What To Do With A Dojo?

[botiaboy]

Basically this is a choice of the lesser of 2 evils: I have a dojo loach in a 5 gallon tank, which is WAY too small, but would it be better to move it to my 150 gallon which is WAY too warm? The 5 gallon gets pretty warm in the summer anyway; woud the dojo loach adapt to warm water permanently and be happier in a big tank?

 

[N0body Of The Goat]

How warm is the 150 gallon?

What fish are already in the 150 gallon?

 

[botiaboy]

the 150 gallon is kept at around 26-27 degrees C, and my 150 is a community tank of mostly medium-sized SA fish, plus some loaches like yoyos and kubotai.

 

[N0body Of The Goat]

Can you list the species in the 150g for us, please? We can then see if it is feasible to run the 150g at 24C, the absolute highest regular temp for a Weather Loach.

5g is no place for a social fish that needs a group of Dojos with it and should reach at least 20C. How did you come to own a single Dojo and then house it in a nano tank? I have eight Dojos living in my 5-foot tank at 22C, who have grown from ~8cm to ~16cm in less than nine months.

 

[botiaboy]

Long story short; we got caught in a horrible move where we were stuck living in a basement of a friend for over a year. She used to share a 55 gallon with another dojo and a few goldfish; the other dojo and the goldfish all died off b/c we had no choice but to move them all into a 5g when we moved xP. It's a miracle that the poor girl has lived so long, thats why I'd like to move her into the 150 where she will have some room to grow at least.
Fish in the 150:
Congo Tetras
Yoyo Loaches
Clown Loach
Kubotai Loach
Gymnogeophagus Gymnogenys
Pictus Catfish
Bumblebee catfish
Cherry Barbs
Black Neons
2 Plecos (Gibbiceps and flash)
Soon to be a pair of geophagus tapajo

 

[N0body Of The Goat]

Sadly it does not look feasible to lower the temperature enough, 24C would probably stress your Geos (although apparently G. gymnogenys like a cool winter period) and your Clown Loaches.

In your shoes, I would advertise the Dojo in the hope of finding someone local to adopt it to an existing group and the meantime move it to the 150 gallon (with a longish drip acclimitisation period of ~90 minutes), perhaps having dropped the temp a fraction in the 150g to 25/26C.

 

[botiaboy]

the only one would be the clown; the gymnos actually prefer the temperature cooler. The clown is still young; could it adapt to cooler temps? I am really quite attactched to this dojo; if my parents would let me I'd have my 55 set up for him in a heartbeat.