Widebar Datnoid

 Quick Care Facts

• Care Level: Moderate   • Temperament: Semi-aggressive   • Maximum Size: 24"
• Minimum Tank Size: 180 gallons   • Water Conditions: 75-84° F, pH 6.5-7.5, dH 8-15
• Diet: Carnivore   • Origin: Southeast Asia, Mekong River, Chao Phraya River   • Family: Datnioididae
• Species: Datnoids   • Aquarium Type: Other-Monster-Fish

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Widebar Datnoids (Datnioides pulcher) are available within the aquarium hobby under a variety of common names including: Widebar Datnoid, Siamese Tigerfish, Gold Datnoid, Tiger Datnoid, Pulcher Datnoid and the Cambodian Tigerfish. This species originates from the tropical water ways of southeast Asia, where they are commonly found in the Mekong and Chao Phraya river basins and surrounding rivers, streams and tributaries.

Widebar Datnoids have become quite popular with aquarium hobbyists due to their attractive "tiger like" coloration and large unique body type. While they are aggressive towards smaller fish species that they will view as food and will compete with others of their own kind, they are compatible with a wide variety of other larger fish species like Peacock Bass, Large Catfish, Rays, etc. Widebar Datnoids are typically identified by their gold colored bodies and 5 to 6 wide black stripes. These wide black stripes over a gold body also gives this species their Tiger nicknames, as they resemble the Tigers of southeast Asia.

As with most large fish species, the size of the aquarium is very important when keeping Widebar Datnoids in the home aquarium. They can reach upwards of 24 inches in the wild and typically about 18 inches in the home aquarium, thus they need something close to 180 gallons as a minimum aquarium size to properly house adult specimens. Widebar Datnoids will prefer an aquarium that has plenty of open swimming area, diffused lighting and some areas of plants or submerged root along with moderate water flow.

Being a river based species the Widebar Datnoid will appreciate conditions that resemble their native habitat. As is the case with most river based species used to large volumes of water turnover, the Widebar Datnoid needs high quality water parameters in the home aquarium in order to maintain proper health and to thrive.

Hobbyists should utilize wet/dry filtration or large canister filtration along with additional internal water flow provided by powerheads in order to create high levels of dissolved oxygen within the aquarium and efficiently handle the large bio-load that Datnoids place on an aquarium filtration system.

Widebar Datnoids are compatible with a wide variety of larger fish species ranging from South American Cichlid species to Southeast Asian tropical river species. They are commonly found inhabiting aquariums that contain other large species like Peacock Bass, Arowana, Gar, Catfish, large Loaches and other similarly sized species.

Widebar Datnoids will predate on any fish species small enough to fit in their mouths and most crustaceans or invertebrates that they are capable of consuming. They live in social groups in the wild and often do best in the home aquarium when kept in groups of 3 to 6 individuals consisting of more females than males.

Known for stalking their prey like their Tiger namesakes, Widebar Datnoids in the wild feed on small fish and crustacean species. Widebar Datnoids kept in the home aquarium can be trained to eat a wide variety of live, fresh, frozen and even commercial pellet foods. They will readily consume live feeder fish, crayfish and worms, along with frozen varieties of the same foods.

Most hobbyists convert their Datnoids over to feeding on either fresh or frozen meaty foods like shrimp, krill, beefheart, chicken livers, earthworms or sinking carnivore pellet foods. Feeding non-live foods is typically easier and helps eliminate the introduction of diseases and parasites that many live food items can carry.