I remember reading a longer thread about temperature a while back, before I joined the forum, that got me thinking about my own tanks temperatures and a video on tank vs wild temps from Aquarium CoOp. I obviously want to aim for healthy growth but don't feel the need to push pedal to the metal and sacrifice overall health and longevity. Plus, if a heater malfunctions in the OFF position it seems fish that are adjusted to a middle ground temp wouldn't shock as much since the temperature wouldn't drop as much running at 75 vs 78. I have my heater connected to an InkBird so I can check with my phone the temp and receive alarms should the heater fail in.
Amphilophus c. Grow Out Temperature
- Thread starter platy21
- Start date
A side note
Currently I have a 40b up and running for over a year now. The funny thing is that the heater I got for it has not been used as of yet, still new in box. The tank first had some HRP'S that spawned so much I had a four generation colony going.
And this is what the tank started at
It got so overwhelmed with HRP fry I had to tear it down and rehome them. I restated with a pair of Pink Convicts.
My Val growth had been absolutely astronomical. I started with six val plants. This is what grew in 6 months of time or so. Some plants being longer that six feet in length.
I removed about a third of the plants, replanted and started over with the Pink cons.
And here we are four months later and I am overgrown again...
And all of this insane growth from both fish and plants is with no heater at all. Just ebb and flow with my room temps. Tank stays in the 70° to 75° night, day temps.
Currently I have a 40b up and running for over a year now. The funny thing is that the heater I got for it has not been used as of yet, still new in box. The tank first had some HRP'S that spawned so much I had a four generation colony going.
And this is what the tank started at
It got so overwhelmed with HRP fry I had to tear it down and rehome them. I restated with a pair of Pink Convicts.
My Val growth had been absolutely astronomical. I started with six val plants. This is what grew in 6 months of time or so. Some plants being longer that six feet in length.
I removed about a third of the plants, replanted and started over with the Pink cons.
And here we are four months later and I am overgrown again...
And all of this insane growth from both fish and plants is with no heater at all. Just ebb and flow with my room temps. Tank stays in the 70° to 75° night, day temps.
That's a great looking tank; the val looks incredibly healthy! Not to derail my own thread, but- what does your water change schedule look like in that tank? With the amount of val growing I'd think it would use up quite a bit of nitrate. I've never kept convicts or HRP's but I have always been partial to them. The green really makes the tank look natural. Do you use any fertilizers? I tried my hand at a high tech planted tank but it wasn't for me. I've been thinking of planting out some of my Goodeid tanks with easier plants. Ironically with my username I haven't kept platys in very long time, but they were my first fish over two decades ago and my first forum username.
This tank get no ongoing ferts nothing at all. I started with Caribsea planted plus substrate, buying it local to make sure it's still sealed with the ferts it comes with still present and not leaked out due to accidental punctures during handling. I dumped it all in when I started the tank no rinsing at all. I used three bags for a 40b.
The light is a Finnex Planted Plus 24/7 led. I didn't adjust it at all as far as intensity, time etc just set it to the right time and let it do it's thing.
When I first started I had some Amazon Swords and some stem plants so did give them some root tabs in time. But when I did the tank redo I took out all plants save the Vals so now there are no new ferts at all. Just fish waste feeding plants, plants feeding fish via actually eating of the vals to cleaning of the water.
Water changes are 50% twice a week irregardless of test results. Currently I only have test strips for testing and the Nitrate are barely readable. I did it for the shear numbers of fish. There are I belive around twenty adult Plattys, maybe 50 fry, the two Pink cons and a Bushynose pleco.
The light is a Finnex Planted Plus 24/7 led. I didn't adjust it at all as far as intensity, time etc just set it to the right time and let it do it's thing.
When I first started I had some Amazon Swords and some stem plants so did give them some root tabs in time. But when I did the tank redo I took out all plants save the Vals so now there are no new ferts at all. Just fish waste feeding plants, plants feeding fish via actually eating of the vals to cleaning of the water.
Water changes are 50% twice a week irregardless of test results. Currently I only have test strips for testing and the Nitrate are barely readable. I did it for the shear numbers of fish. There are I belive around twenty adult Plattys, maybe 50 fry, the two Pink cons and a Bushynose pleco.
My current male cit has been with me approx. 11 yrs now, and no sign of slowing down.
www.monsterfishkeepers.com
Slow and steady always wins the race……
My Midas
Not quite in the same league as some of Buddy's brutes, but I've had a few people ask me lately for a pic so I thought this might be easiest. I just relocated this male back into the 125 where he started out close to 7 yrs ago. Still deciding on what or if substrate is going in. I may just let...
www.monsterfishkeepers.com
Slow and steady always wins the race……
Lots of things that will affect the growth of a fish, such as feed quality & quantity, stress levels in the tank from tank mates, all of the various water parameters, and even genetics. But if I had to choose one, it would always be water changes. Large daily water changes will typically give one the best results in natural healthy growth in a young cichlid. A build up of metabolic waste is not often found in nature.
Sounds like an awesome setup. I’ve always liked plants and felt they give a more natural presence to a tank. Plus the extra help filtering waste is always a bonus. I’m going to try and go this direction with my Goodeid tanks.
Wow that’s an incredible fish. I would be interested in learning more about your feeding routine. I have been an overfeeder in the past and try hard to avoid it. You mention in that thread about skipping days, but did you do that when they were younger as well? I’ll post a picture of their current size. If not, at about what age/size do you slow down on their feeding. I feed mostly NLS to my other fish with a mix of Xtreme spriluna and krill flake as well as a treat of Hikari Vibra Bites and Fluval Bug bite flakes.My current male cit has been with me approx. 11 yrs now, and no sign of slowing down.
My Midas
Not quite in the same league as some of Buddy's brutes, but I've had a few people ask me lately for a pic so I thought this might be easiest. I just relocated this male back into the 125 where he started out close to 7 yrs ago. Still deciding on what or if substrate is going in. I may just let...
Slow and steady always wins the race……
That’s a really interesting observation. I recently added an air stone to one of my other tanks and I thought I saw an increase in the fishes activity levels. Thought it was just in my head but maybe there is something to this? I use the Aquarium CoOp pumps with the battery backup and it’s nice to know in the event of a power outage I will still have some water movement in the tanks. The pumps switch over to battery mode automatically.
What size were your Amphilophus when you removed the heaters?
