Feeding Datnoids: What to Feed Indonesian Tiger Fish for Best Health and Color
- Ajinkya Chopade
- 18 hours ago
- 7 min read
Updated: 2 hours ago
Indonesian Tiger Fish, also known as datnoids, are strong, beautiful predators with bold stripes and a calm but alert nature. To help them stay healthy and show bright colors, you must give them the right food. Their diet has a big impact on growth, immunity, color, and long-term health.
This guide explains their natural diet, the best aquarium foods, how often to feed them at different ages, useful supplements, and common feeding mistakes to avoid. Everything is written in very simple language for easy reading.
1. Natural Diet in the Wild
In nature, Datnoids eat a high-protein diet made of small fish, insects, and tiny water creatures. They are quiet hunters who hide between roots, plants, and branches in the water, waiting for their food to come close. Their natural diet includes small river fish, freshwater shrimp, prawns, worms, insect babies, and many kinds of insects like beetles, roaches, dragonfly babies, and even flying termites that fall into the water. Bigger Datnoids may sometimes eat small frogs or tadpoles during rainy seasons. All these foods give them strong muscles, bright stripes, and the energy they need for hunting. Because Datnoids are used to eating such rich and natural foods in the wild, they stay healthiest in aquariums when we give them similar items—especially live or dried insects like mealworms, superworms, crickets, roaches, and black soldier fly larvae.
2. What Their Wild Diet Teaches Us
In the wild, datnoids do not rely on a single food type. They eat whatever prey they find. This means their body is adapted for fresh, meaty, high-protein food. A simple rule for aquariums is to mimic the wild diet by offering different types of animal-based foods. Variety helps them stay healthy, improves digestion, increases activity, and keeps their natural color bright.
3. Recommended Aquarium Diet
The best foods for datnoids are those closest to what they eat in nature. You can use frozen, fresh, live, or pellet foods. The more variety you give, the better.
Frozen and Fresh Foods
Frozen food is safe and nutritious when defrosted properly. Datnoids enjoy frozen shrimp, krill, silversides, chopped fish fillets, and frozen bloodworms. Fresh seafood, such as chopped prawns, mussels, and small pieces of squid, can also be used. Always remove any uneaten food to keep the water clean. These foods are rich in protein and help support strong muscle development and better color.
Live Foods
Live foods can be used as a treat and to increase natural hunting behaviour. Datnoids enjoy live shrimp, live feeder insects, and the occasional live fish if it is safe and disease-free. Because datnoids naturally eat insects in the wild, live mealworms, superworms, and crickets are excellent additions. These should be gut-loaded (fed healthy food first) to increase their nutritional value. Always choose clean, healthy live foods, and avoid live feeders that were not quarantined, because they can bring disease.
Pellets
High-quality carnivore pellets and sinking sticks are useful parts of a balanced diet. Many datnoids may take pellets once they get used to them. Pellets should not be the only food, but they can be a stable addition. Choose pellets made for predatory fish or carnivores. These usually contain fish meal, shrimp meal, krill, and added vitamins.
Foods to Avoid
Datnoids should not eat fatty meats from mammals or birds, such as beef, pork, or chicken. Their bodies cannot digest these fats properly, and long-term feeding can cause health problems. These foods should never be used as a main diet.
4. Feeding Routine by Life Stage
Datnoids have different feeding needs depending on age. Younger fish need more frequent meals. Older fish need fewer meals because they process food more slowly.
Juveniles
Young datnoids grow quickly and need more energy. Juveniles should be fed one or two times a day in small amounts. They enjoy small foods like chopped shrimp, bloodworms, small fish pieces, tiny crickets, and pellets designed for smaller predators. Feed only what they consume within one or two minutes to avoid waste.
Sub-Adults
As they grow bigger, their metabolism slows down. Subadult datnoids can be fed once a day. They can handle larger pieces of food like chopped prawns, small fish fillets, or larger insects.
Adults
Full-grown datnoids do not need daily feeding. Many adult keepers feed every day or every other day, and some feed larger meals two to three times a week when using rich foods like whole prawns or whole fish pieces. Feed adults slowly and watch how much they eat. If they finish quickly and look active, the amount is right. If food remains after a few minutes, reduce the portion.
General Feeding Rule
A simple rule for all ages is to feed only the amount they can finish within one to three minutes. Remove any leftover food after five to ten minutes. This keeps the tank clean and protects the fish from health issues caused by spoiled water.
5. Supplements for Better Color and Health
Supplements can be helpful, but the most important thing is still variety.
Variety as the Main Supplement
The best “supplement” is rotating foods. Different foods give different nutrients. This alone helps maintain strong color, good growth, and a healthy immune system.
Vitamin Soaks
You can soak pellets or thawed frozen food in liquid vitamins made for fish. Use supplements only if the fish is recovering from illness or has a low appetite. Do not overdose.
Gut-Loaded Feeders
Gut-loading means feeding insects or shrimp healthy foods before giving them to your fish. This increases the vitamins the datnoid receives when it eats the prey. Mealworms, superworms, and crickets become far more nutritious when gut-loaded with fresh vegetables or fish-safe vitamin mixes.
Carotenoid Foods
Foods like shrimp, krill, and prawns naturally contain carotenoids. These help bring out warm colors and improve stripe brightness. Do not rely on artificial color boosters; natural foods work best.
Safety
Avoid un-quarantined live feeder fish. They can introduce parasites or sickness. When in doubt, use frozen alternatives instead.
6. Common Feeding Mistakes to Avoid
There are several simple mistakes that new keepers make. Avoiding them helps your fish stay healthy for many years.
Overfeeding is the most common mistake. Too much food causes poor water quality, bloating, digestive issues, and stress. Feeding only pellets is also harmful. This leads to dull color and poor growth. Always mix different foods. Using fatty mammal meat as a main diet is unsafe because datnoids cannot digest those fats well. Feeding unsafe live feeders can bring disease. Always quarantine live food animals. Not adjusting food portions as the fish grows can cause overfeeding or underfeeding.
Ignoring water quality after feeding changes can lead to ammonia and nitrite spikes.
7. Signs That Your Datnoid Needs a Diet Change
If your datnoid’s stripes start looking faded, it often means the fish needs more food variety or more carotenoid-rich foods like shrimp and krill. These foods help improve color naturally.
If your fish looks thin or weak, you may need to increase feeding frequency for a short period to help it regain strength.
If your datnoid looks bloated, reduce how much you feed it and check the water quality, as poor water can also affect digestion.
If your fish refuses food, try offering strong-smelling foods like shrimp or live insects to encourage eating. Always check the water parameters when your fish shows appetite problems, as stress or poor water quality can be the real cause.
A healthy Datnoid fish diet focuses on high-quality animal protein and food variety that mimics wild prey—small fish, shrimp, worms, and crustaceans. Adjust feeding frequency as the fish grows, use supplements carefully, and avoid common mistakes like overfeeding and using unquenched feeder fish. With the right diet and careful monitoring, your Indonesian Tiger Fish will stay healthy and show strong, beautiful color.
FAQs: Feeding Indonesian Tiger Fish (Datnoids)
1. What do Indonesian Tiger Fish eat in the wild?
In the wild, Indonesian Tiger Fish eat small fish, shrimp, prawns, insects, worms, and crustaceans. They hunt by hiding and striking fast, so their natural diet is high in animal protein. This is why aquarium diets should copy this variety for best health and color.
2. What is the best food for datnoids in an aquarium?
The best foods are high-protein animal foods like shrimp, krill, small fish pieces, worms, prawns, and gut-loaded insects. Datnoids also accept quality carnivore pellets, but pellets must not be the only food. A mix of frozen, fresh, pellet, and insect foods gives the best results.
3. How often should I feed my datnoid?
Juveniles need 1–2 small meals per day because they grow fast. Sub-adults can eat once a day, while adults usually need every day or every other day, depending on portion size. A good rule is to feed only what they can finish in 1–3 minutes.
4. Why is variety so important for datnoids?
Variety is important because datnoids are predators that eat many different prey types in nature. Feeding different foods gives better color, stronger immunity, improved digestion, and healthier growth. One food type alone is never enough for long-term health.
5. Can datnoids eat insects like mealworms and superworms?
Yes. Datnoids naturally eat insects in the wild, so mealworms, superworms, and crickets are excellent foods. They should be gut-loaded (fed nutritious food first) to increase vitamins and minerals. Always choose clean, safe insects.
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