Temp and behavior
- Thread starter PhishMon84
- Start date
Nice fish there. I've seen something similar with pH for some fish. Growing out some G. sveni right now, by themselves for now, if I keep pH under 7.5 they're more active, less skittish.
I used to keep my biffa in the low 70's in winter and mid to high 70's in summer, trying to keep close to what they live in the wild. Bumping the temp up would always produce spawning activities but in the long run I found very little differents in behaviour.
I've had similar experiences with certain Centrals over the years. My adult male midas becomes far less active, goes off his feed, and his nuchal hump shrinks when his water temp drops below 75F. I've had two heaters fail in his tank over the last few years and both times I knew by his change in behaviour, and overall appearance. One winter I gave him an extended cooling off period, and I had the same results. He definitely prefers 77-78F over 72-73F.
Some of you may recall this past discussion on keeping cichlids too warm …..
https://www.monsterfishkeepers.com/forums/threads/are-we-keeping-our-cichlids-too-warm.698744/
My comment from that past thread.
I personally don't think that a fish suffers, if kept at a middle ground temp, somewhere between what would be found in winter, vs summer. That is typically how I run my tanks, and this seems to work best especially if the tanks are mixed species (gasp), or mixed continents (double gasp). I recalled an old thread on cichlidae on Herichthys, and the temp that one individual kept his carpintis male. https://www.cichlidae.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=5919
I don't agree with that, any more than I agree with keeping that species at 80F year round. A fish kept in cooler water, fed less, and that lives longer does not necessarily equate to a healthier, or happier (fill in the anthropomorphic blank) life.
https://www.monsterfishkeepers.com/forums/threads/are-we-keeping-our-cichlids-too-warm.698744/
My comment from that past thread.
I personally don't think that a fish suffers, if kept at a middle ground temp, somewhere between what would be found in winter, vs summer. That is typically how I run my tanks, and this seems to work best especially if the tanks are mixed species (gasp), or mixed continents (double gasp). I recalled an old thread on cichlidae on Herichthys, and the temp that one individual kept his carpintis male. https://www.cichlidae.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=5919
I don't agree with that, any more than I agree with keeping that species at 80F year round. A fish kept in cooler water, fed less, and that lives longer does not necessarily equate to a healthier, or happier (fill in the anthropomorphic blank) life.
Sadly I lost the pair of GT’s about 18 months ago- Heater cracked in one of my 4x2’s lost the pair a group of emerald green rainbows and a female tapajos 1. Pike.
And the festae was a beast, around 11”always a passive, never saw him even flair his gills. I matched him with a 5” female a few weeks ago- she laid eggs- he didn’t care. She gave him Popeye and I lost him about 3 days later.
Really sucked
Hi RD- perhaps my post is lacking context. I live in New England. My heaters are unplugged from Memorial Day (end of May) through the start of October.
This was merely a comment on winter temps, for me, in my scenario.
I keep my h. Deppi and atromaculatum in unheated tanks that fluctuate between 68-72
