Hey everybody!

[Groovy Jeff]

I am in not new to fish keeping, but want to learn more about apistos. Currently I breed Angels, shrimp, corys, and just getting started with discus. I love looking at apistos and had a pair at one point that stayed hidden as I didn't have enough cover in the tank and my water parameters were out of whack, so I sold them to a friend. My set up is better these days and think I would like to try it again. My biggest issue is I live in Arizona and my fishroom is my half of the garage (still trying to talk my wife out of her half). My water temp in the summer gets up to 85 degrees, but no warmer even on days where the outside temp is 120. I have been researching to find out temps for these fish, but there isn't a lot of info out there. Is 85 to hot for them? Where are good places to find more data on these fish? Any book recommendations?

Thanks in advance for the help!

 

[Linus_Cello]

I think you'll need an R/O unit; you have liquid rocks out in AZ.

 

[Groovy Jeff]

I have one. I'm on a well with 88 people. TDS 260. pH 8.2

 

[HengLee]

Hi Jeff,
I think it shouldn't be a problem for most of the fish that you mentioned above except probably for the shrimps that required lower temperature.
I live in Singapore and my fish tanks' temperature stay at around 84-85degF most of the time or probably for at least half of the year.
During the hotter months(May-Aug), our fish tanks temperature can even reach 86degF.

And whenever I visit our local fish shops, I find that the shops are hotter than my house. So, I suspect that the fish shops tanks temperature might be even higher.
And surprisingly, the shrimps are doing fine at our local fish shops despite the hot weather.
Also, I don't see any fish shops that are using "chiller" except for one shop that used some small fans for blowing at the tanks.

Nevertheless, I did come across some internet articles that say that "if the fish are kept continuously at high temperature, it will reduce the life span of the fish". But I wonder whether is it really true..
Unless we have scientific datas, we can't really make a conclusion.

 

[Mike Wise]

Consistent high temperatures will shorten the life of any cold-blooded (poikilothermic) organism, like your fish. Their metabolism is based on external temperatures. Higher temps = higher metabolic rate = shortened life span. Ideally, you should try to keep apisto below 82°F/28°C but periodic swings won't do major damage. If you feel the aquarium temperature is too warm you can always use the 'old baggy cooler'. Take a zipper bag and fill it with water. Put bag in freezer until water freezes to ice. Float bag in tank. After ice melts return bag to freezer. Repeat.

 

[HengLee]

Some additional info:

If you really want to have optimum temperature (probably around 78-80F) for your fish tank, you can buy a "chiller" to cool down and control your tank water temperature.
You can also use a fan to blow at the tank.
These are more convenient methods as you don't have to manually keep adding ice pack or ice into the tank.

But for my own practice, I don't use any chiller as I don't want to incur extra cost on the electric bills despite the hot weather in our country.

But for those keeping marine fish, I think it's almost a "must" to keep the tank temperature at optimum by using a chiller.

 

[HengLee]

Continues...

Anyway, the life span of the fish is not really a concern as I don't think I want to keep the same fish for too long.

I'll get bored with the same fish. Haha.

I guess I will change my fish at some point of time.

I have 3 fish tanks with almost 30+ species but I still get bored after some time...

I was contemplating of changing my fish & the tanks landscape probably every few years.

I have at least 6 fish shops and 1 fish farm near my house. So, some times I get tempted to change my fish.

Anyway, I think Apistos and German Blue Ram are great fish and worth keeping for a long time. They are beautiful and have great characteristics.

 

[HengLee]

Some info from the internets for Apistogramma:

http://www.aquaticcommunity.com/cichlid/apistogramma2.php

http://animal-world.com/encyclo/fresh/cichlid/CockatooCichlid.php

http://www.dwarfcichlid.com/Apistogramma_cacatuoides.php

http://www.fishchannel.com/freshwater-aquariums/fish-breeding/apistogrammas.aspx

http://www.tfhmagazine.com/details/articles/the-apistogramma-aquarium.htm

 

[Anders247]

Welcome to the forum!