Cold Cichlids in So Cal!!!

[JoeFatFish]

I'm near the beach, so the big puddle of water a few blocks away helps maintain air temp. a bit higher than inland Los Angeles, which keeps Westside temps almost 10 degrees higher than rest of Los Angeles, in the winter, and cooler in summer. It is called convection.

Mid 50s rare? Im in LA too, in the 40s is common. Something in the mid-upper 30s is rare but has happened.

 

[JoeFatFish]

Great idea! Thank you.

I have multiple tanks in my garage. I recently insulated the walls in my garage and insulated my tanks with some stuff called "Reflectex" not sure if i got the name right but its aluminum type bubble wrap i got from Homedepot. I covered all the sides except the front of the tank and with only 1 250watt stealth heater set at 85degrees i am able to maintain the tank temp. at 74degrees on cold nights ranging from mid 20's to low 30's.

 

[JIM]

Dont take anything i say as gospel, but i live in indiana and its cold here a lot. I also keep my fish in the garage, attached with separate heater. I dont use any tank heaters at all cause it would cost me an arm and leg. I kepp mostly natives that dont care, but mixed in are tropicals, my tanks stay at about 70 year round, i cool it with a window air. None of my fish seem to care, as im sure they have acclimated to it, I really do believe a constant temp whatever that is within reason is more important than high temp. Sudden changes seem to be more harmful, But here again i stress, this has worked for me for years, Your mileage may vary.

 

[JoeFatFish]

Correct, on the "unfinished". But my water has never dipped so low before. I think I will just go get a couple 300 watters and blame the high bill on Christmas. It abviousley is the lower temps. Last year there was no issue. I had the temp set at 82, and the coldest the water got was like 75-76!

This

I've actually done this same thing with the sheets of styrofoam from Home Depot.... in theory it seemed like it would help but I'm not sure if it did.....

Joe, I've seen your garage and correct me if I'm wrong but isn't your garage unfinished? It's just exposed studs correct without insulation or drywall?

 

[balton777]

Do tank heaters use a lot of electricity?

 

[JoeFatFish]

I assume they do? If you have a 250 watt heater, and its always on, becasue its too cold, then, I am guessing your using up 250 watts or so, every second, or minute or something?? Was pretty bad at this stuff in college. Any electricians in the house??!!

Do tank heaters use a lot of electricity?

 

[ewok]

wonder how well those space heaters / radiators work?
i'm thinking i may as well just heat my room and turn off the heaters in the tank... warm room / ambient temperatures will probably trump individual tanks...

 

[Cross127]

GL with your situation Joe. I know I struggle to keep my tanks warm in the winter. I mean it was 15 degrees here last night. Right now it's 22 degrees and snowing so I either crank my heaters or my heat in the house. I also have an electric heater in my fish room as well as a humidifier to keep evaporation down and temperatures up.

I just had a struggle the other night with my 150 as it got down to 52 degrees and the heater was trying to keep it up. So I did a water change with warmer water and put a second 300 watt heater in it. I though my Istlanum was a goner because he was sitting at the bottom barely breathing, though my midas was doing fine still. My electric bill is outragous every month but whatever. The wood burning stove at least keeps the tanks warmer so NO oil!


Oh and Ewok heating the room helps greatly. Thats why I have an electric room heater in one of the fishrooms.

 

[cichlidinsomniac]

I assume they do? If you have a 250 watt heater, and its always on, becasue its too cold, then, I am guessing your using up 250 watts or so, every second, or minute or something?? Was pretty bad at this stuff in college. Any electricians in the house??!!

im pretty sure its 250 watts per hour so basically its like leaving 4 standard 60 watt lights on all the time, last year my physic teacher said it would cost around $14-15 a month for a constant 600 watts/hour

 

[WildCAught]

Most cichlids should be in water around 78-80 degrees, 61 to 70 is way too cold to keep them at for an extended period of time. I have no idea what you mean by "looking happy and active" - can we please see some pics? How big are you fish? How many years have you owned them in these conditions? How are their colors? Just because they are alive and swimming around does not mean they are comfortable or healthy, and many cichlids are long-lived fish, just because you've kept them for a couple of years in this situation does not mean they will live out their full potential.

I mean seriously, go spend less than $50 on a few heaters, and your fish will be much healthier, and again I'd like to see pics - I guarantee they will look a lot better too. It kind of gets to me when people own, apparently as you do, a whole lot of fish, but just can't be bothered to spend a couple bucks on a heater.

I guess since you say if you had expensive fish you would use a heater, that you have no problem losing your inexpensive fish because the water is too cold? Because heck, you can just go out and keep buying another and another? How many fish have died in your tanks in the past few months? Again, how many fish have you kept for several years living well and healthy in those conditions, and can we see pics of your tanks?

I am in no way disagreeing with you or trying to dismiss great advice. I feel we should do everything within reason to provide great conditions for our captives. There is a reason most fish grow bigger faster and live longer in captivity than they would in the wild. With that being said let me provide you with the following info.

When collecting in El Salvador in August, the water temp in the 3 rivers ranged from 60-68*. With an obvious breeding population of many fish year round (judging by the presence of cichlids, characins, and poecillids under .5-1"). The water was so cold one night I was shivering when we were in "La Bruja". The rainy season usually begins, in our area of the country, in may and ends around this time. These same rivers in the dryer months are boiling hot. MOST Cichlids are actually pretty tough so long as the temps don't dip below the 60's.

My tanks (garaged in Socal) are currently at around 72*. I use 200 watt heaters for my 100gals. As you may have recently seen, my Barred midas pair were still breeding and would have continued to do so had I not sold them to GUAPOTE.