Electric Blue Acara (EBA) temperature range

[Sevvie]

I was wondering if anybody had experience keeping the Electric Blue Acaras in a subtropical/unheated tank? Temp in the tank I'm thinking of ranges from 65 F in winter up to 74 F in summer, more typically sitting in the 67-70 range.

It looks like the regular Blue, or at least some of them, are fine in lower temps, but I've yet to find anything definite about the Electric Blue variety.

Currently they're in a tank heated to 74, but are getting a little food aggressive. I wanted to shift them over to join my unheated hoplos.

I guess I'm probably just going to have to make the move and monitor to find out, but I'd sure feel a lot better if a few people are already doing this! Thanks for your help!

 

[Rocksor]

You can use a heat controller and see what happens when you slowly drop the temperature by 1 degree. If you find them hanging around the heater, then you know it has gotten too cold for their liking. They would still be eating at this point, and other behaviors will more likely not change. But at lower temperatures, the quantity of food and how often you feed them should decrease.

 

[Sevvie]

You can use a heat controller and see what happens when you slowly drop the temperature by 1 degree. If you find them hanging around the heater, then you know it has gotten too cold for their liking. They would still be eating at this point, and other behaviors will more likely not change. But at lower temperatures, the quantity of food and how often you feed them should decrease.

Thanks Rocksor, I hadn't thought of that! I was kind of thinking 'do it soon or wait until next fall' because the temps in my unheated tanks have already gone from 74 to about 71. Nice tip on the feeding too, thank you!

 

[Rocksor]

The blue inkbird heater controller is pretty decent. You can raise your tank temperature back to 74F, and set the controller to switch on when there is a 1 degree drop. From there, drop it by 1 degree a week, giving you time to observe the EBA behavior of hanging around the heater.

 

[Sevvie]

Thanks again, Rocksor, I think I found the item, "Inkbird Digital Outlet Heat Temperature Controller with Day Night Control," or ITC-306T ... it's blue as opposed to the other types from the same company being green. I've actually thought about picking up one of these before just to safeguard a tank, but I had no idea what exactly to buy, so your tip works for me in more ways than one.

Otherwise, I guess nobody has actually tried this, which pushes me towards just heating the tank to 72-74 to make sure my guys are happy. I'm going to grab one of these Inkbirds either way though, so thanks again!

 

[cmsbthebest]

My 125 has varied from 71 to 75 the past 2 months since its in the garage (should probably add another heater lol) and my EB Acara has been fine.

 

[Sevvie]

My 125 has varied from 71 to 75 the past 2 months since its in the garage (should probably add another heater lol) and my EB Acara has been fine.

Thanks, Candiru. Mine are at 74 at the moment and not hovering near the heater or anything, so I feel pretty confident about 72, even 70. I'm more worried about making them the guinea pigs at 65-66.

That said, I did treat myself to the Inkbird recommended by Rocksor. I figure even if I don't get the nerve to try it with the EBAs, I had been wanting to try one as a back-up for one of my heated tanks anyway.

My alternate route I hadn't mentioned is eventually moving the EBAs into a heated tank (74) with some Pristella Tetras I just picked up. The tetras are a bit tiny at the moment for me to try this, but if the EBAs can behave in their current tank for another couple of months, that might be the easiest (ie: least stressful) solution.