I bought two dojo loaches about two months ago, and while they are doing well in my tank and getting along with my goldfish, I was trying to think of something to add in my tank to help them feel more comfortable. I've noticed one of them constantly pushing against the gravel like he's trying to dig under it. but I think it may be too heavy for him. The tank has some fake plants and an ornament for them to hide around, but what kind of substrate do y'all use to allow them to dig and hide?

I use just plain old gravel. I have plenty of ornaments in the tank for them too. Right down to a 'crashed vehicle' that they LOVE to go into. I have a photo of one of them in the car... appears to be driving it.

My dojo's were so small when i first go them. About 3 inches maybe. But now... one of them is almost 8 inches and the other is about 6. They can push a lot of things around... very strong they are. And Holy cow can they slam against the glass when startled.

I have a fake hollow log with many many holes in it. Standard one that's used. Here's a picture. THe dojos' go inside it.. under it... everywhere. They did in the gravel and go under the log. It's plastic so it's not that heavy. They definitely like going inside it.

The red writing says " <---- you can see his head here ". But photobucket resized the picture so it's too small to read. Sorry. His head is that dark spot under the log in the gravel. He's completely burried under there. I tapped the glass and he flew out of there like the dickens.

Dojo's definately appreciate the fake log/cave'hidey holes,etc.They're quite the bold outgoing fish,but they still get a great pleasure at hiding and peeking!
I think that I have ten of them now,and out of all those,I have two that prefer to hide most of the time.They're actually two of my originals who I think were a little "Tramatized" when first bought because they were small at the time and the pig face Goldies thought they were fries. Til this day,the one has a kinked back to prove it.