Datnioides polota

[emartin]

Anybody ever keep these? What size tanks do they prefer, how aggressive, etc?

Are they pure freshwater, brackish, or doesn't matter (they live in both in the wild?).

~Ed

[RedDevilRyan]

They are found in India, Indonesia, and New Guinea.
From what I understand they can live in both freshwater and brackish water.
In the wild they are found in the mouths of large rivers and lagoons (Brackish),
but they also are found in freshwater lakes and rivers.
I keep my Dat in freshwater, with other SA/CA cichlids. They will eat smaller fish, but other than that I really don't see any aggresion.
Since they can grow to over 12 inches, they require a large aquarium.
An interesting behavior I observe with my Datnioides undecimradiatus is
that they stalk thier pray. I threw in a feeder and for a couple seconds
it slowly swam behind it, folling it through plants. Then he closed the gap between them and sucked it his mouth.
When I first got mine the owner of The Shark Aquarium said that he could only get them to eat live foods,
and they rarely accept frozen in captivity. After him not eating for
a few days I dropped a pice of shrimp in, and he went right after it.

-Ryan

[emartin]

Do you think a full grown one could eat a 4-6" fish?

Do you think a Datnioides polota (supposedly only gets 12" in the wild, same or less in captivity) should it wreak havoc in the 265g and eat my african cichlids be kept in a 55g or a 60g tank by themselves? The tanks have a width of 12" length of 48".

Have you got yours to eat pellets or flakes by now?

I don't see why it would be so hard to switch them over. The day I put in wildcaught sunfish and turtle in a fish tank I got them to eat flakes. All you need for the really stubborn fish is to have fish in the same tank that eat flakes or pellets but hold their own against the fish you are trying to train...

Given how neat these fish look I would love to have one in my 265g but if a full grown one will eat 6" fish I won't do it.

I mean, are these as voracious as Aristochromis christyi for example where it will try and eat fish that are exactly half the length they are sometimes larger? Or would it only go for easy meals? I'm sure if I keep the tank well fed it will be fine but I don't want 6" wildcaught fish becoming dinner...

[RedDevilRyan]

I really don't think a 12 inch datnoid could gulp down a fish half it's size.
Right now mine is in a 30 gallon growout tank with some Parachromis fredricksthalii. He is a little over 3'', and the smallest freddy is 1.5''.
So far there have been no problems, if anything I would be concerned of him getting beat up.

He probably could be houses in a 55, but I think an adult would be much better off in at least a 75.


I have not been able to get him to eat pellets or flakes yet. It goes after the flakes, but spits them right out. It definatly sees the pellets, but does'nt go after them.
I'm sure I will eventually get him to eat them, becasue i've seen it done. As of now he is doing fine on frozen shrimp, mysis, and spirulina enriched brine shrimp.

I don't think one would ever wreak havoc in your 265 because they are pretty shy fish. I am planning to have him at least 6'' before he goes in my 220.

Another nice thing about the Datnioides polota is that it is one of the cheaper species and can be bought for maybe $30 to $40. I think Jeff Rapps has some in stock right now.

-Ryan

[emartin]

Jeff Rapps has them and so does AquascapeOnline, both located in New Jersey :-).

So your opinion are that these are basically sheeps in wolfs clothing, though they will be piscivorous on fish they can fit in their mouth?

On getting yours to eat prepared food, have you thought of freeze dried foods, or even a really meaty flake? This would be going far but you could also grind up shrimps or worms (would be easier if you did it with freeze dried stuff--less messy that way) and soak the flakes or pellets in that.

What brand flakes and pellets do you feed?

[RedDevilRyan]

My opinion is that they can be housed with large aggresive fish even though they are fairly mellow fish,
and that they will try to consume any fish that is small enough the fit in thier mouth.

I don't think I have ever fed freeze dried foods, i've always used frozen. I might try soaking some
pellets in crushed shrimp soon though.

I've recently been using Hikari Cichlid Bio Gold, New Life Spectrum Jumbo Fish
Formula, and Ocean Nutrition Spirulina Flakes.


-Ryan

[joe_jaskot]

Try hikari carnivore sticks. Most fish will eat them.

[emartin]

I got a wildcaught one from Jeff Rapps and this thing is awesome.


EXTREMELY laid back. In fact my clown loaches actually managed to bully him but quickly lost interest when they saw that the Datnioid just wanted to hide, not a territory.

Now he's comfortable in the tank and swims around regularly but stays within close swimming distance of the caves.

Awesome to watch him eat.... So far he will only tough frozen shrimp-like foods (brine, plankton, krill, mysis) but now he's getting comfortable enough that he comes over to sort-of beg like the haplochromines do when they see me.

For people that want something different in with their fish that get 5+", this is a great genus of fish to look into. If I had the money I would've got the Datnioides campbelli that Jeff has in stock but those are $150...great color on them though.

Very peaceful, very hardy. I didn't bother acclimating as there was only a 1pH degree difference and he adjusted perfectly fine from 7 to my tanks pH of 8-8.6 (varies I can't do a 100% accurate dose of baking soda every time so it sits between 7.9-8.6).

Jeff tells me they are very slow growing. They are laterally compressed similar to Altolamprologus and some Malawi haps, but but very compressed they do have some thickness to them, considerably more than Altolamprologus.

Jeff also tells me that they will only eat fish probably at the largest 1/4 their size, so if you have a very old specimen that is 12" long it would very likely only go after 3"+/- fish... They're mouths aren't as wide as they look but are big enough that if they can fit a fish into the mouth's opening, it can fit entirely inside. I've seen my 3-4" datnioide take in a few huges pieces of krill the other day and only spit back out 1 piece (that I know of). I would not say they are as big of a threat to other fish in the tank as Aristochromis, Tyrannochromis, etc.

Here's an awesome video of a tank full of a different species of Datnioide, and a slow motion video of a Datnioide suction feeding (same way Utaka cichlid fish feed, just on a larger scale):










NOW HERE'S the really cool video of a Datnioide in hi-def slow motion suction feeding on a feeder goldfish:

[Norbert]

My trio of D. polota won't touch floating pellets but eat Hikari sinking gold with relish...I kept them in my Hap growout tank when they were young and they learned to eat the pellets from the cichlids.

[emartin]

Mine occassionally MOUTHS (can't tell if he ate any for real yet) Ocean Nutrition's Formula One flake (like the fillet mignon of fish flake foods...expensive but worth it to have around...).

This guy though occassionally especially when he gets hungry (I only feed frozen once a week now and I am feeding less and less each time) will stalk and eat scales off the haps... he doesn't do any damage really and aside from a scale falling to the bottom of the tank it looks like he didn't even do a thing to the haps...no visible damage.

Does yours do that too? Do they stop that when they get bigger? He's only about 4" now, maybe 4.25"...