Love my dojo loaches!

[FreshyFresh]

I've been on a casual lookout for these guys for years. Stores in my area cannot order or sell them to you because of them being on an invasive species list. I don't get that because I don't believe these loaches could survive the ~6months worth of freezing conditions my area has and I've certainly never seen one in local waterways. I eventually stumbled upon a source and got three. Because of them and a $1/gal sale at Petco, I broke down an older 29gal setup I had going and moved it's contents (endlers, assassin snails and plants) into a brand new sub-tropical 55gal setup for the new dojos.

They're so cute and active! Please forgive my horrible picture taking skills and equipment. Plus is tough to get a still shot. Two of them are speckled greenish-brown and one is a cool silvery-grey specked. The like lounging on the anubia leaves and burrowing through everything.

 

[tlindsey]

I've been on a casual lookout for these guys for years. Stores in my area cannot order or sell them to you because of them being on an invasive species list. I don't get that because I don't believe these loaches could survive the ~6months worth of freezing conditions my area has and I've certainly never seen one in local waterways. I eventually stumbled upon a source and got three. Because of them and a $1/gal sale at Petco, I broke down an older 29gal setup I had going and moved it's contents (endlers, assassin snails and plants) into a brand new sub-tropical 55gal setup for the new dojos.

They're so cute and active! Please forgive my horrible picture taking skills and equipment. Plus is tough to get a still shot. Two of them are speckled greenish-brown and one is a cool silvery-grey specked. The like lounging on the anubia leaves and burrowing through everything.

I've been trying to find them for sale myself. Want to add them to one of my aquariums with Fathead Minnow. Aquarium is unheated.

 

[FreshyFresh]

I've been trying to find them for sale myself. Want to add them to one of my aquariums with Fathead Minnow. Aquarium is unheated.

Yeah, I'm a little concerned about the water temperature situation. I obviously won't put a heater in this 55 because of the dojos, but the more I read up on them, the more it seems they really are a temperate fish as opposed to the sub-tropical they are typically described as. Temperate makes sense given the DOC's "ban" on them. I get it that they can live in about any water temperature though. Warm water just shortens their lifespan. Typical room temp where this tank is at is ~67F. It could get a degree or 2 colder in extreme winter conditions and the room temp could get as high as ~85F in the summer, but that doesn't last long at all in the N.East.

I've got countless little endlers in with them that I always have more of than I care to and I have mail ordered some gold barbs to go in with them as well.

Just got some sweet drift wood that I am going to scape this tank with and tie the big anubia bunches to.

I am so loving these dojos. They are a hoot to watch. They'll gobble food at the surface with the other fish and they'll skim the bottom as well. They like to prop themselves up vertically, so they can stand and watch you with their little seal faces.

 

[FreshyFresh]

I lost track of how many shirtless arm soaker attempts I've made at a scape so far. I'm not good at it. The only thing new in the tank is a large piece of fluval / Hagen mopani wood I mail ordered. It's bigger than a football After some attempts at using thread to tie the anubia to it, I gave up and used some smaller pieces of driftwood I had to weight down the shoots.

The dojos are so darn cute. They instantly investigate anything you are doing in the tank and will swim into your hand and nibble on you like the videos you see online. Two of mine are very curious and one is more cautious. Here's some horrible pics with a pic of my old pals that are on the tank above the dojo tank.

 

[Joshuakahan]

I've been on a casual lookout for these guys for years. Stores in my area cannot order or sell them to you because of them being on an invasive species list. I don't get that because I don't believe these loaches could survive the ~6months worth of freezing conditions my area has and I've certainly never seen one in local waterways. I eventually stumbled upon a source and got three. Because of them and a $1/gal sale at Petco, I broke down an older 29gal setup I had going and moved it's contents (endlers, assassin snails and plants) into a brand new sub-tropical 55gal setup for the new dojos.

They're so cute and active! Please forgive my horrible picture taking skills and equipment. Plus is tough to get a still shot. Two of them are speckled greenish-brown and one is a cool silvery-grey specked. The like lounging on the anubia leaves and burrowing through everything.

Nice!!

 

[FreshyFresh]

Here's a little clip of my dojos munching on an omega one veggie round. They are good eaters for sure. They'll skim the surface and bottom feed. I haven't noticed them eat from the water column though.

 

[Bluesandtwo]

They were the first fish i kept with purpose, after poorly treated goldfish. I think they are so much fun and massively underrated. Mine used to love burrowing and sticking their heads out, and were definitely social and interactive with each other!