Variatus platy question

[MikeK1981]

Hi all, first post to the forum.  I already used the search and found a lot of info but wanted to ask about my specific situation just to gather everyone's thoughts and experiences on this.  Sorry in advance for the long winded question.  I've recently started switching over to coldwater species to get away from using heaters.  I'm successfully keeping bloodfin tetras, mettalic gold barbs, neon rosy barbs, yellow tiger endlers, and orange ramshorn snails in a heavily planted 40 breeder, long term, at my room temps.  I'm also in the process of letting my planted 72 bowfront grow back in after a reset, but it's pretty heavily planted already, and I've had 13 longfin zebra danios and a bushynose pleco in there for a while now, all doing fantastically.  I finally found some variatus platies here locally and was able to get 1 male, 4 females, of the black red tail variety.  My question is this.  We normally keep our house around 65-68 degrees in the winter, but it can dip into the upper 50s if the heater gets left off.  I know maculatus will not do well at all in the 60's, but I saw a response from Cory saying his outdoor variatus once got down around 58 before he got worried and brought them inside.  What are your thoughts on ideal temps for them, versus bare minimums?  Upper 60's ok, or should I shoot more for low 70's?  What temps are safest, and when will they stop breeding?  I've already ordered a 100 watt coop heater, in the thinking that it will be large enough to keep me in the low 70's, even though conventional thinking would say it's undersized, and keep a safe buffer in the winter for the platies.  I do have full coverage lids on the tank.  Do you guys think I need it at all, or should I just keep it as a backup?  Will the extra bump in heat help my plants grow quicker, and cause the platies to breed more?  Also, will the danios eat up the fry?  Let me know your thoughts on all this.  Thanks.

Edited September 10, 2023 by MikeK1981

[MN-AQUARIST]

So lots to address here, I will try my best. For the variatus platies I've personally had luck keeping them in the mid 60s no problem with the occasional drops into the high 50s being tolerated but not ideal.  I would personally set the coop heater at the 65 mark and leave it. The lower the temp the slower they will breed but because they are livebearers its hard to say when breeding would "stop".   The danios certainly will try to eat the fry if they can fit them in their mouth.  

For the plants, most seem to grow better at the high 60s low 70s range,  all other things being equal. I don't think you would necessarily notice a difference in growth rate but it depends on the plants.  

[MikeK1981]

On 9/11/2023 at 7:26 AM, MN-AQUARIST said:

So lots to address here, I will try my best. For the variatus platies I've personally had luck keeping them in the mid 60s no problem with the occasional drops into the high 50s being tolerated but not ideal.  I would personally set the coop heater at the 65 mark and leave it. The lower the temp the slower they will breed but because they are livebearers its hard to say when breeding would "stop".   The danios certainly will try to eat the fry if they can fit them in their mouth.  

For the plants, most seem to grow better at the high 60s low 70s range,  all other things being equal. I don't think you would necessarily notice a difference in growth rate but it depends on the plants.  

Thanks for the info!

[MikeK1981]

Ok, so I got the heater.  I'm currently sitting at 70 degrees without it.  I'm thinking of just setting it at 72 to bump it up just a little for the danios, and then it will stay stable at that temp through the winter also.  Anybody else have thoughts or advice?