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Changing Water Temperature for Science and Simulation


Brandon1433
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I am curious if anyone has done any level of experimentation with changing their water temps to enjoy other aspects of their lovely fish. 

 

My thoughts come from my other hobby where I can see patterns in activity when certain water temps are present and how it plays a key role in activating instincts/actions. 

 

For more context, I know of the northern zone of the U.S. that in the spring when water temps raise to a certain level, that different species will be going into a more active feeding state that also pushes schooling activities and then on to spawn. Continuing on, the temp gets to a certain level the schooling can stop and put them into certain zones like grass or rocky areas. Cooling the water, they tend to slow down feeding and schooling activities aren't as pronounced. 

 

Just thinking through the ability to provide more thriving opportunities for our hobby and maybe this could be another avenue... Thoughts?

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I tried this on my latest tank taking guppies, bristlenose Plecos and Paleatus Corys from 80 deg. down to 70 deg. with no heater, but I had issues with the tank and found it hard to correlate the temperature change with fish behaviors for the Plecos and Guppies.  The Paleatus Corys immediately started spawning until I raised the temperature in the tank.  I finally settled on 76 deg. for the tank, but I may turn off the heater again in the summer (Northern Va) and see how things go.  I think that this idea would be interesting with more temperate climate fish (as opposed to tropical fish) and a large tank with different micro habitats.

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19 hours ago, Matt_ said:

I tried this on my latest tank taking guppies, bristlenose Plecos and Paleatus Corys from 80 deg. down to 70 deg. with no heater, but I had issues with the tank and found it hard to correlate the temperature change with fish behaviors for the Plecos and Guppies.  The Paleatus Corys immediately started spawning until I raised the temperature in the tank.  I finally settled on 76 deg. for the tank, but I may turn off the heater again in the summer (Northern Va) and see how things go.  I think that this idea would be interesting with more temperate climate fish (as opposed to tropical fish) and a large tank with different micro habitats.

Yeah exactly! The temp assisted with breeding. I think this may be more so for the egg layers vs live bearer. Looks like I have some reading to do on species I have and want to get to see how temps affect them. 

Thanks Matt for the reply!

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43 minutes ago, Brandon1433 said:

Yeah exactly! The temp assisted with breeding. I think this may be more so for the egg layers vs live bearer. Looks like I have some reading to do on species I have and want to get to see how temps affect them. 

Thanks Matt for the reply!

Your welcome!  My interest is more in setting up natural microhabitats to observe different behavior in fish at this point.  For example, the heavily planted areas at the top of the tank providing a unique habitat for guppy fry and the betta vs. the habitats under logs for plecos and Corys vs. the heavy jungle val. providing a hiding space for tetras.  I love going to the Potomac River and seeing the different fry swimming in the shallow rocks with muddy river bottom.

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