Help! Dojo Loach Advice

[Zucchini_Muncher2]

The tank temperature is a bit tricky since I live in a very hot area. Without a heater the tank stays at a good 77 usually in the summer time so I do keep it at a 75 in case it gets too cold.

I’m not sure how I could correct that but if there’s something I can do to cool it down I’d be open to it!

As for the top on the tank I’ll have to make a better backing for the wires but I do have a mesh lid to cover the tank! It came with since I got mine of Facebook marketplace and I just kept the thing and fixed it up.

Piker doesn't seem to care about jumping yet but I’m sure he’ll figure it out soon. I might just make two lids since the one is a rough move during feeding time. I’m debating making it two separate pieces or just having a latched door to open and shut. I guess it just depends on if I can figure out how to go about that but I’ll probably be making a new cover soon either way.


I’ve tried keeping Java and Anubias before but haven’t had much luck. But I have gotten a new light since then so I can see if that helps keep them alive more than my fertilizer has

 

[fishthatfit]

77 is not really a problem. Dojos are happiest somewhere around 65 to 75, but they sit in the high 70s without complaining, and 80 plus is where I would actually start doing something about it. Your pleco wants to be up in that range anyway. With the heater set to 75 in a room that holds the tank at 77, the heater simply never switches on all summer, which is exactly what you want it doing.

If you do want a couple of degrees back, a small clip fan angled across the water surface is the whole trick. Evaporation is what does the cooling, so figure on 2 to 4F, more if your heat is dry rather than humid. The cost is water level. You will be topping off a lot more often, and evaporation leaves the minerals behind, so your GH creeps up over a summer if you only ever top off and never change water.

That is also the argument for keeping the new lid mesh instead of going solid glass. Mesh lets the vapour out so the fan actually works, and it still stops him going over the side. A sealed glass top gives you neither.

The thing I would watch at 77 is oxygen rather than heat. Saturation drops from about 9.1 mg/L at 68F to 8.3 at 77, and a big old common pleco is the one that notices that before the loach does. The fan buys you surface agitation at the same time, so it is the same fix twice.