What temperature?
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If you have answers, please help by responding to the unanswered posts.
If you have answers, please help by responding to the unanswered posts.
rich311k
Aquarium Advice Addict
75-80 will work just fine.
black hills tj
Aquarium Advice Addict
all i have to say is...
prepare for fry
prepare for fry
BillD
Aquarium Advice Addict
For those fish 68 to 76 F would be fine. All my livebearer tanks are unheated, and the temp ranges from 66F to about 74F, depending on time of year. The fish may grow a little slower at lower temps, but they generally live longer.
QTOFFER
Aquarium Advice Addict
68 seems a bit low for tropicals. I would think that they would prefer temps in the mid - high 70s. BillD, I'm curious if you notice smaller livebearer broods in your unheated tanks during the winter months.
I keep my tanks at 78oF. What you don't want is very large temperature shifts during the course of the day. Like pH, the tank temp should remain fairly stable.
I keep my tanks at 78oF. What you don't want is very large temperature shifts during the course of the day. Like pH, the tank temp should remain fairly stable.
BillD
Aquarium Advice Addict
My unheated tanks are warmer in the winter than summer, due to airconditioning, and the tanks being in the basement. I can't honestly say what the brood sizes are like, as I make no effort to seperate them. I have one tank with guppys, and two with variatus. In the past, when I used to pay more attention to those types of things, I did note that the broods were about the same size, depending on the size of the female. Of course, the length of time between broods was slightly longer.
There are some advantages to lower temps, in my experience. By lower temps, I mean at the lower end of the range of preference for a species. Cooler water hold more oxygen, and has less bacteria, so I believe you will have less disease. I also have a 15 with 3 Pseudeotropeus flavus that is unheated, and they are very active, and eat lots, so the lower temp does not seem a detriment to them. Their growth may be slower, but I can't imagine them being more active.
I do know that swordtails and platies thrive in outdoor ponds, where you have a daily temp fluctuation.
The whole problem here is that we keep a variety of fishes from a variety of habitats, that have varying temps, and try to lump them together as if they were the same. The reality is that they seem (for the most part) able to adapt to a wide range of temps, pH, hardness.
There are some advantages to lower temps, in my experience. By lower temps, I mean at the lower end of the range of preference for a species. Cooler water hold more oxygen, and has less bacteria, so I believe you will have less disease. I also have a 15 with 3 Pseudeotropeus flavus that is unheated, and they are very active, and eat lots, so the lower temp does not seem a detriment to them. Their growth may be slower, but I can't imagine them being more active.
I do know that swordtails and platies thrive in outdoor ponds, where you have a daily temp fluctuation.
The whole problem here is that we keep a variety of fishes from a variety of habitats, that have varying temps, and try to lump them together as if they were the same. The reality is that they seem (for the most part) able to adapt to a wide range of temps, pH, hardness.
theotheragentm
Aquarium Advice Addict
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- Nov 1, 2006
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I shoot for about 74 on my livebearer tanks. It's right in the middle range that we don't all exactly agree on, so it comes out working for both camps of thought.
QTOFFER
Aquarium Advice Addict
Thanks, BillD. I was curious if cooler temp slowed down livebearer reproduction - apparently it does to some degree. Your other points make sense, especially your desire to select cool water tolerance in your population.
So true...not to mention the fact that most tropical fish available in the hobby trade are mass bred in warm weather locales. The resulting lack of genetic diversity and the inadvertent selection of warm water preferring fish lead to less adaptability to varying temps, pH, etc.
For this reason, I would continue to advise the majority of AA members, who buy their tropical fish from pet/aquarium stores, to keep their tanks at 76 - 80oF.
BillD said:
So true...not to mention the fact that most tropical fish available in the hobby trade are mass bred in warm weather locales. The resulting lack of genetic diversity and the inadvertent selection of warm water preferring fish lead to less adaptability to varying temps, pH, etc.
For this reason, I would continue to advise the majority of AA members, who buy their tropical fish from pet/aquarium stores, to keep their tanks at 76 - 80oF.
