What Do You Consider "tropical" Temperatures?

[pica_nuttalli]

As you increase the temperature in a tank from 50F to 80 F, at what points would you say that the tank:

1 ) stops being a coldwater tank and becomes a subtropical tank?
and
2 ) stops being a subtropical tank and becomes a tropical tank?


Also:
3 ) what temperature do you keep your MAIN TROPICAL TANK?


if you have any explanations for your choices, please post them!

 

[dreworz5]

im getting tired of people making stupid poll like this. this question is factual, not an opinion.

 

[OohFeeshy]

Not really, I know some people keep their tanks at much lower temepratures than is considered 'proper tropical' as temepratures collected in the wild are sometimes colelcted in seasons when the water is at different temperatures than it normally is. Much more informative than polls like 'Do you keep fish?' and the like... I used to keep my tanks ridiculously hot, pretty much until it felt warmish, why, I have no idea... Now they're around the 23/24 mark.

 

[dreworz5]

sorry, im not trying to be an ahole, i just feel like people are flooding this place iwth polls, especially, so you eat fish kind stuff, or fish or kids? they have been bothering me.

 

[Tokis-Phoenix]

In my opinion, coldwater temps end at 18.3 degrees and sub tropical temps end between 22.8 and 23degrees- i personally keep my tropical tanks at 25degrees because it suits the majority of my fish, although it has some fish that i later found out were sub tropical(like my pearl danios and white cloud mountain minnows) and so im planning on setting up a large sub tropical tank soon.

 

[beux]

I think it's an interesting poll, and informative...it may not need to have been a poll, it could just be a thread but it's a topic for disucssion anyway.

And despite the fact that it may be 'factual' there are still a lot of opinions out there on what the correct 'factual' answer really is.

 

[Bloo]

sorry, im not trying to be an ahole, i just feel like people are flooding this place iwth polls, especially, so you eat fish kind stuff, or fish or kids? they have been bothering me.

Tip : Don't open topics with polls
What you see is what you get here. If Mods deem polls pointless, they get deleted. This only ever happens when it's off-topic.

 

[Mithlondwen]

sorry, im not trying to be an ahole, i just feel like people are flooding this place iwth polls, especially, so you eat fish kind stuff, or fish or kids? they have been bothering me.

Hmmmm... It seems to be a valid topic to me. Afterall, this is a 'chitchat' area. Now, if this poll were in the EMERGENCY area, that would be another story.

 

[Tokis-Phoenix]

sorry, im not trying to be an ahole, i just feel like people are flooding this place iwth polls, especially, so you eat fish kind stuff, or fish or kids? they have been bothering me.

Tip : Don't open topics with polls
What you see is what you get here. If Mods deem polls pointless, they get deleted. This only ever happens when it's off-topic.

I agree .
Personally i think this is an interesting poll either way as its on an important area of knowledge .

 

[pica_nuttalli]

im getting tired of people making stupid poll like this. this question is factual, not an opinion.

funny, you sure sounded like an "ahole".

if you were to vote in this "worthless" poll, you'll see that this "factual" question has recieved a remarkable variety of answers. it also has recieved ZERO, count them ZERO replies with a fixed definition or even a reference source. evidently the factual definition of where the different temperature ranges begin and end doesn't really exist. (although i'm sure that the people knowing it just haven't swung through yet.)

if nothing else, this poll presents valuable information regarding people's conception of what an appropriate tank temperature is. although most people so far have indicated that the tropical range begins around 22C, most people keep their tanks at 26C. that's a pretty big difference. does that mean that most people keep their tanks warmer than necessary to provide for the average "tropical" fish? or does that mean that most people have a misunderstanding of what constitutes a tropical condition?

this poll also hints at what the average member means in terms of temperature when they designate a "tropical", "subtropical" or "coldwater" tank. right now one can surmise that when the typical forum member mentions a coldwater tank, they are imagining a tank colder than 19C--a tank colder than room temperature! this might explain one reason that coldwater tanks do not seem to be very popular on this forum; members here might be uncertain on how to keep a tank colder than the surrounding room. heating is easy; cooling requires finesse.

knowing what people mean when they refer to a general temperature range is important. i remember one new member from southern India who was convinced that her ambient temperature tank would be fine for goldfish because members in England kept talking about unheated tanks and wintering their fish indoors. what she didn't consider is that the average yearly temperature range of London is 30F to 70F while the average yearly temperature range of her particular city is 60F to 100F. one might surmise that goldfish wouldn't necessarily thrive in such an environment.

so basically, your post is wrong. and i'd like to see you posit an argument stating otherwise.

 

[PlecMama]

I can't reply on the polls because I would be guessing, I know how warm my trops tank should be for everyone in it to be happy, and I know my coldies are happy at room temperature.

I liked the point about keeping a tank cold. I never even considered you might have to work at keeping a tank cold. In England, cold just happens. It's what we do.

 

[CFC]

IMO most people keep their tropical tanks too warm, in my experience most tropical fish are happy with temperatures around 22-23c, of course there are exceptions to this like discus which need warmer water but for the majority temperatures of 26 and 27c are just not nessesary.

Coldwater fish is a grey area. If we are talking about farm bred coldwater fish like goldfish and koi then really these are subtropicals, line breeding has produced hardier fish that can survive mild winters in garden ponds but essentially these fish do best at around 12-18c or in other words room temperature. True coldwater fish would be those from rivers and lakes of northern Europe, Britain and the northern parts of North America and Canada, these fish really dont do well in temperatures above 10-12c without massively oxygenating the water and are best suited to outside ponds or systems with chiller units unless you happen to live in an igloo.

 

[Bloo]

Very interesting poll. CFC, how would one control this in sub-tropical / tropical countries ? I think (without a heater) my tank water was anything from 27 - 35 C on average. Here in the UK I tend to keep my tanks at around 26C and during summer this pushed up to 30 C for quite a while (without a heater). Is it not better to have fewer large fluctuating temperature changes ?

 

[CFC]

Water doesnt fluctuate in temperature that quickly without interference, ie a heater or coldwater being added. When running tanks without a heater the tank will warm and cool naturally over a period of time without any ill effects to the fish provided the room temperature stays within their range. Slow natural fluctuations do not hurt fish and could even benefitial, after all their are no thermostats in the Amazon or the Congo are there.

As for keeping a stable temperature in tropical countries the only way to keep the temperature down is by air conditioning or running the tank on a chiller system. Heat is actually one of th biggest enemies of captive fish, far more fish die from lack of oxygen in overheated tanks in summer than die from heaters failing during the winter.

 

[timmystood]

I think this is a good poll... it's a good way of finding out the majority... because if it's just a topic then normally people don't reply... because they see that somebody else has already said what they would have.

For me:
Tank A - 25C
Tank B - 26C

I would never go below 22C or above 27C