Are we keeping our cichlids too warm!

[Stanzzzz7]

When I posted this thread it was not my intention to convince people to keep their fish in the coldest water they can survive in.
It was a generalisation that more often than not, fish are being kept warmer than they would be in the natural environment.
There will be exceptions,fish that need heat and will fair poorly in unheated tanks.
Saving money on the electric bill, is as Rd pointed out, an added bonus and not the core reason for lowering temps.
Researching the water temperatures of many commonly kept fishes natural environment,will often give readings lower than commonly expected.(But not always)
It's important to research each species needs before deciding to try and cut heating bills.
In my case I got lucky this time,my fish enjoy cooler temps and I will save some money in the process.

 

[PhishMon84]

I’ve wondered a lot about the ranges of temps as well and how when I do 50% WC on any tank really, using tap cold water the tanks will typically drop to 65-68f without issues weekly.
For some reason I’ve always kept fish at the top of their range as opposed to middle or even the low end. When talking about saving money on running heaters, the consumption gets much higher with every degree about ambient you go, if the heat isn’t benefiting the fish Why go high.
I think some of the high temps come from lack of patience in growing out fish and wanting to find a way to accelerate growth. I’m guilty of that.
So I think for me it’s more about removing the stigma I have about keeping tanks at 70-72 save myself some money and the fish are still kept at a safe range well within their comfort and
habitable temps.

 

[duanes]

I was thinking about Andy Woods reply, being able to keep his haitiensus at a lower temp.
The most critical time for me raising haitiensus seemed to be to get them thru "youth". I lost my first dozen, keeping them at mid 70sF from bloat.
And when young, haitiensus (as with many cichlids, and other fish) spend time in the shallows, where water is easily heated up by the sun, but head for deeper water as size allows.
In the lake below, in Panama, millions or fry hung out in only inches of water, which was very warm from the sun.

I believe the adults, even haitiensus can handle cooler temps, as they would when in deeper water in nature, less effected by the sun.
Same lake below, when I snorkeled was quite a bit cool beyond the shallows, and where the adults stayed.


This lake is in a higher elevation, and the water never seems to get 80sF warm.

 

[RD.]

Most juvenile cichlids are found in the shallows, and warmer temps makes sense when growing out juveniles, the same way higher protein/fat levels make sense as young fish typically have a higher metabolic rate, compared to adults. I have raised countless bloat prone species of cichlids on high energy, high protein foods and never experienced bloat, a diet that I would never consider feeding an adult of the same species.

 

[sevs and sajicas for me]

So then the question becomes, where does one do such research. Unfortunately for many that have gotten into the hobby within the past 5 years, we haven't had access to a lot of written articles that were drawn up multiple decades ago that perhaps had better information. Like others have said, google searches only produce "questionable" intelligence when it comes to fish temps. One could do research to find out specific waterways each fish inhabits and then google search the temperatures of those waterways, but from my own experience, many times waterway temperatures are even more difficult to find. And unfortunately, we aren't all lucky enough to be able to visit these areas ourselves.

 

[RD.]

One could start by asking here. The data on many watersheds can be found online, some just take more digging than others.

 

[philipraposo1982]

Appreciate what your saying Dan and I agree.
I do still feel that most Google searches will give temps in the high end of the fishes comfort zone.
Obviously in the same lake or river, temps can differ at different water depths etc.
Generally I believe through what I have learned about natural habitats,wild fish will be spending more time in cooler water than the same species in captivity.
Take Discus.Now I know a lot of discus come from warmer water courses but they also live in the rio guapore.I have never heard of anyone keeping discus as low as 70 degrees. It's certainly not a common practice anyway.
Is it better for our fish to live in perpetual summer climes or are they better off at the cooler end.
Metabolism speeds up in higher temps, so does aggression and appetite. Fish are also shorter lived.

Are you able to provide any studies done on fish where their lifespan was dramatically decreased due to higher temps?

Just because metabolism goes up doesn't necessarilyeams the lifespan would decrease, at least I don't believe so.

I also wonder how being born and raised in tanks have changed the needs of the fish. If you are going after wild caught species then I understand the desire to replicate that environment. But most of out fish we keep have been raised in tanks that likely had similar temps to that of which we all keep.

We often ignore recommended pH values for tank raised fish stating a stable ph is what is important. Maybe temps are similar in that way.

 

[RD.]

Google: fish water temperature longevity.

 

[RD.]

BTW... Many tank raised species of cichlids have proven to do poorly when kept in pH values outside of their normal range. Many believe this is do to the bacteria that is sometimes present in higher pH water, and not present in low pH values. HITH is a common symptom in many SA cichlids when they are kept in higher pH water.

 

[TwoHedWlf]

I try to keep my tank around 24°C over the winter. At the moment though we're having record high temps, seeing 30°C indoors and the tank is getting up around 28-29C.