Platies From Cold To Tropical

[Jeyjey]

I now realise that platies are tropical water fish. Unfortunately, the aquarium I bought my fish from stressed that they were COLD water fish. I went home and read up on them, went back to him and asked him again, if he was sure, and he said he definitely was.

About two months ago, I had bought a large tank, cycled, filled it with an assortment of cold water community fish and a group of seven platies. Because none died within the first month, and they seemed quite happy, active, peaceful and they were eating well, I thought the guy at the aquarium was right...but I kept reading over and over again that they were tropical fish, which concerned me quite a bit. My pregnant platy soon died, then another followed. Because of my worry, I decided to buy another tank and set it up as a tropical one.

Now, I was wondering, would my surviving platies go into shock if I took them out of their cold water environment and put them in the new warm tank? Do I need to gradually introduce them into the warmer environment? I don't want to kill them...if they're happy in the cold tank then maybe I should leave them be. But then, that's not their natural environment...help, please?

Thanks

 

[Curiosity101]

Definitely put them into a tropical tank. Although fish can react badly to large temperature swings it'll be better for them in the long run to switch to tropical.

I suggest...
1. Move a bit of mature filter media over from the cold water tank and put it into the tropical tank before you move the platies over.
2. Put the heater in the tank on it's lowest setting (don't switch it on yet).
3. Move the platies over.
4. Switch the heater on.
5. Keep an eye on the temp the tank is raised to, with healthy fish I'd be comfortable raising the temp by 4 degrees over the period of the day.

Presumably the tank is currently running at around 18C? Raising it to 22C will be a good start, then tomorrow raise it up to around 24C. Bear in mind that fish cool down when shipped... this isn't exactly the same as these fish have been in cool water for quite some time, but I really can't see you having any problems.

 

[Jeyjey]

Definitely put them into a tropical tank. Although fish can react badly to large temperature swings it'll be better for them in the long run to switch to tropical....

Thankyou so much! Just out of curiosity, are there any differences between cold water and tropical water bacterias?

 

[Curiosity101]

Nope, they're exactly the same. The bacteria just work more efficiently at a higher temp.

 

[Ludwig Venter]

Nope, they're exactly the same. The bacteria just work more efficiently at a higher temp.

When I buy new fish.... I do not even float them if I get home and find my aquarium water is warmer than the water in their container... you can transfer fish from cold water into warm water, but not vice versa.... This rule also applies to when you do water changes... You can take colder water to the fish, but you cannot take the fish to colder water.... (within limits obviously)

 

[OldMan47]

Welcojme to the forum Jeyjey.
Do not worry about the definition of your platies as warm or cold. What temperature do you presently keep those fish in and what temperature is the tank you are thinking about moving them into? Platies are often called tropicals but tend to do best near the low end of what we call tropical. The actual temperature is far more important than the word used to group your fish.

 

[Jeyjey]

Welcojme to the forum Jeyjey.
Do not worry about the definition of your platies as warm or cold. What temperature do you presently keep those fish in and what temperature is the tank you are thinking about moving them into? Platies are often called tropicals but tend to do best near the low end of what we call tropical. The actual temperature is far more important than the word used to group your fish.

Hey Oldman47. Thanks! My cold water tank currently sits at around 18C. The tropical tank I want to move them into I'd like to be comfortable for my currebt platies and future guppies. I haven't yet turned on the heater, but I'm guessing it should be around 22-24C, is this correct? I'm going to try putting in my little guys and then turning on the heater and raising the tempurature slowly over a day or so.

 

[OldMan47]

Platies will do fine at 24C but would probably like it better at 22C. Guppies are also quite nice at those temperatures. People who run guppies warmer get faster growth but not necessarily healthier fish. I tend to run my common livebearers, guppies, platies, swordtails and mollies at around 24C and they all do fine. My less common livebearers run without a heater since they prefer their water a bit cooler and room temperature suits them fine. All of the tanks have some contingent of cories in them but you must choose the cory species carefully to avoid the ones that need warmer water.