# Fish for an unheated cool water tank



## J.B. (Nov 16, 2006)

Although you say you are not a fan of WCMM, that is exactly what I would recommend. Once you see them in person, you'll see that they are really quite beautiful fish. Especially a huge school of them in a 90gal.


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## sayn3ver (Sep 1, 2006)

i havent seen a picture online of them that really interests me and despite being so easy to cae for, i've never seen them at any local fish shops.


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## mrbman7 (Mar 22, 2007)

Try to find the Gold White Clouds if possible. They are much better looking than normal white clouds


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## Kelley (Nov 2, 2006)

Gold white clouds are beautiful! I have them in my pond. Give them a chance.


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## sayn3ver (Sep 1, 2006)

anything else though that i haven't thought of?


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## SearunSimpson (Jun 5, 2007)

I would also recommend WCMM. I bought an original 5 and am obsessed with how easy and hardy they are. They will breed readily and can handle normal room temps, i.e no heater. They also make good co-habitants with shrimp which also prefer cooler water temps.


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## lemonlime (Sep 24, 2006)

Danios, Bloodfin Tetras, many Barbs, Paradise fish can all tolerate temps in the mid 60s as well as Buenos Aires Tetras

I have read that Buenos Aires Tetras love to nibble on plants though :icon_neut


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## MJay-FishyFreak (Jul 13, 2007)

Ictalurus melas ( Black Bullhead ) it hs a wide temperature tolerance and is suitable for heated or unheated aquaria, but they can get quite large 2 feet!!( 62cm ) but usually much smaller, they are predatory and prefer a live fish diet. Or maybe a Ictalurus punctatus ( channel catfish ), if your prepared to take on a fish that can grow up to 4 feet!!! ( 120cm ) although it is usually considerably smaller, it is much like the black bullhead prefering live food. 

Some more practical practical would be Aphanius dispar (arabian killifish), blue spotted sunfish, redbreast sunfish, pumpkinseed(lepomis gibbosus), Everglades pygmy sunfish, perch, crayfish.

They are just a few possibilites out of my freshwater aquarium book, it has 500 fish profiles and they were just a few i found. On the issue of white cloud mountain minnows i think they are good pondfish if you have a planted pond and don't want large fish taking away from aquatic plants but want to keep mosquitos from breeding, but in the aquarium they can be a bit boring, thats just my opinion but you might think different. 

much luck and i would be interested to hear what you decide on, because goldfish do get very boring!


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## crazie.eddie (May 31, 2004)

What is the ambient room temp? If you keep the room airconditioned or heated, then you could probably go with regular tropical fishes. I was given a 10 gallon tank with some tropical fish and it's unheated. Fortunately, our basement usually stays around 76F during the year.


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## ShortFin (Dec 27, 2005)

Florida Flag Fish and Hillstream Loach.


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## sayn3ver (Sep 1, 2006)

i liked the ultility of flordia flag fish but i have heard recently from several individuals of how aggressive they are and how destructive they can be(plant eating).

My house has heat and air conditioning, but to save money we keep the house rather cool in the winter, ie. low 60's during the night. Most other times it is normal household temp between 67-73 degrees.

I live in New Jersey so we do get cold weather for several months usually from later november-march.

if the tank was in the basement i would be less worried as being underground it stays about the same temp year round. But the tank will be in the dinning room which has 2 large bay windows and 2 sliding glass doors so the room fluctuates a lot more than the basement.

Smaller fish is my preference, to keep the tank to scale rather than having foot long fish, nothing personal. But the tank is only 48x18x24.


http://www.liveaquaria.com/product/prod_Display.cfm?pCatId=1581
http://www.liveaquaria.com/product/prod_Display.cfm?pCatId=1579
anyone have any experience with these guys?


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## Boz (Jan 8, 2007)

most of the goodeid species can handle cooler temps. I never use heaters with mine, and in the spare room it gets pretty chilly in the winter (I'm in Indiana.)


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## Yeasty Boy (Jul 17, 2007)

I agree with "FishyFreak". Go with a school of small perch, sunfish or blue gill. You can probably catch them yourself. I have several ponds near me stocked full of them. 
I Kept a tank full of "Alligator Gar" fish I caught as babies out of Lake Erie in a unheated tank. When they got 6" long I sold them.


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## Maazo (Jul 26, 2006)

Don't know if you can get them over in the States, but Pacific Blue-eyes (Pseudomugil signifer) can handle coldwater. Their geographic extent here in Australia extends further south than other blue-eyes and people keep them here in ponds as mosquito control.

Again, not sure of their availabilty over there but two species of rainbowfish Melanotaenia duboulayi or Melanotaenia fluviatilis are from more southerly latitudes here and can handle colder temperatures.


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## sayn3ver (Sep 1, 2006)

Wow, I'd love to stock some orange spotted sunfish in my tank. Anyone know of any place that carries these in the aquairum trade or will i need to luck out and find these in a local pond/lake?


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## Mori (Jul 23, 2003)

I've kept Texas cichlids in a room-temp tank as well as pink gouramis. Both are incredible fish when they size up a bit...


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## LS6 Tommy (May 13, 2006)

I jsut got some freshwater Gobies that are form mountain streams. They're happy in my 58 that's 78*, but they supposedly are good to about 68*. They're similar to hillstream loches, and they're strictly algae grazers, another plus. Here's a link to one that looks very similar to the males I have:

http://aquaworld.netfirms.com/Other/Stiphodon atropurpureus.htm

Tommy


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## crazy loaches (Sep 29, 2006)

Hillstreams need really fast moving water - not the best conditions for most plants but some will work if you want to go that route.

Personally I'd recommend Dojo (weather) loaches. They can take temps from average room temp down almost to freezing. They are kind of unusual and they can be very social in large groups. Its interesting to watch them lay in a big pile. Good luck with your stocking.


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## Etheostoma (Jul 21, 2007)

*NJ Fish*

Since you live in NJ, my suggestion would be to purchase a fishing license and head down to the pine barrens to catch some sunfish from the genus _Enneachanthus_. A planted tank with bluespot, banded, and blackbanded sunfish is hard to beat in my opinion. You can also find eastern mudminnows, pirate perch, mud sunfish, tadpole madtoms, tesselated darters, and swamp darters in the swamps and streams of south Jersey. If you want a solitary predator tank, redfin and chain pickerel live down there also. North Jersey doesn't have as many aquarium suitable species, but you can find banded killifish and margined madtoms along with a few cyprinids and sunfish.

If you aren't too sure about collecting your own or are looking for something from out-of-state, the following sites sell US native fish:

www.jonahsaquarium.com
www.btdarters.com
www.aquaculturestore.com


I also suggest looking at the North American Native Fishes Association (www.nanfa.org). They have a good forum at http://forum.nanfa.org.


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## kaifyre (Jul 16, 2007)

I really like the look of Bitterling in a school of 10 or more (silver/blue) and they're fatter, shorter versions of Danios (they like to MOVE). Bluegills (sunfish? perch? grr...can't remember) are really cool also, and those Pirate perch. Of course, if you're looking for something a little more colorful you could try almost any gourami (blues and golds look awesome) or danios or minnows.


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## sayn3ver (Sep 1, 2006)

I already have my fishing license and have done a few days of fishing locally so far, only finding blue gill.

I'd like to do some blue spotted if i can find them. Black bandeds, from what i have read, are difficult to keep and seem to require very soft water that is found naturally in the pine barrens(which are only 20-30 minutes or so away from me) along with live food.


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## JenThePlantGeek (Mar 27, 2006)

Have you tried catching minnows with a net? Scooping where there's lots of brush overgrown near the shore and kind of shaking it up in the brush/grass tends to get a lot of fish. You'll have to get out the waders though!


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## sayn3ver (Sep 1, 2006)

Anyone know which ponds/lakes are best to try in NJ. I've been to wharton forest and menantico ponds before(camping and 4x4'ing) but never fishing. After looking at some satelite images and topo maps, i've realized there are an overwheling number of places to try. I don't have a net but may buy one if i plan on keeping smaller native species. 

All of this makes me want to get my off roading vehicle back on the road.

Edit: Btw i am a 5 minute bike ride from cooper river in pennsauken/cherry hill for reference(basically philly)


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## Etheostoma (Jul 21, 2007)

sayn3ver said:


> Anyone know which ponds/lakes are best to try in NJ. I've been to wharton forest and menantico ponds before(camping and 4x4'ing) but never fishing. After looking at some satelite images and topo maps, i've realized there are an overwheling number of places to try. I don't have a net but may buy one if i plan on keeping smaller native species.
> 
> All of this makes me want to get my off roading vehicle back on the road.
> 
> Edit: Btw i am a 5 minute bike ride from cooper river in pennsauken/cherry hill for reference(basically philly)


I've caught banded sunfish, chain pickeral, tesselated darters, eastern mudminnows, american eel, and a few other things in the Oswego river in Wharton. I'm sure the rest of the usual species are there also, but I haven't spent a whole lot of time collecting in that specific area. I would recommend staying away from WMAs, as the rangers seem to be really suspicous even if you have a fishing license.


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