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Breeding Celestial Pearl Danios


Allan B.
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I’ve recently read that some people keep their celestial pearl danios in unheated aquariums kinda like white clouds. Evidently their natural environment runs the gamut—near freezing in the winter and very hot in the summer. I’ve got two questions I’m hoping my fellow CPD breeders can help me answer.

1). I try to keep my CPDs at 72-74°F, but has anyone had any luck keeping them below 70°?

2). What temperature do you hatch and raise your fry in?

If they can be kept in an unheated tank, I’d love to pull my heater out since it doesn’t get very cold or hot where I live in California.


Here’s a picture of my CPDs for kicks.

 

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@Guppysnail has bred plenty of CPDs....I can tell you I have 9 in a 4.12 gallon Aquatop...no heater their tank runs in the mid 74 range up to 77 and they are well colored and active. No babies yet but I'm not trying to breed. I was reading they can do fine in a tank in the high 60s too but I'm not aware of anyone here that does that. 

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I cannot help with info on unseated tanks. I play musical fish continuously so all my tanks run 77. Though their natural habitat is a wide range most of what is in the hobby has been captive bred and never exposed to fluctuations. I would start with whatever temp the breeder raised them and slowly lower it. If you see stress signs you have reached their lower threshold. They may also become much less active if they are at a temp lower than their comfort zone. It may also slow/stop breeding if they are to cool for their individual comfort. My 77 is a touch above but I have had them and their offspring long enough that is their normal now. Hope that helps. 

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On 1/23/2022 at 8:46 PM, Allan B. said:

I’ve recently read that some people keep their celestial pearl danios in unheated aquariums kinda like white clouds. Evidently their natural environment runs the gamut—near freezing in the winter and very hot in the summer. I’ve got two questions I’m hoping my fellow CPD breeders can help me answer.

1). I try to keep my CPDs at 72-74°F, but has anyone had any luck keeping them below 70°?

2). What temperature do you hatch and raise your fry in?

If they can be kept in an unheated tank, I’d love to pull my heater out since it doesn’t get very cold or hot where I live in California.


Here’s a picture of my CPDs for kicks.

 

I prefer not to use heaters.

My QT is set at the same temp as where I get my fish from, and after we finish QT I use my Pymeter to lower the temp in the tank 1° each week. This allows the fish to adjust, and for me to identify fish that can't tolerate our apartment temps.

I have 3 Pymeters that control up to 5 tanks, as needed. 

My guppies are the only fish who live in a heated aquarium year round. 

My danios need heated aquariums for breeding, and I keep the fry at the same temp & pH they will go to at the lfs.

I am debating getting heaters in my new build, but I am leaning toward a NANF setup which won't require heaters at all.

There are very few regions that fish come from (naturally) where they are always in warm water. As long as you *slowly* adjust them to lower temps and keep good notes on eating and behavior changes, room temp is doable for a majority of species.

Discus, Africans, and a few other species WILL NOT acclimate. 

CPD?

As long as your tank is big enough to not have large temp changes over the course of the day should be fine. According to most of the breeders I have spoken with, they are happiest in the 72° to 78° range (inside temp of majority of homes), but live longer and are a little more mellow in the 68° to 74° range.

Fry grow better at the warmer temps.

I'll be trying my hand at CPD this year, so I guess I'll find out if what I was told rings true🤷‍♂️

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I kept my CPDs in an unheated corner room closet for years. The tank would have a daily high/low temperature swing of 3-5°F. The CPDs would stop breeding after about 3-4 weeks of exposure to night time lows of 60-62°F. They would start again about 2 weeks after bringing their daily low temperature to 70-72°F. Although the first batch or two of eggs afterward would have a very low hatch rate.

I grew out the fry at the same temp as the adults. The lower the temp the noticably slower they grew. When the juveniles started to show some color I brought them to the front room where tanks were usually 72°F. I kept some fry outside in northern CA over winter. They survived to the high 40s°F at which point it's unclear whether they disappeared due to temperature or the dragonfly larvae I found that day.

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On 1/25/2022 at 8:19 AM, modified lung said:

I kept my CPDs in an unheated corner room closet for years. The tank would have a daily high/low temperature swing of 3-5°F. The CPDs would stop breeding after about 3-4 weeks of exposure to night time lows of 60-62°F. They would start again about 2 weeks after bringing their daily low temperature to 70-72°F. Although the first batch or two of eggs afterward would have a very low hatch rate.

I grew out the fry at the same temp as the adults. The lower the temp the noticably slower they grew. When the juveniles started to show some color I brought them to the front room where tanks were usually 72°F. I kept some fry outside in northern CA over winter. They survived to the high 40s°F at which point it's unclear whether they disappeared due to temperature or the dragonfly larvae I found that day.

In my experimenting with heated vs unheated so far, I have definitely noticed a correlation between temperature swings and less spawning. Unheated, my aquarium swings about 3-5°F as well, and I'm definitely harvesting fewer eggs than when a heater was keeping the temperature stable at 74°F.

I'm going to try to maintain 70°F and how they fare. I'd love to try to keep some fry outside next fall and winter here in the Bay Area—I've heard they love ponds and green water.

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On 1/25/2022 at 12:19 PM, Allan B. said:

In my experimenting with heated vs unheated so far, I have definitely noticed a correlation between temperature swings and less spawning. Unheated, my aquarium swings about 3-5°F as well, and I'm definitely harvesting fewer eggs than when a heater was keeping the temperature stable at 74°F.

I'm going to try to maintain 70°F and how they fare. I'd love to try to keep some fry outside next fall and winter here in the Bay Area—I've heard they love ponds and green water.

That's interesting about temp swings and less spawning. I brought my tanks out into the dining room about 10 days ago so they arent seeing as much temp swing now. So far I have a lot less spawning but 10 days of data isnt anything to go on.

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