Can you keep them in unheated, room temperature water to lengthen their life span, like with guppies? Or is it just bad for them? If not, would they breed at lower temps?
gertrude's rainbow fish question
- Thread starter captmicha
- Start date
digitalphrage
oh god how did this get here i am n
Well, first of all, let's actually define "room temperature"...since it's unlikely your house stays at a constant 70F year round day and night. What's the temperature range in the house and more importantly, what's the temperature range in your tank on a day to day basis. I know my air temperature varies by the season, but in the height of summer it's a fairly steady 76F - 82F (though my tanks stay in the 75F - 78F range) and in the dead of winter, my temps drop to 64F at night and stay in the low 70's in the day (tank temps kept at a constant 74F - 76F by heaters).
As far as low temperatures extending their lives, I'm not going to comment on that since I can't say for sure and can find no information online one way or the other. Regardless, much of the info I see online does recommend raising the tank temps to induce breeding, so based on that, I'm going to say that lower temps will probably inhibit (though not necessarily prevent) spawning, and even if the fish did spawn, there's a good chance that lower tank temps could leave the eggs more vulnerable to disease.
As far as low temperatures extending their lives, I'm not going to comment on that since I can't say for sure and can find no information online one way or the other. Regardless, much of the info I see online does recommend raising the tank temps to induce breeding, so based on that, I'm going to say that lower temps will probably inhibit (though not necessarily prevent) spawning, and even if the fish did spawn, there's a good chance that lower tank temps could leave the eggs more vulnerable to disease.
like digital said with out knowing room temp its hard to make a guess whats the avg temp of the room?
I kept them in unheated tanks, but my tank temp stayed 75 ish year round with little to no fluctuation.
I thought room temp was defined as 72. My temp isn't very steady, without heat, it can be 70-76. Having no tank lid helps keep it cooler than 76 though.
That temperature range ought to be fine, though in winter I would imagine a heater would be necessary.
72 degrees as room temperature applies more to a hospital or office environment. People keep their houses at all kinds of temperatures.
72 degrees as room temperature applies more to a hospital or office environment. People keep their houses at all kinds of temperatures.
digitalphrage
oh god how did this get here i am n
That temperature range sounds fine. If you're planning to breed them and there's no other compelling reason to have an unheated tank, I would suggest buying a heater for tank, but either way, I don't see 70 - 76 being a problem.
Plus, if you sell some of the babies and/or eggs, you can probably earn back the cost of the heater and electricity in short order since those gerts seem to sell pretty well on all the sites I've seen them on.