorry to hear about your bad experience with them but thanks for sharing. Hopefully mine will fare better.

 

[BRYANT]

Thanks, I appreciate the info. One more thing, are these most likely wild caught?

They're trying to eat broken up pieces of pellets but can't seem to process it. They'll put them in their mouth for a few seconds and spit it back out as debris. I wonder if any of it is going into their stomach. I haven't seen any poop.

I don't know if they are most likely wild caught. That is great that they are trying to eat pellets. I have a 2" AT that won't even try to eat pellets. Don't worry about them spitting it back out. They just aren't use to pellets. The fact that they are taking it into their mouths and chewing it up means that they will probably be eating pellets soon.

All dats are wild caught