Loach combo question

[StrangeSavant]

You guys are gonna hate me. I have yet another question.

At a local Petsmart they have about 7 botia kubotai and I wanted to snag a few of them. However, the lady at the store told me they were rather aggressive and would pick on my (very small) dojo loach.

Is this true?

[plaalye]

I've never had my kubotai pick on any other fish, but fish(like people) can vary in temperament. The PETSMART employees that I've dealt with have been clueless.
Your dojo is a cool water fish and the kubotai are not so It would be better to keep them in different tanks with the proper conditions.
I don't think anyone here is going to hate you for asking questions.

[helen nightingale]

please dont worry about asking questions. people here would rather you ask, than go and do something silly and then hit problems.

i am afraid Plaalye is right, dojos and kubs dont go together because of their different temeprature requirements. if you have space (dojos can get surprisingly big!) you would be best to get your dojo some dojo friends

[starsplitter7]

I agree with them both. Get yourself some more Dojos. I love mine -- like a bunch of puppies, eat from my fingers, great whiskers, and and active happy bunch. I have a few over 6" and growing.

[Diana]

Ditto... Ditto....

Kubs tend not to be too aggressive, quite good community fish, IME. Of course it is always possible to have an odd one that is at the far end of the range for the species.

Best to keep fish in conditions pretty close to optimum for water chemistry, including temperature. This way, if something goes wrong there is a big safety margin on both sides for you to notice the problem before the fish are in trouble.

According to the species profiles here at Loaches the Kubs are OK down to 75*F, and the Dojos are OK up to 77*F, but this is not their optimum temperature. I would not keep two species with such different needs in the same tank.

[StrangeSavant]

I think I need to get a new heater... on the lowest setting mine makes the tank 80 degrees. What about my other fish, then? I have some black skirt tetras and a couple gouramis, will they hate the colder water?

Other dojos... okay. I will have to be patient. I can't find any around here. I posted before about the ones I got from Pet Co.... they have one more, but I think I'll leave it there.

[starsplitter7]

I remove my heaters from about April til December, because my tanks stay naturally warm, because my house is warm when it is warm outside. I bet you are in the same problem. I saw you are in NM.

I don't want my heaters accidently turning on during the summer, and overheating my fish. I also keep the lights off all day, and turn them on for a couple house at night, so can see the fish.

You may need to find a chiller or many people run a fan across the top of the water to keep their fish cool. I have a lot of jumpers so that isn't an option.