CichlidFish.com - Fish That Think.

I'm thinking of turning a spare 10 gal into a cold water tank, but i don't know anything about them, i can't find to much on the net. i need your help if you have any info like fish, water temp, and conditions ect. thanks.

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From the imortal words of Jerry Gercia, "what a long strange journey this has been".

There are several species of fish that can be kept at room temp, i.e. white cloud mountain minnows, some cory cats (C. paleatus), rosy barbs and so on. I kept these three species some years ago and never had any problems. Kept them at medium hardness and PH.

Since the tank is quite small, I'd perhaps try a shoal of white clouds. They're easy to breed and don't go after their young to much. The tank should be planted with i.e., Cabomba, Myriophyllum or similar plants as a breeding substrate.

Those are fish that prefer water of moderate temp, not real coldwater fish though.

To keep real coldwater fish you must assure the water never gets to warm and is well aerated. Could be a problem in summer depending on where you live.

The most interesting coldwater fish I've ever had were the good old threespined sticklebacks (freshwater form). They are very territorial and aggressive when breeding and hence should be kept without other species. The males build nests from plant parts and care for the young. In a 10 gallon I'd only keep one male with perhaps two females and provide them with enough hiding places and plants (which they may destroy when building nests).

There are also several other small species, which I have no experience with.



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Gisela
moppel@gismo.owl.de

try www.aquariacentral.com

the site is having some trouble right now, but when it is up and running correctly again, you can go to species profiles, and within that group there is a list of coldwater species and profiles of the fish. could provide a lot of help for you i hope.

weather loachs are kept with goldfish at this one lfs. they like colder temperatures and come in a wide range of colors(well I think terd brown and orange) they may be good bottom cleaners

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Jamie

FEEDER NAZI

Oscars rule!