temperature range for lepoard fish

[alextret]

Is their a way to find out the temperature range for lepoard fish (livebearer, also known as caudo or dusky millionsfish)?

Some claim that it can survive down to as low as 5 degrees centigrade, but I have doubts.

[sharn]

http://fishprofiles.com/files/profiles/362.htm right one? other than that i suggest a google with their scientific name

[Caryl]

They are a cold water fish (I have some). Their preferred temp is 16 - 20C but they can be kept outside. I am sure someone in here said they kept them in a barrel outside right through winter with no problems. Don't know what temp they got down to though.

Sharn has the right link. Their name is Phalloceros caudomaculatus

[mustcooktea]

Mine was happy and active through the winter in the goldfish tank which got down to 10 degrees for quite a while.

MCT

[alextret]

I'd like to say thank you to everyone for the info, which was quite invaluable.

I think I'll put them in one of the tanks I have outside.

[alextret]

Just a followup.

I moved them outside. They lasted one night OK, but last night it was a bit colder (not sure about the exact temperature), and all four went down.

But WCMM that I put in similar conditions appear to be OK (although I'm having a problem feeding them, as they appear not to be used to flake food).

And, of course, one gold fish I've put in the system a couple of months ago for cycling purposes is just fine.

I'm in Palmerston North.

[Pegasus]

I moved them outside. They lasted one night OK, but last night it was a bit colder (not sure about the exact temperature), and all four went down.

Hi Alex,

Sounds like you have lost some fish.

Something that was never asked was..

"What conditions were they in when you had them in the house..?"

"Were they in a heated tank..?"

Often fish that are housed indoors most of the year become acclimatized to the conditions.. and when they are due to be moved outdoors the temp is adjusted over a period to the lower conditions to avoid shock and such.

Taking them from a reasonably warm home to the outdoors might have been too sudden a change all at once.

But WCMM that I put in similar conditions appear to be OK (although I'm having a problem feeding them, as they appear not to be used to flake food).

Being outside they "may" be getting food in the way of flying insects.. mainly mozzies

Bill.

[alextret]

I kept them for about 3 weeks with no heating inside the house. And, they were in an unheated tank at Wet Pets where I bought them.

I kept them in a 12 liter bowl, which I just carried outside in the evening, when temperature outside was close to inside. I have three 100 liter tanks outside, which are syphoned through as a single system, with a powerhead pumping water through it. But leopards never got into the system, as they went down while in the bowl. I was changing water once or twice a day using water from the system, which kept them quite happy while in the house, so I do not think that water quality was an issue.

But then, the weather was rather hot over that period, so perhaps it was a bad timing to move.

At Wet Pets they told me there are people in Palmy who successfuly keep them outside all year round (and it was not a sails pitch, as I aked a couple of weeks after I bought them).

I guess, I should have put them outside with a heater set to something like 15C, as a safety precaution.

As to WCMM, they do eat flakes quite eagely when they see them falling. But, so far they did not figure out that they are supposed to pick them off the surface (if they don't do that, I fear that a lot of food remains uneaten).

Can WCMM jump? I seem to have no luck with the outside tank system, as one of the WCMM mysteriously disappeared this morning. I'll try to search for it more thoroughly, though, I was a bit in a hurry.

[Alan]

I have successfully kept leopards at 10oC in my unheated garage.

I have also got some that over-wintered in an in-ground pond.

Not all of those survived, but I do know that some did.

Alan 104