How can I subdue the lighting for my dojo loaches?

[Tasha93x]

Any ideas on how to subdue the lighting in my tank for my dojo loaches??

Thanks

[starsplitter7]

My Dojos are floating divas, so I put in lots of floating plants like anacharis and java moss. My Dojos sleep in it, grab food that settles in it, rest on top of it, . . . and it subdues the lighting in the tank. Right now my Dojo tank is 1/3 Java moss, and my Dojos and eels are always asleep inside the bundle.

[Dojosmama]

Likewise here. Floating plants will provide shade, as will handy caves in the tank. I have floating hornwort, java moss and water sprite in my tank. Had anacharis, but transferred it to my goldfish tubs. I give my Dojos lots of little hiding places, and they love to use the floating plants for beds. Floaters are also great for Red Cherry Shrimp to hang out in. I also have soft little moss balls on the substrate. The Dojos like to move these around when digging in the gravel for food.

-- Dojosmama

[Tasha93x]

Thank you very much for replying Dojosmama and starsplitter7. I've been to all the loach pet stores around and sadly the plants weren't in good condition (if they actually had any) due to the freezing weather we've had recently I was wondering if you can purchase plants online?? I had a look but they are mainly artificial!
Also, as I know goldfish like the chomp on the plants I was wondering if the plants you both mentioned (hornwort, java moss, water sprite and anacharis) would be eaten by my goldfish to the point it isn't really worth buying them??
Thanks again!

[glenna]

I have water wisteria in with the dojos and they love to lounge in the branches. I am going to be moving them to a cooler and bigger tank, so I hope it will be able to travel along with them! The wisteria grows and grows and does not require special light or substrate ( I initially put a piece in the Q tank to make it less stressful and it just TOOK OFF. Now I have to regularly cull that little 10 gallon tank with the same lousy store light it came with!)
They really do love the plants, so I hope you will be able to find some that don't get eaten too severely by the other fish,...
I really do not mind too much if the fish eat some of the plants. After all, it is trying to be a natural setting. If they like to eat it, I say, go ahead! as long as it is not some expensive lilly, or something like that!

[starsplitter7]

I have the broadleafed wisteria, and it grows like crazy and makes plantlets and reproduces like crazy. Two plants, and I have stocked five tanks. I don't have it in tanks with plant eating fish. The java moss doesn't seem to get eaten, but I don't have goldfish. It is also low fuss, takes over everything. I keep extra in a bucket outside to replenish my stock when it gets low -- no lighting, in freezing temps, I haven't found anything that kills java moss.

[Dojosmama]

Those of us with Java Moss need prefilter sponges on the intake tubes of our filters, or they get clogged up pretty fast from that stuff.

Thought one of my little Dojos was sick for awhile, but I guess he just brushed up against something in the tank that shed onto his barbel. It was gone from there the next day. He seems fine, now. I had just finished vacuuming the gravel and changed the aquascaping, and maybe it took him awhile to get used to it. He's back to his old self, hogging the o-nips from the other fish.

Goldfish, from what I understand, are big plant eaters, and I know mine have devoured the leaves off the floating anacharis I put into their tubs. Rosy barbs will also eat that. The latter don't seem to bother the hornwort very much, but goldies might still eat it.

-- Dojosmama

[Francois van Brederode]

Because of water movement I can't use floating plants, they simply die at record pace.

I use the following to sudue my lighting.
Get some metallic tape, the stuff they use to seal up leaks in hot-air-piping.
I don't know what it is called exactly but it looks and feels like thick aluminum foil with a very sticky side.
I put this tape on the TL-tubes directly, making sure I cover the bottom half (the side pointing to the water)
This tape lets no light true whatsoever.

In this way there is no direct lighting in the tank at all.
The only light you get is reflected light from te cover.

I used this in my tank for Moose-faced loaches, as these like it in the shade.
Also I use it in my other tanks to create less well illuminates areas whese I grow Crypto's.

Mind you, I use this on T8 tubes. (and never completely all-around)
I don't know if T5's can take it, I mean your light still need to lose their heat and all.

[Dojosmama]

Not sure why water movement is a problem for floating plants. I have some good currents going in my tank, and my floaters thrive.

I forgot to add that I also have pads of riccia floating on the surface, and these make wonderful little "beds" for dojos to rest on, as well as my minnows and danios which like to sleep in them during the night.

Water movement doesn't seem to phase my plants or my fish. And the more water movement there is, the better the oxygenation.

I have an Aqua-Clear 50 hob on my 20-gallon-high tank, with the flow valve wide open. In addition, in the opposite corner, I have a 4-inch airstone standing vertically on the substrate, powered by an external pump. No problems with either.

-- dojosmama