Dojo Loaches In Pond

[MrNiceGuy]

im setting up about a 200-300 gallon pond. and to make it interesting i think dojo loaches are going to be the feature fish. a few goldfish, some minnows, and about 8 dojos. i'll be adding black sand as a substrate too if thats possible. any thoughts?


i live in pennsylvania over in the states. im thinking they might be able to survive the winter if they burrow in the sand.

 

[three-fingers]

I'd hope they don't survive the winter.

Because if they could survive the winter, stocking them into an outdoor pond would be a terrible idea for the environment.

Why would you want them in a pond anyway? You'd never see them. Not really a good feature fish IMO. Why not look into some interesting natives?

 

[MrNiceGuy]

I'd hope they don't survive the winter.

Because if they could survive the winter, stocking them into an outdoor pond would be a terrible idea for the environment.

Why would you want them in a pond anyway? You'd never see them. Not really a good feature fish IMO. Why not look into some interesting natives?

1 why would it be a terrible idea for the environment? please explain, i can't imagine what you mean by that.

2 why would i never see them? they're quite active in groups, and not just in the bottom region. and gold dojos with black sand would be pretty visible.

 

[Katty]

1 why would it be a terrible idea for the environment? please explain, i can't imagine what you mean by that.

2 why would i never see them? they're quite active in groups, and not just in the bottom region. and gold dojos with black sand would be pretty visible.

I don't mean to butt in, but I think they mean something like this. Also, if a species survives a winter in your area, it means that if it somehow gets out (flood, leak, bird?), it will be able to survive through the hardest season and possibly become invasive.

 

[MrNiceGuy]

1 why would it be a terrible idea for the environment? please explain, i can't imagine what you mean by that.

2 why would i never see them? they're quite active in groups, and not just in the bottom region. and gold dojos with black sand would be pretty visible.

I don't mean to butt in, but I think they mean something like this. Also, if a species survives a winter in your area, it means that if it somehow gets out (flood, leak, bird?), it will be able to survive through the hardest season and possibly become invasive.

?...

this is a small pond that im building in my backyard.

 

[Katty]

I meant if they get out into the local waterways, if your area floods and washes them out, or if a bird or other animal carries them out and drops them in a river or lake somewhere else before eating them. There are plenty of cases of animals and plants being brought into different areas by people and managing to escape or being released, and then wreaking havoc on the local ecosystems. It seems this exact species has done this before in Europe and the risk of introducing an invasive species to your area is higher by keeping them outdoors.

I can't say what your area is like, maybe you live in the middle of the desert or a very secure pond and there's no chance it could get out. It's really up to you, just giving you food for thought.

 

[MrNiceGuy]

I meant if they get out into the local waterways, if your area floods and washes them out, or if a bird or other animal carries them out and drops them in a river or lake somewhere else before eating them. There are plenty of cases of domestic animals and plants getting out and wreaking havoc on the local ecosystems, and it seems this exact species has done this before and the risk is higher by keeping them outdoors.

but wouldnt a bird have to take 2 of them and drop them both in the same waterway in order for them to even have a chance of reproducing?... seems pretty unlikely. the closest natural body of water is a creek about a mile away, and my area doesnt flood much at all. the pond is surrounded by grass for quite a while either way.

im a little surprised at how cynical these responses are... jeez, take it easy people.

 

[Katty]

I wasn't trying to be cynical, sorry I came off that way. I was just trying to provide clarification on 3 Fingers's post and information. I take environment preservation very seriously . If you see enough Australian Cane Toad documentaries and it starts to scare you a little. I live close to lots of water, so that is probably skewing my view. If you live in the middle of grass and dunes, by all means go ahead and disregard their invasive tendencies, they'll probably never leave your yard.

 

[MrNiceGuy]

I wasn't trying to be cynical, sorry I came off that way. I was just trying to provide clarification on 3 Fingers's post and information. I take environment preservation very seriously

no hard feelins, you were well intended.