I think I'm wasting my tank.

[White Moth]

G day,

I used to be a multiple tank owner ( Just smaller ones by this sites standards!) but over the years they have gotten down to just two. One a 180G and the other a 70G.
I just came back from my honeymoon, to a busted heater in the 70 which means I have lost my golden spotted pleco, 4 discus and a school of harliquins. So I have an empty tank.
I really don't want to heat it again. The power is just too expensive. So I am looking at cold water ideas. The tank is sitting at about 13degrees celcius at the moment so it will really be a cold water tank.
It is semi planted, and I am hopping they cope with the drastic change.
I am thinking a school of white cloud mountain minnows. Just not sure if it woud be too cold. What do you guys reckon? Any other ideas? Anyone ever kept trout?
I am australian too, so I have more limited array of exotic possibilities. Oh yeah and no goldfish!

Thanks heaps

 

[White Moth]

Just a quick update, without the pleco I've had a bit of a brown alage bloom and with the water so cold it has slowed the growth of the plants which are now also covered in alage. So the plants have gone. I'm going to try the swords in the cod tank, but without a light I'm sure they cark it soon.
So i've tried to copy the whitecloud mounation minnow bio tank that was in the dec 2009 TFH. My rocks are just boring river rocks so it dosn't work so well, but is good enough. Without the plants I can have the light off and hopefully reduce the alage. It is so not fun trying to wipe it off the glass in 10degree water!
I only have 5 minnows so when I get my school built up I'll take a cupple of pics.

 

[Skoomakilla]

That sounds like a good plan! How many minnows do you plan on stocking inside your tank?

 

[White Moth]

Probably about 20. I want to keep the tank pretty low maintenance.

 

[White Moth]

Well I should have known I'd get a bit board with the White clouds. I ended up with 19, but they just seemed to split up rather than school. So last week I grabbed 3 1 inch australian bass. Now the minows school! One of the bass is abit bigger and I'm sure has grabbed one cloud. There abit shy at the moment, and hit cover when i point the camera at them. So looking forward to them putting abit of size on.

 

[knifegill]

No, dude. Go down to a nearby pond and scoop some muck into a baggie. Add it in, add light bio with minimal mechanical filtration, and watch the magic.

 

[White Moth]

Just a bit of an update with a few pics. I am now down to 6 white clouds. When I got my bass two were larger and one was a fair bit smaller. The two bigger ones have been able to snack on white clouds and so have grown more than the little guy. They don't seem to pick on him though which is good. I hope when all the clouds are gone he'll catch up to the others.
The bass are currently hiding under the filter, they tend to get a bit spooked at water changes.
The smallest takes bloodworms out of my hand. I havn't had much luck with pellets yet, two try to eat them but then just spit them out.
So what do you reckon?

 

[White Moth]

Bump, for some feedback?