I live in a country where summers are extremely hot and humid. Temperature often hits 40 degree Celsius. If I turn on AC, how would that impact my cichlids? I usually do not keep the temperature below 20 degrees but is it okay for the fish? The tank and the AC are placed on opposite walls, but not face to face so the cool air from the AC do not directly hit the tank. They have fair amount of vertical distance as the tank is located just couple of inches above the floor and the AC, of course, is close to the ceiling. Please advise.
Can cichlids tolerate air conditioning?
- Thread starter confusedfishkeeper
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The larger the tank, the slower it is to cool down the water. Determine what's the lowest temperature your fish will be fine at and set your AC temperature to that level. Once it gets there see how long it takes for the tank water temperature to go down.
What cichlids are you keeping? Tropical temperatures start around 68F.
What cichlids are you keeping? Tropical temperatures start around 68F.
I have Frontosa, dubosi, electric blue acara and livingstoni. All juveniles around 3 inches.
They should be okay with the AC set to 23C. You could put a heater in set to 24C. If you see them hanging around the heater when it is on, then 23C is too cold for their comfort.
Sounds like in that situation the AC is good for them. You should be worrying about the tank overheating without AC. It will keep the tank from overheating and the tank's heater will keep it from getting too cold.
Thanks. The LFS guy told me that cichlids would not survive with the AC on particularly considering my tank has lot of rocks which he thought would lower the temperature of water further.
Rocks wouldn't lower the water temperature. The only thing they could do is decrease the amount of water in the aquarium by displacing it. So if you had 10 kilograms of rocks, you would displace 10 kilograms of water, which would be approximately 10 liters of water. This in itself would not decrease the water temperature, it would just cause temperature changes to occur faster. Also, most fish can withstand lower temperatures than most people give them credit for. If it becomes an issue you can always add a heater.
The normal temps fronts experience at their preferred depth in Lake Tanganika is (average) about 24'C (75'F).
Here in Panama, serious keepers of African rift cichlids, use chillers to hold temps down in the mid 70s F.
Here in Panama, serious keepers of African rift cichlids, use chillers to hold temps down in the mid 70s F.
Time to find a new LFS, I think.
