coldwater fish FINALLY
- Thread starter Sgooosh
- Start date
OP
OP
no, i am keeping fish in it...
the larvae will be a tasty snack for some livebearers thoughj
ArmchairAquariest
New Member
If you wants some fun "riparium" plants to grow up out of the "back" (assuming you have a back and it isn't a middle-of-the-room thing) I recommend:
1. yellow water iris
2. cattails
3. cardinal flower
They are all cold water plants and will happily grow right up through the lily pads into the air above. They will however need to be started only two inches or less from the water-surface (which you can do in another container like a plastic tub until you are ready to transplant them as they get bigger) but as they get big water iris and cardinal plants can be planted like 4-6 inches below the surface, and cattails can be planted down about 2 feet below the surface (and depending on the species can grow a full six feet above the surface from down there, but to keep them from being disproportionate with your container and other plants you might want to get a dwarf-cattail species, there are some very nice looking variegated dwarf ones if you go that way.)
If you start cattails from live plants or root stocks YOU ABSOLUTELY NEED TO TRY AND CLEEN AND QUARENTEEN THESE FIRST for like a month. Cattails are like an eco-system keystone species and they basically carry a big chunk of the ecosystem from pond they came from with them in some sort of form. I bought some root stock and planted one in a glass container, and without adding anything else I found within a month I had: at least two species of rotifer, snails, some sort of daphnia or Miona, a rich collection of critters under the microscope, leeches, a small assortment of different types of segmented and detritus worms, and a few other things I am forgetting at the moment. Cattails are great plants and support a lot of life while eating a lot of fish poop, but they are their own self-contained ecosystems so be sure to wash them thoroughly with soap, water, and hydrogen peroxide before quarantining them for a while. That is unless you want to play the game of "how many species of free-loader stowaways am I cultivating now?" and try to build a tank around that like I accidentally did (not recommended, but it has worked out okay for me minus the leaches eating all the snails I added as well as the snails that came with the cattail.)
Fun Fact: Unlike other Cory Cats salt and pepper corys are actually cold water. Breeders often put ice-cubes in their tanks to get them to breed as they apparently do so around winter time in the wild when it gets icy in their range. Of course if you are looking for uniquely cold water species instead of a type of common Cory Cats you could go get some mad-tom catfish instead. There are some really cute and relatively tiny mad-tom species.
Also an often overlooked but fun member of the clean up crew for cold water is ghost shrimp. They are actually pretty happy down to the lower 60s F (maybe 16C). Many of their guides say 75F as a recommended temperature, but they are all from North American bodies of water of which most freeze-over regularly. They are more active at 75F to be sure, but while slower they are perfectly happy down into the lower 60s, and they love them some dark heavily planted containers. ... your water might be a little soft though if you are doing wood and lava rock, but as far as shrimp go these little guys are pretty acid tolerant, down to pH 6.5, and can take a low mineral content (I believe their shells are mostly chitin, which is organic and has no dependency on calcium or other mineral availability). Just be sure to give them a pinch of eggshell regularly and they will probably be okay unless you are noticeably below pH 6.5 at which point you are probably beyond being able to support most crustaceans -- with the possible exception of Hyallela azteca (controversial to put in tanks as far as maintaining the tank ecosystem) and maybe some finger nail clams (which I am addicted to and try to put in every body of fresh water I control but others probably think I am a crazy weirdo about doing that.)
1. yellow water iris
2. cattails
3. cardinal flower
They are all cold water plants and will happily grow right up through the lily pads into the air above. They will however need to be started only two inches or less from the water-surface (which you can do in another container like a plastic tub until you are ready to transplant them as they get bigger) but as they get big water iris and cardinal plants can be planted like 4-6 inches below the surface, and cattails can be planted down about 2 feet below the surface (and depending on the species can grow a full six feet above the surface from down there, but to keep them from being disproportionate with your container and other plants you might want to get a dwarf-cattail species, there are some very nice looking variegated dwarf ones if you go that way.)
If you start cattails from live plants or root stocks YOU ABSOLUTELY NEED TO TRY AND CLEEN AND QUARENTEEN THESE FIRST for like a month. Cattails are like an eco-system keystone species and they basically carry a big chunk of the ecosystem from pond they came from with them in some sort of form. I bought some root stock and planted one in a glass container, and without adding anything else I found within a month I had: at least two species of rotifer, snails, some sort of daphnia or Miona, a rich collection of critters under the microscope, leeches, a small assortment of different types of segmented and detritus worms, and a few other things I am forgetting at the moment. Cattails are great plants and support a lot of life while eating a lot of fish poop, but they are their own self-contained ecosystems so be sure to wash them thoroughly with soap, water, and hydrogen peroxide before quarantining them for a while. That is unless you want to play the game of "how many species of free-loader stowaways am I cultivating now?" and try to build a tank around that like I accidentally did (not recommended, but it has worked out okay for me minus the leaches eating all the snails I added as well as the snails that came with the cattail.)
Fun Fact: Unlike other Cory Cats salt and pepper corys are actually cold water. Breeders often put ice-cubes in their tanks to get them to breed as they apparently do so around winter time in the wild when it gets icy in their range. Of course if you are looking for uniquely cold water species instead of a type of common Cory Cats you could go get some mad-tom catfish instead. There are some really cute and relatively tiny mad-tom species.
Also an often overlooked but fun member of the clean up crew for cold water is ghost shrimp. They are actually pretty happy down to the lower 60s F (maybe 16C). Many of their guides say 75F as a recommended temperature, but they are all from North American bodies of water of which most freeze-over regularly. They are more active at 75F to be sure, but while slower they are perfectly happy down into the lower 60s, and they love them some dark heavily planted containers. ... your water might be a little soft though if you are doing wood and lava rock, but as far as shrimp go these little guys are pretty acid tolerant, down to pH 6.5, and can take a low mineral content (I believe their shells are mostly chitin, which is organic and has no dependency on calcium or other mineral availability). Just be sure to give them a pinch of eggshell regularly and they will probably be okay unless you are noticeably below pH 6.5 at which point you are probably beyond being able to support most crustaceans -- with the possible exception of Hyallela azteca (controversial to put in tanks as far as maintaining the tank ecosystem) and maybe some finger nail clams (which I am addicted to and try to put in every body of fresh water I control but others probably think I am a crazy weirdo about doing that.)
Yes, you can keep Flagfish in their.
OP
OP
can i keep monstera deliciosa , pothos, and pineapple plants there?
they are half water
i will probably do plants first though
i wactually do want ghost shrimp
ArmchairAquariest
New Member
Sadly I actually know very little about keeping the plants you just listed so I can't fully comment. I think those are all tropical, but one of the secrets of most tropical plants is that as long as they can be kept from getting within a few degrees of freezing they can usually tolerate cold(er) water. For instance, even though they are from the depths of the tropics, freezing is just about the only thing that keeps water hyacinth from destroying all the fresh water bodies on earth as if it were ice-nine. My limited knowledge of pothos is that, yes, as long as it never gets within a few degrees of freezing you can just about grow it anyway, anywhere, anyhow. If someone is sleeping too long and too deeply you could probably successfully plant pothos in all the natural holes in their head and the plants would happily take root and grow.
If you are going to take a risk with tropical(ish) plants in cold water then let me recommend Canna, and Crinum (Crinum is more often called "bog lily" or "crinum lily" even though it isn't even remotely related to lilies at all and is about as much a misnomer as you can possibly get.) My experience with growing Crinum emergent in unheated (but never too close to freezing) water has been extremely good and some of them are very pretty (<- I actually have one of exactly those growing emersed right now, but it is a much much smaller less glorious looking plant at the moment.) Once Crinum gets established and is well fertilized I have never had an emersed one die on me even in cold water. I have had mixed success keeping Canna in emersed growing conditions; I can usually get them to live about a year before something goes wrong that I can't figure out. But I keep trying to grow canna because they are just absolutely glorious looking plants that take little "ponds" or planter equivalents into a whole other level of visual awe. Also once they get established and at close to full height they can be planted a little over six inches deep in water allowing you to get some beautiful and impressive emersed growth from the slightly deeper parts of your tanks, ponds, or planters where the selection of effective emersed plants is much smaller especially among the nicer looking flowering options.
Christen26
New Member
My pond has feeder goldfish.
They can last for years and grow to about 6 inches each of enough space available.
I'm probably not answering your question. But mine survive the bitter cold nights of Southern California.
All Tanichthys
OP
OP
cool fish!!All Tanichthys
20 gallons tank i figured out!
aww that is awesome, the barrel is 20 or so gallons sadly.
i sure wish i could have some of those guys!
that is good, in the winter in cali where i am there is about 1 or 2 days of freezing.
what do i do with that?
So did you find what you want to have?
OP
OP
Yeah
Lotus
Minnows of some sorts or rosy barbs if i can find it
Emersed misc wild and bought plants
and hardy and unfussy !
OP
OP
Ill def get em if i can find!!
Always wanted a carp species! And they are very cute
OP
OP
Ok…To me, T. "micagemma" is the prettiest
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