Dojo Loach missing for 48 hours

[raynist]

Bought him on Sunday and put him in my 75g tank with sand bottom. Later in the day I moved a stone in the tank and he was under it. It starteled him and he took off and I have not seen him since. The sand bottom is 1.5 to 2 inches in depth. Is it normal for them to disapear for that amount of time? Keep in mind I am at work all day so I can't say he does not come out then. He is about 5 inches long.

--Ray

 

[bunjiweb]

Is it just the one? If so he will stay under a particular rock for endless ammounts of time, whilst coming out only to feed if it wants to. The only way to get them to come out is to get more friends for them. I used to have a single yoyo loach in a 15G. I got him one friend and he perked up but still hid. I got another and they started coming out alot more.

Now the three are with 3 zebra loaches in a 50G and they are constantly out and about and very playful with each other.

So the simple answer is.... friends.

Ben

 

[mmx]

A friend of mine had a similar thing happen with his Dojo... shortly after adding it to his tank, it disappeared, seemingly never to be seen again. Twelve months later having just emptied the tank to move it, the damn thing turned up, about twice as big and very much alive!

 

[livelife]

Dojo's are masters at hide-and-go-seek. Mine will bury himself completely under the substrate if the weather is turning nasty. If I don't see him in a 24 hour period, I go hunting for him to make sure he's still kicking...a little quirk of mine that he doesn't entirely appreciate.

 

[lucky62]

If you've looked all around outside the tank and didn't find it , it's probably in the sand .

I've found them both ways , outside my tank , dead as well as alive , and under my gravel while does tank maintenance with a gravel vac , that scared the crap out me and I sure the loach too .

 

[raynist]

Is it just the one? If so he will stay under a particular rock for endless ammounts of time, whilst coming out only to feed if it wants to. The only way to get them to come out is to get more friends for them. I used to have a single yoyo loach in a 15G. I got him one friend and he perked up but still hid. I got another and they started coming out alot more.

Now the three are with 3 zebra loaches in a 50G and they are constantly out and about and very playful with each other.

So the simple answer is.... friends.

Ben

Yep, it is just the one. I have another from a different tank that I tranplanted this evening, hopefully it will show its face now!

 

[handsomeboy]

i feel like such a pessimist for saying this, but i had a golden dojo once, and one day it dissappeared. i found it in the intake of the power filter, dead.

 

[bunjiweb]

That could happen to any fish on any setup handsomeboy... its a thing you have to look out for, but if your filter is fully functioning and flowing fast enough this should never be a problem...

Ben