Tropical Fish and Temperature

 

  I'm not an expert when it comes to fishes.To be very honest,most of my knowledge of fish rearing

stems from much trial and error and a whole lot of them were erroneous as I kept fishes mostly when

I was a young kid up to my teens.

  Here's one thing though that is really important when you're keeping tropical fish :water

temperature.

  Recently,I lost my beloved fighting fish Bill and his mate Dottie.Previously,my dad and I thought

that Dottie had brought a disease with her from the shop we bought her in.Turns out we were wrong.

  Dottie developed white spots in the span of less than a day when she showed no previous symptoms

of being ill.Bill on the other hand didn't have any visible white spots but then again I could be

mistaken because he is rather white.

  After seeking the opinions of some serious fish enthusiasts,we came up with what may be the

answer to their sudden and weird deaths : low water temperatures.

  I live in Malaysia,the land of eternal summer so you may be wondering what business does this

woman have with low water temp.Well I made a bad call in two areas.

  Firstly,I kept my aquariums in my bedroom. Usually bedrooms are not the ideal place to have

tanks.Why?Because you might just place them in a place where there is hardly any sunlight or in

some dark and hidden corner.My room was pretty sunny though but it was still a mistake to keep the

fishes in my room,bring me to my second point.

  In my room there was an air-conditioner.And I used it occasionally.Bad move.Tropical fish are just

what they are,tropical.You can't put an Eskimo in the desert or a Bedouin in the

Alaska.Likewise,tropical fish need warm temperatures to thrive.The lower the temperature,the

weaker their immune system gets.This makes them susceptible to all kinds of diseases and death.A

friend of my fathers and who is a real fish enthusiast,kept a whole school of

cardinals.Overnight,nearly the whole school was wiped out.The culprit?Them blasted AC's.
 
  From what I've read,some sites recommend that you keep your tank at 70 to 80 degrees F or 21 to

26.6 degrees C.Still 70 degrees F is a lil chilly.To be safe I would recommend a temperature of 82.4

degrees F / 28 degrees C and above.Still, check out the real experts if you're worried.I'm an amateur.

  If you live in a tropical country,you don't have much of a problem then.Just make sure the tank is

somewhere warm,not necessarily somewhere in direct sunlight.You may end up with a whole tank of

boiled fish and a unstoppable mess of algae to deal with.If you have planst that need sunlight

though,keep your tank somewhere that is sunny but not directly so,for example next to a window.If

you live somewhere that has the four seasons,just make sure you have a heater for your tank or place

your tank near the heater.I don't really recommend putting it directly on the heater though.If you have

a glass tank,it might crack or cook your fish.Oh,and if you live in the Artic region,you're just gona get

frozen fish.

  So I thought I might give you some examples of tropical fishes if you have no clue what they

are.These are fishes grouped together by their genus

- Characins(All types of Tetras,Silver Dollars)
- Catfish
- Cichlids
- Labyrinths(Bettas,Gouramis)
- Livebearers(Guppies,Mollies,Swordtails)

  These are just a few groups of fish,there are hundreds of tropical fishes out there.Keep yer fishies

happy!