Dojo in a river tank?

[Gargoyle131]

I'm planning a 55g river tank and was wondering if Dojos would be happy in a high current tank with hillstreams?



Thanks,
Gar

[Laura]

I believe dojos are cool water mountain stream fish, so I would expect they would be okay with current. I'm sure there are wiser loach folk than me out there who can confirm this though.

My bigger concern would be that my dojos can be real piggies - they smell food a mile away. I would be more worried that the hillies would get enough to eat with them around. Obviously this would apply more to things like frozen food rather than algae and rotifers (sp?)

My hillstreams are slow eaters though, and I don't have experience with faster/more aggressive hillstream loaches. Perhaps a differnt species than the gastromyzon would be fine.

[Gary Herring]

Hi Gar, welcome to LOL!

Unfortunatly no, IMO dojo's are not suitable for a river set - up. Although they do like cooler water, I would have to contradict Laura and say that Dojo's do not actually originate from mountain streams - quite the opposite in fact! Their natural habitats are shallow and slow moving rivers, paddies and ditches, and they are evolved and adapted to live in these stagnant, murky, and low oxygen conditions. They are even able to breath oxygen directly from the air!

This fact is well illustrated by many a Dojo keepers story's of them surviving for days on floors or carpets after jumping out of their tanks. They are able to do this by secreting a 'mucous' like fluid which stops them from drying out, as well as uptaking atmospheric oxygen.

Basically, the natural habitat of a hillstream loach is exactly the opposite of that of a dojo.

Also, as Laura said, feeding would also be an issue. But my main concern would be that they just could'nt handle the current.

Good luck with the river tank!

Gary

[sophie]

I'm with Gary on this one. Dojos can cope with some current; they're surprising strong swimmers, but they are not designed to be able to rest comfortably in current - and they spend a fair amount of time resting. They can tolerate low oxygen water, filthy water, shallow water (they can absorb oxygen through the gut and are the only farting fish I've come across) and this is absolutely the opposite of river and brook loaches. I think they'd be pretty unhappy in constant strong flow.

[Laura]

Whoopsie - thanks for the correction Gary and Sophie.

[Gargoyle131]

Alright then, thanks for the info. No dojo for me then. The only other tank I have is a 55g tropical.


Thanks,
Gar

[daspricey]

i wouldn't put one in a tropical tank, a coldwater or sub-tropical tank is the best for these facanating loach.

david

[chris1932]

I tryed this and my Hillstreams went to hiding all of the time. As fun as my two dojo are they can be a little intimidating. They are the bulls in the china shop.

Christian