Loaches Online Forum

I have had my dojo loach for over 5 years. Within the last 2 years he has started hiding in the substrate for MONTHS at a time every 2-4 months when he pops up again he looks and acts healthy. Any ideas why? Oh and the substrate is just plain old black gravel from the pet store. I have a 95 gallon tank with a 5 year old pleco and about 20 guppies 4 ghost cat fish 2 clown loaches about 15 ghost shrimp, give or take, a male and female beta and I think a botie loach.

It is common for them to hide like this, sometimes all they have out of the gravel is the head.
I have 2 Dojod in a tank, and only yesterday saw both of them at the same time since I moved them into this tank. One likes to climb into the plants, so I see this one almost daily. The other is the burrowing one.

perhaps the loach hides a lot because he doesn't have any friends to play with. Dojos love to be in groups or at least as a pair. Mine swim around all the time and it seems they encourage eachother to.

Hi Pywakyt,

What size aquarium do you have, and are all the fish you listed in the same tank? I was concerned because clown loaches prefer much higher temperatures to that of the Dojos, and there really is no 'happy medium' for these two species. Dojos definitely require company of their own kind, as has already been pointed out, and yours, if it likes to burrow, would benefit from you changing the gravel substrate over to fine aquatic sand.

This article may be of interest: http://www.loaches.com/articles/weather-report

Best wishes,

Emma

Thank you guys...I just may have to set another aquarium OH NO lol. Any good ideas on tank mates for him and would he bo okay in a 20 gallon. And yes all those fish are together in 95-100 gallon tank...but hopefully not for long.

I would suggest a minimum tank size of 3' (1 meter) long for an immature Dojo and friends, but 4' or more (120 cm) for adult Dojos. They can be very active, and race from one end to the other, and they are not small fish!

You are looking for fish that thrive in temperatures in the mid 60s to low 70s F (Upper teens to low 20s C)
Tankmates that thrive in the low temperature that Dojos like:
Platies, Gold Barbs, Goldfish (50 gallon minimum tank) Several species of Pleco (tank size depending on species), White Cloud Minnows (small fish, likely to get eaten by some of the larger fish), Spotted Doradid, Pepper Cories and some other species. Have a look at www.planetcatfish.com for the Cories (and other cats) that handle low temperatures. Many of the Danios. I would look into the larger Danios (smallest species may get eaten) and remember that these fish are also going to demand a longer tank.

A proper set up for a community like this would be a tank at least 4' long, and average height (standard tank) is fine if you are including Danios or other mid-to-upper tank fish, or a long, low tank ('breeder' style) is better if you are concentrating on bottom fish. Plenty of bottom space is important, so I would really go in the direction of a lower, wider tank, and not a tall one.

Plenty of water movement from filter and additional power head. Most of these fish demand high oxygen levels, and this is best achieved with lots of water movement. The whole tank dose not need to be in motion, though. The fish will seek out quieter areas, too.

Planting is difficult with a tank like this. Dojos are burrowing fish, and so large they can easily uproot large plants. I would use Java Moss and Java Fern and tie it to driftwood. You could put plants in a protected area with lots of rocks that would discourage the burrowing.