Does anybody want to share their experience with temperature fluctuation?

[dereks]

I've got a 29 gallon acrylic planted tank with 2 yoyo loaches and a betta fish in it.

There is no heater in it.

During the day, the lights heat the aquarium up to 78 at it's hottest point. It's coldest point before the lights come on is 76.

I've heard even 2 degrees can stress out your fish.

I'm looking to hear other peoples experience with this. Has anybody ever had fluctuation in temp? If so, how much? And did it put a lot of stress on your fish?

Temps in the wild would have to fluctuate more than 2 degrees throughout the day, guess I don't understand why it bothers them so much in captivity.

 

[wesleydnunder]

A two degree drift will not stress out your fish. You're right, in nature the temp can swing more than 2 degrees in 24 hrs.

Mark

 

[biondoa]

I would imagine that in a natural environment, the temp would fall at night. So why not in a tank. Sounds fine to me.

 

[dereks]

Ok, cool.

Yea, that's sort of what I was thinking.

How much do you think it would swing in nature?

 

[Slappy*McFish]

I think the avg community tank can easily withstand up a 10° drop over a 24 hr period. As far as night/day cycles are concerned, a 5 ° swing isn't cause for alarm either. In nature, rapid drops in temperature arent uncommon during and after tropical rainstorms.

 

[SnakeIce]

I know lots of the tetras are tipped over to spawning behavior by a quick drop of temperature. That can be replicated in the tank by a large water change with cooler water. I've done tap cold in the summer and gotten spawning going in my tetras in the past.

Winter tap cold water might be more than needed though.

 

[Narwhal72]

In my outdoor tubs the temperature can rise and drop as much as 25 degrees in a single day. Haven't had a problem with anything in them. This summer I am raising whiptail cats in them.

I think the big issue is that the amount of dissolved oxygen decreases dramatically as temperature increases. What may be fine at a cooler temperature can be insufficient at a higher temperature. Generally a decrease in temperature is a nonissue (I do it all the time to trigger cories to spawn) but a sudden increase in temperature could be lethal.

Andy

 

[NeonFlux]

I get tank temp fluctuations all the time. Especially like this time of year. In my opinion it's pretty annoying when it gets hot, because then some of my fish would get all stressed out.. like my bows, they are not tolerant of high temps.. I provide a fan and then there's a fast water evaporation issue.. drives me nuts, but gotta do what I gotta do and top off, but then you have to do water changes to deal with the hardness, minerals building up changing the pH, kH, gH in the tank after refilling the tank up so many times... if it aint one thing it's the other haha.

 

[FreshyFresh]

I'm sure it varies by the specific species of fish, but for your typical home aquarium fish, a 2deg fluctuation is nothing. I know mine easily see that with their weekly water changes. In terms of normal day/day in my tanks, they can hit ~80F in the summer and ~74F on the coldest winter day. I run smallish heaters on all but the goldfish tank.

 

[duane stuermer]

I have kept Uruguayan cichlids such as Australoheros, and Gymnogeophagus in tanks and tubs outside spring thru fall. Temps can range from high 80sF during the day to 50sF at night, and they seem totally oblivious.
The Australoheros even spawned in 1 of the tanks sitting in direct sunlight, and choked with algae.