temperature question

[Ent007]

Hello all, my name is Nick I live in northwestern BC Canada. I have been in the fish hobby for awhile now, I like to keep dwarf cichlids and mostly have community tanks. I am finally fortunate enough to get a few Garneri and Australes tommorrw. I have a 10 gallon set up , it is planted and peat filtered, and its at 75 F.

I also would like to try a pair in my 58 gallon community tank and its usually at 80 F also planted and peat filtered.

Are these temps too high or are they OK?

Thanks,

Nick

[RonWill]

Hi Nick,
Welcome to the forum and I'm sure you'll have lots of fun with the Fundulopanchax gardneri and Aphyosemion australe. I don't suppose the seller provided you further details on them, eg. locality/population and collection code? Not a priority since it's more important to care and keep them healthy now.

Your new killies will do fine at 80°F (26.6°C) and do keep us updated.

[Ent007]

Hi Ron, thanks for your reply. I actually saw that you bought fish from the same gentlemen, Karl Walter. I actually Got F. Gardneri Akure and F. Gardneri Lafia.

For the other they are. A. Bivattium? Funge and A. Australe as well as A. Guignardi Soughete?

I'm kind of scrambling to find more suitable housing for these guys. An Akure jumped out of my 58 gallon last night, I have no idea how long it was on the floor, but he seems ok today. And I lost the Lafia today, I found him on the floor in front of my 10 gallon which had only a 2 X 2 opening on the back of the tank.


Man I am so upset about the loss today.

I'm thinking of getting some starter goldfish tanks 2.5 gallon, with a small filter and light, because their lids are tightly fitted and meshed on the top.

Do killiefish tanks need cycling as well as other freshwater set ups. Any advice is muchly appreciated, sorry for rambling, as far as I know I'm one of only two people who are starting with Killies in the area so I hope this will be my main resource.

Cheers,

Nick

[stormhawk]

Hi Nick,

It is advisable to cycle the tanks, if they're meant as permanent breeding setups. Temporary holding tanks can be done using those starter tanks you mentioned, but it is always better to have a mature filter and some plants in the tank. Mosses and floating plants do well in such tanks, especially if they're exposed to a few hours of daylight per day. They help in keeping the bio-load down, but keep the population low per starter tank, and do the usual tank maintenance routine and you should be fine.

Killies are expert jumpers, hence any tank that has killies, especially those streamlined ones, should always have a tight fitting and secure lid with no holes for them to jump through.

I know the pain of losing precious fish, but you can always get them again from Karl I guess.