Cold tolerant fish

[dennysfishroom]

I've been thinking about reducing the number of fish I've got that require heaters. The tanks in my fish room stays about 68-70 over the winter with heaters in the tanks, but I get the feeling I'm trying to heat the house with my heated tanks. With the concerns over energy usage, I started thinking it might be interesting to develop a list of those fish who might feel comfortable and possibly still breed in unheated tanks (say 65-70 degrees). I'll start with fish I've thought about keeping, but I'd be interested in what you might add to the list.

Goldfish
Danios
Corydoras
White clouds
Black phantom tetras
Red Phantom tetras
Black tetras
Weather loaches
Rosey barbs
Tiger barbs
Otocinculus
American flagfish
Guppies
Sphenps mollies
Paradise fish
Convict cichlids
Geophagus brasiliensis
Texas cichlids

Now what would you add, and would they be attractive and commercially viable if someone was raising them? Have fun thinking about this. At some point I'll try to compile and post a complete list of what people submit with the scientific names. I have noticed that different authors have used different criteria for temperatures for the same fish.

Denny

[etheonut]

Denny,

I would have to check Arkansas law concerning native fishes. Assuming that they allow fish to be bred and sold with minimal effort you might consider several native Arkansas fish that do exceptionally well in aquariums and are hugely popular all over the world. In fact, they are more popular in Europe than they are in the United States. A few examples would include the killifish of the genus Fundulus. These include the golden topminnow and the starhead topminnow (both beautiful fish). The dollar sunfish, which breeds and behaves similarly to the convict cichlid, would be hugely popular on the right market both retail and wholesale. Arkansas also has a pygmy sunfish species. These are very popular in the aquarium trade. I know people often wonder about the practicality of breeding and raising native when they can be obtained with a certain amount of effort from the wild. They market exists because many of realize that it is very important to discontinue the removal of wild fish for aquarium use, particularly if we aren't going to reproduce them.

So, in short, I would recommend that you look at some natives of Arkansas to breed. I would gladly support you in this endeavor by supplying starter populations and my limited knowledge about their natural history.

Also, I believe the gymnogeophagus species tolerate colder temperatures, and would a good choice for a basement/room temperature set up.

Kevin

[dennysfishroom]

Thanks for the suggestions. I've thought about the sunfish in particular. From what I've read, I am a little concerned about the possibility of fungal infections at the higher pH values. Other than that they would seem sort of interesting. I'll have to check out any legal requirements, but we should probably talk about this. Maybe I could start with a small group just to test drive the concept. Thanks. Denny

[dennysfishroom]

Hi Kevin,

I checked with someone at Games and Fish and was told there should be no problem keeping the natives (legally) as long as they are caught legally, aren't endangered, and probably aren't game fish. He didn't think I'd be too successful, and also didn't think there would be too much of a market, but didn't anticipate that I'd run into any legal problems.

If I do try to keep them, do you think I'm going to need a sand bottom? I'm thinking of setting up the small system I had next to the window as my test area. I think I've only got a total of 3 tanks that would be included in that system. That way I wouldn't have to worry about bringing in any pathogens to the rest of my tropical fish.

Denny

[etheonut]

The ones I collect breed on a sand beach, but I would think any fine gravel would work. I would avoid anything too heavy of course.

Kevin