# Any fish that thrive in low tech?



## byviolet (Jun 12, 2014)

Like really low tech -- no filter and no heater. Temps are in the 70s


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## Diana (Jan 14, 2010)

Very few fish, low stocking level. 
Species will depend on tank size. 

Fish that are OK with room temperature tanks are generally fish from subtropical to temperate areas, or if they are from tropical areas, higher up the mountains where it is cooler. 

Investigate also how much water movement the fish need. Fish from mountain streams generally need high oxygen, lots of water movement, so these are out. 

Some fish can breath air at the surface, and often these fish come from slower moving water. Cories, some Loaches, and most Anabantoids do this. 
Planet Catfish 
http://www.planetcatfish.com/catelog/
is a good resource for catfish information. 

Loaches
http://www.loaches.com/
is good for Loaches and some Gobies.

From personal experience:
Rosy Barbs
Goldfish
Swordtails
Betta splendens
are good fish for the cooler tanks. But I have filters, and often a power head on the tanks, so there is good water movement, good oxygenation. 

Also, the movement of the water prevents it from stratifying. The warmer water would end up at the top, and the lower areas could be quite cold.


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## strat_guy (Dec 29, 2014)

White clouds. They're really good for planted tanks too because they're small, cheap, and look great in a school. They thrive down into the lower 60s. Cories and common plecos work good too. As long as you're steady in the 70s pretty much any tropical will work. Once you drop below that you have issues.

Another awesome fish that gets severely overlooked is the feeder rosy. The silver version is the common fathead minnow, and the males get really cool looking hoods like an oranda goldfish, and get all these thorns (tubercles) on it when they're breeding. The main attraction though is that they breed like cichlids. If you give them a little cave the male will display to a female and guard the eggs. Its worth thinking about.

edit: just noticed you're not using a filter. you can look at anabantids too. paradise fish, bettas, gouramis. I think pearls are ok without a heater but i would be careful with blues, golds, and dwarfs. Paradise fish are awesome IMO.

Also what Diana said about stratification is right. If you get temperature swings you could have issues with simulated winter turnover and really throw the fish for a loop.


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## knm<>< (Mar 18, 2010)

What size tank?


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## PlantedRich (Jul 21, 2010)

No filter, no heater means no water movement to me. Can't think of any fish that live without O2.


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## knm<>< (Mar 18, 2010)

PlantedRich said:


> No filter, no heater means no water movement to me. Can't think of any fish that live without O2.


Agreed, it would require constant water changes. A larger aquarium could be okay for longer. Still, a lot of water changes.


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## strat_guy (Dec 29, 2014)

There are people over at the NANFA forums that keep their fish in dirted, planted, no filter tanks. Low fish load and species that like slack water and low water quality will do fine where the plants are the oxygenator.


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## knm<>< (Mar 18, 2010)

strat_guy said:


> There are people over at the NANFA forums that keep their fish in dirted, planted, no filter tanks. Low fish load and species that like slack water and low water quality will do fine where the plants are the oxygenator.


What fish are they keeping in those conditions? I've yet to see anyone over there doing that, but I haven't been on the forum in a while.


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## James M (Jun 21, 2012)

I'm sitting here looking at a planted, dirt substrate, 2 gallon betta bowl.
The Crypt is thriving, so is the betta, shrimp and snails.

A betta, being an anabantoid is a perfect fish for this setup.
I do have small submerged heater since the ambient room temp isn't high enough.


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## strat_guy (Dec 29, 2014)

Unless I misunderstood him, Michael Wolfe said he keeps Enneacanthus sunfish in non-filtered aquaria, but it requires a high amount of plants.


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## James M (Jun 21, 2012)

You can keep any fish in 'unfiltered' aquaria so long as you have enough plant life to utilize the dissolved organics produced by the fish. That's part of the advantage to having a planted tank to begin with. This is more practical with some species than others due only to required tank size and/or whether or not they like to destroy said plants.

I have a small Aquaclear on a 37 bowfront that mainly functions to provide a bit of circulation. The plants are the filter, and the tank is moderately stocked.

Allowing the plants to be the primary or only filtration for a fish tank and fully appreciating the plants ability to do so is something that is oddly and ironically lost on a good number of aquarists who keep planted tanks. Even more ironically because this is the 'low tech' forum where you'd think that knowledge would be more wide-spread.


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## roadmaster (Nov 5, 2009)

James M said:


> You can keep any fish in 'unfiltered' aquaria so long as you have enough plant life to utilize the dissolved organics produced by the fish. That's part of the advantage to having a planted tank to begin with. This is more practical with some species than others due only to required tank size and/or whether or not they like to destroy said plants.
> 
> I have a small Aquaclear on a 37 bowfront that mainly functions to provide a bit of circulation. The plants are the filter, and the tank is moderately stocked.
> 
> Allowing the plants to be the primary or only filtration for a fish tank and fully appreciating the plants ability to do so is something that is oddly and ironically lost on a good number of aquarists who keep planted tanks. Even more ironically because this is the 'low tech' forum where you'd think that knowledge would be more wide-spread.


 
Agree with much of this."Silent cycling" oddly enough,is lost on more than a few folks although it works very well.
Problem I think ,is folks don't want to spend the money for the plant's for fear they cannot keep em alive.
Takes a fair amount of plant's for "silent cycling" ,and the belief that learning what plant's need to grow, is far more useful than learning about all manner of chemical treatment's to battle algae.
People start with often times too much light for CO2 available, and too few plant's and or poor distribution of CO2 when injected.
Plant's perform poorly,algae thrives,folks don't wanna add more plant's if they're only gonna be battling more algae.
Many folks are hesitant to add fertilizers to help the plant's grow, but they have no problems using all manner of chemicals (ie) Metracide,Glut,peroxide, Excel,bleach etc. with tanks also holding fishes/invert's.
Also, more than a few people get caught up trying to utilize high tech methods in low tech application. 
Too much light as mentioned,and plant's that do best with higher levels of CO2 than found with low tech methods and lower CO2 levels .
EI dosing can be geared for low tech methods with lower light,lower CO2,and so long as light is not too much,then plant's will do well.
Could start with lot's of plant's with this knowledge,and then realize the benefit's of "silent cycling" without worries bout algae other than maybe diatoms that usually go away as plant mass grows.


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## HDBenson (Jan 26, 2015)

OP. The only fish I would attempt this with besides aforementioned natives are Paradise fish, Macropodus opercularis. These are the only Anabantoids suitable for this set-up that is readily available in the aquarium hobby. Bettas/gouramis REQUIRE a heater unless the ambient temperature of the room they are in is in the upper seventies. Also, I would not suggest this unless you had a minimum tank size of at least ten gallons. I had a heaily planted 10g with a paradise fish and three cool water Corydoras sp. with JUST a light(Java fern, Hygrophila diformis, and Cryptocoryne wendti) that's it.. I had this tank going for three years without losing any of these fish. Please let us know what size tank and we can help you further.


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## byviolet (Jun 12, 2014)

I have a 3.5 gallon tank that's really heavily planted. I just have shrimp and a nerite in there for now


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## adive (Oct 30, 2013)

Giant danios & white cloud mountain minnows can survive those temps. Maybe other danios too - not sure? Tank needs to be heavily planted & heavily understocked. If you want as natural a setup as possible, target fish that are native to the geographical region you live in. I have a walstad which is just that - a tank with native species and its been running the past 6 months with no fish deaths.


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## HDBenson (Jan 26, 2015)

byviolet said:


> I have a 3.5 gallon tank that's really heavily planted. I just have shrimp and a nerite in there for now


Possibly Least Killifish, Heterandria formosa. The smallest freshwater fish in the Western hemisphere. You can get them pretty easily. I would say you could have about five in there. Keep up your water changes though just like with any aquarium. If you can get Pygmy sunfish that is also a possibility.


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## Jnad (Aug 17, 2012)

byviolet said:


> Like really low tech -- no filter and no heater. Temps are in the 70s


Hello!

Very low tech tanks can be very interesting approatch to our hobby. Here is some reading if you have missed it:
http://naturalaquariums.com

Some of my no filter tanks:
http://www.plantedtank.net/forums/showthread.php?t=598442
http://www.plantedtank.net/forums/showthread.php?t=290090&highlight=

This was filterless after running it in with filter:
http://www.plantedtank.net/forums/showthread.php?t=456562&highlight=

When it comes to choise of fish there is many spieces that will be ok, i have had Endlers, tetras(neon), galaxy rasboras, Sparkling Gourami, shrimps and many more.

Hope you try it out

Jnad


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## byviolet (Jun 12, 2014)

HDBenson said:


> Possibly Least Killifish, Heterandria formosa. The smallest freshwater fish in the Western hemisphere. You can get them pretty easily. I would say you could have about five in there. Keep up your water changes though just like with any aquarium. If you can get Pygmy sunfish that is also a possibility.


where do you live? I'm in canada and I haven't heard of them yet lol


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## HDBenson (Jan 26, 2015)

I live in Mississippi. You should be able to order either of these species but, seeing you are in Canada I do not know what restrictions there might be and, as far as I know neither of these fishes are considered invasive etc. H. formosa females get to about 1.5"( while the males seldom get to one inch - their natural range is as far north as N.Carolina(if I remember correctly - but you can look it up). The Pygmy sunfish (Elassoma sp.) max out around 2". The more colorful species of these are from Florida to south Georgia - west along the Gulf of Mexico to Louisiana up into Ohio. Some species of Elassoma are threatened so be mindful of the species. For Elassoma sp. more used to cooler temps look at Elassoma zontaum, not as colorful as the others but also has one of the widest ranges. I keep a group of about 10(mixed gender) in a 20g long but a breeding pair can be kept in a 5g with about 6(mixed gender) being kept without breeding in a 10g. Either of these can be kept in a unheated tank with plenty of plantlife for cover.


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## byviolet (Jun 12, 2014)

yeah i dunno if canada can ship fish like the US can. shipping times are probably too expensive and long for that


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## bmeate (Feb 9, 2014)

white cloud minnows like cold temps
but how would they react to temp fluctuating from like 40 to 70 daily


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## Roshan8768 (Mar 18, 2009)

Is that a real question? 30 degree swings in water temp? They wouldn't last long


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## Kalyke (Dec 1, 2014)

I've seen 6 or 7 year old bettas without heater, filter, and in a little bowl. They are still alive, though I doubt having much fun.


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