6 gallon ADF tank

[GaryE]

I got curious with this thread, even though I have only babysat these creatures, and never had them here for long. When I look at their original habitats, I would expect a temperature range from around 20-22, up to 26 in some places. They seem to have similar habitats to many killies from equatorial Africa, although with water that's still. Those forest ponds under the canopy were usually between 22 and 24 when we measured them. Some of the killies from higher elevations in the region are good around 20.
In forested or degraded habitats, the water was around 24 in Gabon, right on the equator. But that destruction is recent.
The magic number for Cichlids from the region is often 26, but the wider streams they like are exposed to the sun all day. The little creeks around them are often dark, heavily shaded places where the water doesn't heat up. It's weird to be in mid-day darkness with only the narrow road lit by the sun. Some of the fish we brought back seem very unhappy above 22 degrees.
When I can't get accurate natural history info on a creature, I try checking the info on the creatures that live with them in nature. ADFs are surrounded in hobby lore, but I always start by ignoring hobby info and going to field data. Then I go to see what hobbyists have done with that.

 

[Seisage]

I got curious with this thread, even though I have only babysat these creatures, and never had them here for long. When I look at their original habitats, I would expect a temperature range from around 20-22, up to 26 in some places. They seem to have similar habitats to many killies from equatorial Africa, although with water that's still. Those forest ponds under the canopy were usually between 22 and 24 when we measured them. Some of the killies from higher elevations in the region are good around 20.
In forested or degraded habitats, the water was around 24 in Gabon, right on the equator. But that destruction is recent.
The magic number for Cichlids from the region is often 26, but the wider streams they like are exposed to the sun all day. The little creeks around them are often dark, heavily shaded places where the water doesn't heat up. It's weird to be in mid-day darkness with only the narrow road lit by the sun. Some of the fish we brought back seem very unhappy above 22 degrees.
When I can't get accurate natural history info on a creature, I try checking the info on the creatures that live with them in nature. ADFs are surrounded in hobby lore, but I always start by ignoring hobby info and going to field data. Then I go to see what hobbyists have done with that.

This is something I had been thinking about too. I had been meaning to try to find information and environmental data on their natural habitats, but the chaos of life kept thwarting that. But I did know they were from equatorial Africa in forested streams and the like, so I had suspected they naturally live at cooler temperatures. It's lucky that we have someone on this forum who's actually been in those habitats and remembers specific things like temperature readings.

I had made a vague promise to get an adjustable heater for this tank to keep it at 75-76F and kept putting it off because the frogs always seemed fine and I wasn't particularly excited to spend another $20 on a heater. Well, seems my laziness ended up paying off because the tank in its unheated state ranges from 71-73F (21.5-23C), which fits perfectly with what you observed in situ.

If you read my initial posts about temperature requirements, you saw me run into the exact issue you mentioned regarding hobby lore. It's something I've been running into while researching the tree frogs I'm planning to get as well. Different lines of information get so twisted and discolored over time as people in the hobby try to assert inferences they've made based on their own care setups. I think that's the curse of hardy species. It can be hard to know what's ideal for them when they tolerate relatively wide ranges of conditions. And ADFs have been in the hobby long enough for their native habitat to be rather forgotten about.

 

[Lcc86]

I'll be honest I keep mine a bit higher than that, the tank is at 25°c/77°f. I've never noticed any issues with it at that temperature but then again, don't know exactly how such issues might manifest. I could probably do with turning the heater down a tad.

 

[Seisage]

I'll be honest I keep mine a bit higher than that, the tank is at 25°c/77°f. I've never noticed any issues with it at that temperature but then again, don't know exactly how such issues might manifest. I could probably do with turning the heater down a tad.

Well, right, I think that's the root of the high variation in care advice for these critters. They seem to do well at higher temperatures too. At least well enough that any detrimental effects are minor and therefore aren't easily noticed. My tank was at 78-80F/25-26C when I was using the spare secondhand pre-set heater I had, and the frogs seemed perfectly fine. Really, my primary motivation for transitioning back to unheated was when I thought I might be getting some taiwan bee shrimp.

 

[Lcc86]

Well, right, I think that's the root of the high variation in care advice for these critters. They seem to do well at higher temperatures too. At least well enough that any detrimental effects are minor and therefore aren't easily noticed. My tank was at 78-80F/25-26C when I was using the spare secondhand pre-set heater I had, and the frogs seemed perfectly fine. Really, my primary motivation for transitioning back to unheated was when I thought I might be getting some taiwan bee shrimp.

Yeah see mine live with cories so it's trying to keep a balance where they're all happy, but I think now that its getting marginally warmer here the tank is getting a little hotter unintentionally.