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my cold water tank


mj

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ever since I got this I had no idea what to do with it - thought about saltwater, thought about tropical ... now that I have the koura I like having it as a cold freshwater ...

so far this winter the temperature has not dropped below 16 degrees and in summer it goes to around 22-24 degrees. My question is do you think that next summer when it is at its highest temperature could I put some tropicals in it and let them slowly acclimatise to the lowest winter temp?

Also if yes, what kind of fish could I get - I don't want many, just a couple of "interesting" fish

currently 2 koura, 4 mussels, 3 red ramhorns and some big black snail, 2 tiny borneo suckers and 3 small gold fish (which I would possibly move to another tank) ... the tank is 75 litres (so yes I do not want to over stock) eheim filter and i do regular 20% water changes (once every few weeks)

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Instead of cruelly stressing an animal by slowly forcing it to live well outside of its requirements, why not *work with what you have got*?

I would be THRILLED to have a tank that naturally stayed within that temperature range year-round! ;)

You already have the koura and mussels, why not look into some other natives? Bullies are very active and easy to care for. The redfin and upland bullies are particularly attractive.

You are currently trying to combine a multitude of ideas into a single small aquarium. They all have different requirements which are not possible to replicate simultaneously, which means on some level they may all be a little stressed already.

As it stands your fish have these preferences:

Goldfish - coldwater, no current, need lots of space

koura - coldwater, no/low current (may wind up shredding the goldfish)

borneo suckers - tropical, torrential current

Remember, if people could keep tropical fish at lower temperatures it would be done! Keeping tropicals involves a higher power bill, extra equipment and extra fussing. If it was that easy everyone would let them 'adjust' down or at very least selectively breed them to withstand the cold.

This doesn't happen for very good reasons: it doesn't work.

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ah yup I was just in irc and jude suggested bullies - I've learn't a painful lesson previously through lack of experience hence why i was asking in here

eventually I want to build a nice large tank (and get everything right the first time - ) and shift this tank into my room

As i said earlier my plan was to move the goldfish to another tank, smaller, yet a tank the three of them lived in for at least a year (and their combined length is maybe 13cm) - I was going to use the other tank as a plant temp storage in m bedroom but though might as well put a couple fish in it. I will stay clear of any ideas to add tropicals to this tank

Anyone know of any good fish shops in welly? I only know of the two animates and the one at Kaiwharawhara seems a little dodgy - was just there a couple days ago and almost every tank had dead or dying fish in it

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