Tropical Fish In Cold Water

[bleepy]

Sorry, I've just noticed a typo in one of my posts! 23c should actuallyb e 26c! I'ma t work at the moment, so I'm having to sneak replies in while no one's watching!

Also, one of the fish has been in this temperature water for nearly 9 years, and has yet to be a victim of any disease! So I guess he's not weakened by the temperature..

 

[Davo86]

What size is your tank?

if you have goldfish and orf as well as tropicals then i'd imagine it is fairly big. If this is the case then the water isn't likely to fluctuate as much and any fluctuations that do occur are going to take a while in which to do so because of the large body of water. In which time the fish will be able to easily adapt to the temperature change, IMO if the temp is stable then your tropical fish will be just fine but personally the goldfish and orf really would do much better in a pond environment

 

[eschaton]

A good deal of "tropical" fish are really from either mountain streams or subtropical areas, and do fine in colder water. These include all danios, white cloud mountain minnows, hillstream loaches, dojo loaches, most commonly available barbs, paradise fish, otocinclus, a lot of plecos, and a fair number of corydoras.

With few exceptions, most "tropical" fish commonly kept are happiest at around 78F, or 25.5C, which isn't that far off from your tank.

As an aside, my planted tank was in an inconvenient place in a room with poor central heating a few months back. On two occasions the heater plug somehow undid itself, and the tank temperature got down to 66F/19C. Not a single fish died.

 

[bleepy]

What size is your tank?

if you have goldfish and orf as well as tropicals then i'd imagine it is fairly big. If this is the case then the water isn't likely to fluctuate as much and any fluctuations that do occur are going to take a while in which to do so because of the large body of water. In which time the fish will be able to easily adapt to the temperature change, IMO if the temp is stable then your tropical fish will be just fine but personally the goldfish and orf really would do much better in a pond environment

My tank is 80 UK Gallons, and you're right, the more water there is, the harder it is to change the temperature.

The orfe's are still young, so they're not too big yet. I already have a home lined up for them when they do get on the large side , and I knew this from the day I got them.. should be a while yet though, but they're definitely growing, so the temperature hasn't seemed to stunt their growth or anything.

 

[spAcE mOnkEy]

Yeah, your tank is fine. 23 C suits the fish quite well. People don't understand that fish can really acclimate to many different types of water conditions and live a perfectly normal life. Many fish must adjust their bodies to different water conditions in the wild because of environmental changes. Some people seem to think that if your water changes a couple degrees, your fish will suffer a horrible agonizing death; this is not true.

I also keep some tropicals at room temperature, this lowers their metabolism and lengthens their period of digestion. This means less fish waste, and a cleaner tank. I have noticed that some cichlids kept at room temperature, around 70-72, seem a bit more skittish than those in tropical temperatures around 80-82.