White mountain minnows are totally underrated. They are cheap. They are beautiful. They color up so well in a nice tank. They breed so easily in a well planted tank. Very very hardy.
I keep mostly unheated aquariums in my fish room, well at least 90% of them. Fish room temperature is 70-80F depending on the season of the year. Cost of electricity has been crazy here in Europe. Even to heat up my tiny fish room to 70F is sooooo expensive. I am looking to keep more and more fish that do not require heater. Cheers Irene.
Me too! None of my tanks are heated, but temperature goes between 75 to minimum 65 in the winter. I am keeping endlers, BN, amanos, bolivian ram, and also a nerite, who are all very happy :)
North American Centrarchids: dollar sunfish, flier. Larger fish, rock bass, mud sunfish. Monster fish: bowfin. Darters and killifish have interesting BREEDING colors. I live in Virginia, let me know if you are interested, I will see what I can do.
Correction for you on some of the species temperature. Cherry Shrimps will survive just fine down to 8C overnight, White Clouds will survive 4C. I have them in outdoor ponds and they do really well year round. The best though is Japanese Ricefish, or Medaka (micro Koi). They will survive low temp as long as water does not freeze. Will also survive up to 35C just fine.
I put six WCMM in a 120 litre wildlife pond four years ago and they're still going strong. Not sure on water temps but they've survived winters that have got down to -10c and summers up to 35c
Thank you for covering this topic. When I first got back into tropical fish, I did a lot of internet research on "cool water tropicals", as I live in a cool climate (central Ontario) and didn't want to heat my aquarium. I came up with a lot of species that are readily available and has a temperature range as low as 65F (18C). In addition to the already mentioned white cloud, paradise fish, flagfish and rainbow shiner, I came up with: red wag, micky mouse and green lantern platys; rosy red minnow; odessa, golden, and tiger barbs; zebra and celestial danio; panda, pepper corys; Buenos Aires and bloodfin tetras; bristlenose pleco; Asian stone catfish; pygmy sunfish and Endler livebearers. If you can keep your unheated aquarium at 68F (20C), you can add a host others (e.g., cherry barb, Hillstream loach, neon, black neon, ember and candycane tetras. I was amazed at how many so-called tropical fish can live well at these temperatures!
Oh yeah, looking into native bait fish is also a very good idea for cool water aquariums though they can be on the bigger side and have food aggression issues if ya go that route. Also... Don't put rosey minnows in a heated tank, I've only had a single one survive longer then a month and my first try with crappie minnows, bigger silvery grey to olive colored guys, well... They lasted maybe three days with a heater but months in an unheated tank. Demanding on oxygen and water flow though but for a bigger higher flow tank, I think they're neat. Honestly more native fish would probably be a good idea in general in the fishkeeping hobby, no risk of invasive takeover if what's in your tank has been here already for the past few hundred years at least, and no need for a heater or cooler if they're kept around the same as yearly outside temps (granted they're human safe temps) but since most in North America are threatened or endangered... Idk any legal way to get a bunch of species or I'd at least try to breed some
can't believe ricefish didn't make your list! they're very hardly, they do fine at 60F, they come in many colors, very easy to breed, and you can get them at aqua imports!
@yearandom914 Part of the year, for sure. You need to check your winter temperatures against their lowest temperature recommendations. You'll love them in ponds or outdoor tubs!
as a turkish enthusiast, i'd recommend aphanius mento if you can get them. they're look really similar to pygmy sunfish but are killies like flagfish and are similarly really feisty and love eating algae. they are a bit more temperate than flagfish, and they can tolerate waters down to 5 degrees celsius or 41 fahrenheit for americans during the winter time, and are great outdoors fish in warmer climates. they come from shallow, exposed pools and get really vibrant if given a little natural sunlight, though i believe this is also true with flagfish to a lesser extent, and males are also a little more territorial towards eachother. the main downside to them is that they're really expensive outside of europe lol
i have some CPDs and assorted sewellia in an unheated tank with mostly crypts and epiphytes. it can get pretty chilly in winter (60s) but everyone seems happy and the s. albisuera had babies last january, so 🤷♂
THANK YOU! The non goldfish/koi cold water category is so underappreciated in the hobby. Sweet little Odo knows whats up! Ha. Tiny feet on snow = no bueno. 💜
And honestly the thing is most fancy goldfish do actually need heaters depending on what's "room temp" for you. A lot of folks will try to say they like cold water but it's more like they can *survive* the cooler temps but they actually need around 77-ish°F to be really healthy and happy !
Great content, Irene 😁 I love all things "Killi" and Gardneri are very hearty and beautiful. I also love Pygmy Sunfish 🥰 They are tiny and the males are absolutely stunning!
@@GirlTalksFish At first, they were. As the plants in the tank have grown in and they have become used to me, they are out and about 😁 They have actually started to breed!
I am going to investigate different populations of flag fish whilst I am down in Florida, more likely next year than this. Let me know if you are interested.
For those cichlid fans out there, if you want to keep some fascinating, cichlid-like fish that live in cool water, try the sunfish family (centrarchids). These include aquarium classics like the tiny Everglades sunfish, the small blue-spotted sunfish, and the medium-sized pumpkinseed. There are 38 species in all, including orangespotted, longear, bluegill, and green sunfishes, as well as smallmouth and largemouth bass (for giant tanks only). All these are cool water fishes, and if you give them a winter cool-down period followed by a spring warm-up period, they can spawn for you. I've kept several of them, and they have a lot of "wet pet" appeal, much like cichlids.
My cherries are doing great at 68 degrees. I’m getting ready to move them from a 29g aquarium to a 47g rimless. If I can find them I plan to add CPDs too.
I have white clouds, both gold and long Fin, in two outdoor ponds in Washington. They breed easy and do just fine over winter south ice. Japanese medaka are another really good cold water fish.
Medaka ricefish! Got them outside in West Midlands UK all year round. Also the bog standard goldfish, sarasa commets etc can live outside all year round here too. And bitterlings are very cool to keep too
I highly recommend the Redbelly Dace, it’s a perfect tank mate or alternative to the Rainbow Shiner. Bright red and yellow on them. I also recommend any species of darter, the colors are super bright on males, and they vary in size and shape.
I’ve been keeping Panda Cory’s for about 4 months and they have been doing great between 65-70°. I did add a heater set at 70°. I have not successfully bred them in these conditions yet, but the tank is still relatively young. The fish seem happy and healthy though.
Great video! I discovered you through Aquarium Co-op and am loving your channel. I am an ecologist but specialize in the midwestern US--I have a lot to learn about all these fascinating aquarium species!
there are a lot interesting North American species, like the Centrarchids (sunfish and basses). Some sunfish stay small and colorful. Get a good field guide and you might have some in your local waters. Hit me up if I can help. I live in Virginia.
All of my tanks are unheated. At least, they don't have heaters. The pumps on internal and HOB filters also provide a bit of heating as they do their work, and I only have 2 tanks that don't have anything more than a sponge filter in them (2g jarrarium, 5g quarantine tank). We keep our house 74-78 F year round (warmer in summer, cooler in winter), so it works great. The lowest temp I've registered in any of my tanks is around 72 F in our living room, which stays cooler than the bedrooms. The main thing people need to look at is their ambient room temperature throughout the year.
Oh, stocking: 29g - Gambusia mosquito fish, pleco, panda cories (HOB used only for water movement - stays around 74 F) 6.8g - chili rasboras, blue dream/jelly shrimp (in-tank sump with submerged water pump - stays around 74-76 F) 29g - Endler's, lemon tetras, pygmy cories, bristlenose plecos, neocardina in various colors, Amano shrimp (HOB - stays around 74 F) 10g Riraparian (maybe 7g water) - guppies, orange neocardina (internal filter - stays right around 74 F) 7g - ember tetras, gold honey gourami, cherry shrimp, Amano shrimp (internal filter - stays 74-76 F) 2g jarrarium - neocardina shrimp (blue dream, blue jelly, jade - nano sponge filter only - covered with a snug fitting lid - stays right around 75 F) 5g quarantine tank - contains a heater in case I need it, but I've never had to use it - contains only a sponge filter - this tank sits near the floor, so it's the one that's dropped to around 72 F
Another cool cool species are the Gymnogeophagus from Uruguay and Argentina. Many of the different species are pretty uncommon in the hobby. But they are really cool little earth eater cichlids that can take temps down into the 50s. Also, several cory catfish can handle cooler temps.
another fish that's cool to keep with goldfish for cleanup and algae control would be hillstream loaches. they do like a bit of flow, though, which would not be appreciated by a lot of fancy goldfish.
I've had the same problem with unheated tanks. In the winter, they just got too cold, especially at night, regardless of keeping the room around 70. So, had to add heater.
Honestly I don't bother anymore. I've had a number of incidents and emergencies and have kept even a number of warm water species like guppies and ember tetras in waters as cold as 55 and they've done just fine. Most of what I keep now are cold water anyway (except the guppies) but they're still breeding and active at 65.
My coldwater tank currently has Scarlet badis, clown kilifish, borneo loach (hillstream loach), variety of shrimps including orange eye blue tiger, pygmy corys, and celestial galaxy rasbora. also have some horned nitrites . everyone is happy and thriving. shrimp are even breeding.
Recommendation as an alternative for axolotls, Spanish ribbed newts. Care is exactly the same as axoltols and reach similar sizes though not as bulky and more active as adults, however, they’re much more tolerant of high temperatures! Comfortable up to 75*F, so if you’re comfortable they’re comfortable. And they are fine down to 50*F so winter time drops are an issue either.
I experimented this year with keeping white clouds in my unheated space without a heater. they have been doing great . the lat two months have averaged 50F , but in the third month, two are now missing. I think 55-60F would be ideal for them.
An outdoor pond in Colorado is going to get a wee bit cooler than 65. And this is in spring/summer/fall. My white clouds are in an unheated space and is regularly in the 50s and they are doing well and have great appetites. Rosy Red Minnows do well in this space too and are super cheap as they're feeders.
I live west of Chicago. I put three Paradise Garage in a 8000 gallon pond. At the end of summer there were thousands of paradise fish. It's insane. You can put them in just about anything outside and they will breed
I kept White clouds in an outdoor tub over the summer. I thought i took them all out by october when it got down to 15c, but when i totally shutdown and drained the tub in December to my surprise some White Clouds were left over and totally alive under an thin layer of ice!
thought for sure you would have said rice fish. amazing colourful small fish. I keep them in my pond in the uk. and we get minus temperatures. also my cpd are really happy between 23/24
I know this isn't related to this topic but have you made a video yet about fish that live in similar conditions as betas? Specifically fish that aren't schooling fish. My daughter wants to try another fish other then betas but can't really revamp the tank. She enjoys your videos and thought you could help. We did do a quick ask to Google but only found fish that live well with betas which could answer this question but didn't know if there are other fish that don't do well with betas that could live in similar conditions also. I could do a better research but thought we would try connecting with you about this as well. Thank you for your fun and very helpful videos!
I have my shrimp tank on the windowsill with no heater and no filter. In the winter I had it go down to 14°C and in the summer 35°. They won't breed (or move) as much below 15°. They are still fine, eating and all, but not as active. In the summer I was more worried but they were fine too. At about 21°-22° they are most happy I think.
Good job on the research! 👍Some time ago dug deep into the topic of cool water fish and I was pretty much set on getting Paradise Fish and possibly Whiteclouds. But then I got a cat instead. 😄I'm a big fan of labyrinth fish though and Paradise Fish in particular. 🐟
As a kid I would often go into nearby lakes and catch local fish and keep them in various aquariums. At first it worked great they were doing just fine but after a year something just didn't seem right. The local fish around here(carp, pike, zander, perch etc) goes into some sort of "hibernation" not sure what it's called during the winter due to the very low temperatures and lakes freezing. I could never figure out how to do in an aquarium a kid back in the early 90's. I had an idea to pull cold air in from the outside into the tank but never got around to doing that. I just saw something was wrong so I called a fish specialist that took them all. They were great fish except the pike and the perch. They were nightmare monsters. The carps were my favorites along with sticklebacks. The carps were so friendly and would always come to my hand when feeding them and let me pet them(they got quite big). I should note that the indoor temperature back then was around 20-22c, which I'm quite certain was well above what the fish were used to. I always caught them as fry as they would hang around the shores.
For the Australian fish, if you can get the southern Pygmy perch. They love it cold. Give them hides and plants and a tank at least five gallons. They might be kinda aggressive though
My neos are overwintering outside, they weathered 33F nights in a 20g pond. They are definitely very cold hardy. The same can be said for white cloud minnows, blue paradise fish (opercularis, occelatus), and most of the other fish you brought up that were bred outdoors in ponds, being able to overwinter under ice. Maybe with the exception of the Florida flag fish, axolotls, and the paradise gudgeon.
Oh, that's amazing. I didn't know that you could go so low with the temperatures with Neocaridina, even though I've read reports like this from time to time. I thought they were exceptional cases. I keep Macropodus and Barbodes semifasciolatus. In my research I found out that they can tolerate low temperatures, but from 10 degrees Celsius (50 Fahrenheit) I bring them in again. I also read somewhere that Sewellia lineolat also tolerate such low temperatures, but I couldn't find a scientific source. I like Tateurndina ocellicauda, but again there is no scientific source I can find that tells me how low the temperature can go without harming the animal. That's why I don't have Tateurndina, even though I find it very beautiful.
@@DieAndereVanessa I like tateurndia too, if I had to get a goby it would probably be the stiphodon species or Hypseleotris compressa, since I know for sure that those don’t need it warm. I think people in Europe, or at least some breeders, made a very strong cold hardy line of macropodus occelatus and opercularis. Most of them use some sort of cover of the pond to protect it from snow. I really like my cold water fish, I just wished I had more room for more.
You know what I would love to see one day? Selectively bred au fish or pumpkinseed. They already have so much cool colors. Wpild be even cooler if they could pop more. They're like less finicky cold water discus lol
I have a ph of about 6-6.5 and my shrimp are doing great. So just a note to people who may think their shrimp wont be happy in softer water. They will, and they also breed just as well.
I wanted to do a tank with local Ohio species (where I live). I started with crayfish, then added rosy red minnows. The crayfish ate every single one of them. They also eat any plants I try to put in there, so it's become the crayfish tank. We had a power outage in December 2020, and the temperature in the tank go down into the 40s and they were fine. They actually seemed more active in the cold water.
Would strongly recommend a automatic top off (ATO) system as well as a chiller for axolotls, as well as potentially using RO/DI water maybe since amphibians are particularly sensitive beasties. You can find ATO systems on websites selling saltwater reef supplies!
I saw one of the blue lobsters in a tank with some peppered corydoras at a chain store the other day, I felt so bad for the little guys because they were super curious about him and swimming near him. Luckily he was preoccupied with some larger fish near the top so he didn’t seem to mind them. But still, total time bomb in that tank
I keep crayfish in with my Asian flapshell turtle. They are a GREAT cleaner species, eating all the leftover turtle food and sometimes even eating turtle dung (yuch!). They also graze on algae and because of that, I have a pretty much spotless turtle tank. The water is nice and clear, but I do need to do water changes every other week so that ammonia, nitrates and nitrites don't build up. Another name for a flapshell turtle is a "substrate plough." They will dig up an entire 40 gallon long tank crammed full of plants if you give them a couple of hours, and they will be very proud of their work. They just love to dig and root around. They see it as their purpose in life to dig holes, fill them in, and build other holes, taking time to root around with their little pig-shaped noses from time to time. There seems to be a lot of respect and friendship between the turtle and the crayfish I have. The crayfish like to dig holes too. I guess you could say I have holy pets even though nobody in particular has blessed them. In addition to plants, neither the turtle nor the crayfish are particularly good tank mates for fish. I put guppies in there just once, and they were all gone by the next day. I don't know who the culprit(s) were, but they were gone without a trace. The guppies were someone's culls and I had been given them, so no money loss, but using live critters as food outside of daphnia, blood worms, and brine shrimp, just isn't my idea of ideal, especially when everyone else has a good and balanced diet. Live and learn.
I've had rocket killies in a 2.5 unheated tank for about a year, and they just moved into a 5gal heavily planted setup. I had shrimp in the original tank though, and any bright colored ones were all killed after a day or two - you could see bites :( so that doesn't always work. Maybe if they had a 5gal from the start, but they were drawn to the bright colors. My wild type shrimp survived their roommates. I do love the killies and would highly recommend!
For me keeping and breeding NA natives, all of my 36 tanks are unheated in my basement fishroom. Temps in the coldest part of winter can range from 48°f to 72°f in the hottest parts of summer.
I really like mudpuppies they come from the northern US and are quite active during the winter. I say they can go down to 50*-65* but they get big growing to 17 inches though they are very rare in captivity though.
I love it how you also put celsius degrees in you movies, many of your american colleagues can take a exmple from . Using Fahrenheid , Inches , feet and gallons and oither mediebal measurment units only used ion the USA
there are a lot of native species which look interesting. I actually had a private aquarium ask me to supply some bowfin to breed. They have interesting colors but qualify as monster fish. They also have Jurassic attitude.
my favourite cool water fish would be Macropodus ocellatus. I keep them outside in the garden all year round. They can be covered under a layer of ice, but it mustn't freeze through. They are actually far too beautiful to be kept only outside. The males can easily compete with opercularis in terms of colorfulness. Actually even more beautiful than the latter. They need slightly larger tanks than the opercularis, but I think they can be kept in 160 liters, for example. They are also not nearly as aggressive as the opercularis. And fry should also be able to swim up.
Funny, I never considered empire gudgeons an oddball fish! Lots of personality - have heaps of these in my Australian native cool water aquarium. Agassiz's perchlet is another Australian native cool water fish with lots of personality - plus their large eyes give them an unusual appearance. The good old pacific blue eye is a very active fish for cool water aquariums. Mostly a plain silver fish but when the males flare their fins it's rather colourful and it's hard to go past their brilliant blue eyes. Rhads have a bit of colour and do well in cold water (tolerant of a huge temperature range) but need a rather low pH and are particularly hard to get hold of in the aquarium trade even in Australia. Empire gudgeons, pacific blue eyes and rhads all do well in outdoor ponds in Sydney over winter, but haven't ever tried agassiz's perchlets in my pond.
Great video!! I wish I could get my tanks with shrimp in them to go below 78 degrees. They are in my 2nd floor study. My Betta tank is at 84! All but the Shrimp tank, 76 & the Ram tank, 84 are set to 78.
I took a long time to look for cold water fish. I live in Wisconsin and am worried about an unheated tank incident. I was hoping to find some fish that could survive a Wisconsin winter. Can you do a video on arctic or antarctic aquarium fish? The cold water list is very obscure
I've got 24 karat white clouds, about 17 of them! They're overwintering in my kitchen tank but they'll be going into my mini pond on my balcony once it warms up c:
Oh you missed my favorite cool water fish: medaka rice fish!! Also super easy to breed and come in a huge variety of colors. I have some black medaka rice fish I am going to try to breed this year too!
@@GirlTalksFish I've noticed the males are especially fun to watch when they're in breeding mode - they flare their fins out in a really pretty display and you can see all the red in their fins when they do
I have two axolotls. As you stated, all the hype of Minecraft and whatnot, has alot of unprepared people getting axolotls. Both of mine, are two completely different personalities. Super Cooper the Aquatic Floof Noodle is a GFP Copper Melanoid. He is a loooong boi. Just measured him at 14". Hes very lazy and laid back. Hes also super sensitive to nitrates above 20ppm. Getting Saprolegnia on his gills if the nitrates get too high. Orion is a black Wild variation. He is super personable and energetic. Gets the zoomies in the early morn. Does some flap flappin scross the tank and willing to come up to say hello! (or beg for a worm) Words of caution....Do your research! Too many of these guys are brought home to unprepared and even uncycled tanks. Eventually causing owners to surrender them in often bad shape. Even though both mine are rescues and i wouldnt trade them for the world, prevention and research is key in deciding on keeping these guys. Side note, i opted for a 1/4 hp chiller in my 60 gallon. Keeps the temp at a steady 62. Be prepared to do what you need to do for the pet you choose to keep. They are wonderful, goofy, clumsy, adorable, and highly enjoyable critters if you take the time to learn. 😊
Yeah for now I'm ok keeping my axolotls in pixels, but if I can ever afford a chiller for a bigger tank they are a bucket list pet. Bucket list, not next month pet ^^'. They are adorable to look at but ik they are pretty sensitive creatures due to their natural habitat and unique biology as they are... Technically salamanders, I just forget the actual scientific term for their Peter Pan syndrome causing them to be stuck permanently in their adolescent form, but it's what really makes them interesting since there's not many fish species in the hobbie that have the same strange adaptation. Emerald dwarf danios and I believe CPDs are the same but nano fish. Ik I can't keep an axolotl happy rn though, I'm not good with cold and it gets hot in the summer where I am rn so yeah... Honestly not a pet for most people, I hear tank chillers run in the hundreds of USD and their sensitivity to water parameters means I'd probably also constantly worry about them rn ngl, so also maybe when I have a bit less anxiety
@@discordiacreates6669 yes...Tank chillers are expensive. Mine was around $600. I honestly didnt think i needed one at first. But where i live, the temps go from 115 in the summer, to negative 50 in the winter. Coupled with being in an upstairs apartment, i quickly realized i needed one. So, i did what i needed to do, for the animal i chose to keep. Unfortunately cost is part of the game. Paediomorphic is the technical term. Neotenic is also used. But yeah...Unlike many, youve done your research and made a good choice. Just wish more people would.
@@kimberlyhenke8956 thank you and yeah, unfortunately I'm also an insomniac so chronically tired but if I ever get on meds that actually work on this not exactly the best wired body, maybe I can start saving up for a proper setup. Tank size though... I'm renting atm and would rather get my own place with a dedicated fish room before I get a second tank over 30gal anyway, but one day I might be able to pull off my dream of owning a mini personal zoo once health related stuff is sorted out and I feel like I'm financially stable enough for a tougher project. Also thanks for telling me the proper terms, think I'd only heard the latter used and it's a newer thing I learned so hasn't stuck in long term memory yet ^^'
@@discordiacreates6669 ahhh...Fellow insomniac! Im a four time cancer survivor. Have suffered from insomnia for years. I definitely feel that! I was quarantined for over a year during the pandemic. Thats when i REALLY started collecting aquariums. I now have 8. I also rent. Id love more aquariums, but im on a second floor, 100 year old building. Haha! My axolotl tank is pushing it. But these tanks saved me from going insane! Lol. My brain goes 100 miles a minute, and the tanks do a great job of keeping me focused. Im a wildlife biologist, wildcat specialist. Even though most of my work is outdoors, my schedule is completely random. The tanks really help with the feeling of a schedule. I agree with the meds too. Its really hard to find that balance between getting a bit of sleep, and becoming a total zombie. I wish you nothing but the best!
@@kimberlyhenke8956 thanks for the well wishes and yeah, I've got other minor stuff on top of my sleep related issues so I'm running... Around ten tanks atm, pandemic starting was kinda the perfect excuse to start that in earnest lol. Also that sucks but I'm glad to hear you survived cancer, my late grandma and mother both didn't, only around two years apart so that's one of those few things that I genuinely both fear and hate with recent history, though it's great that you're still living your life and it sounds like you have a really cool job. Wildcats are super dangerous but they are really gorgeous animals so I kinda envy you, not a college student and likely won't ever be due to the price never seeming to match the reward for way too many people, but I'd honestly love to specialize in some type of small animals, maybe even dabble into marine biology a bit because the natural world is pretty complex and awesome to study. So many underrated animals, but for now I'm just sticking to what's not too difficult for me to manage and that's included starting to collect different corydoras species because they're adorable little hyperactive fish. Current count is three, green aeneas (idk if I spell it right), pygmy and julii. Getting new killifish as the only other egg laying species I've purposely bred so far is next on my list. Axolotls though, are definitely still a long term issue as most of my animals I get specifically because I CAN breed them myself if I put the right effort into it, though atm idk if they'll be on that list or not. Will be fun to find out though one day, since I do intend on getting a pair to keep each other company at the very least. That's also why I won't look into a tank for them rn though, because I shoot for minimum breeding and not just housing size in case an animal decides they wanna do it whether I want them to or not lol
I saw some clown cats at the zoo the other day. They weighed over 300lbs! Also I think dojo loaches are also known as nee-chew. They are a popular fish to eat by humans like my wife.
Hey Irene, your Clown Killifish are cool and I have a 6 gallon tank so was looking for ideas. What else do you feed them? Would they take ordinary flake or pellet food? I'd like to try shrimp but know they need to be acclimatised carefully. Do you have any videos on acclimatising shrimp? Thanks. PS love your videos
*Did I skip your favorite cool water fish or animal? If so, list it below!*
Koi carp 😪
Great video! Gotta be Japanese rice fish:). Endlers can live in 65ish range too.
Medaka ❤
Goldfish, Giant Danios, Zebra Danios, Pearl Danios, Celestial Pearl Danios, Hillstream Loaches, Rosy Barbs, Odessa Barbs, Cherry Barbs, Bloodfin Tetras, Buenos Aires Tetras, Variatus Platys .....
@@suzierafferty9591 Yes! Love them, planning on getting my first ricefish soon.
White mountain minnows are totally underrated. They are cheap. They are beautiful. They color up so well in a nice tank. They breed so easily in a well planted tank. Very very hardy.
The gold ones are my favorite
they are also extirpated in the wild.
I love mine so much. But they aren’t breeding. I wonder if my Ramshorn snail is eating their eggs
I’ve had mine for about a year and a half, I just moved them into my first planted tank so hopefully I can get them to breed before they pass away
started with guppies/endlers got white clouds and never looked back they are absolutely amazing fish so peaceful and curious.
I keep mostly unheated aquariums in my fish room, well at least 90% of them. Fish room temperature is 70-80F depending on the season of the year. Cost of electricity has been crazy here in Europe. Even to heat up my tiny fish room to 70F is sooooo expensive. I am looking to keep more and more fish that do not require heater. Cheers Irene.
Me too! None of my tanks are heated, but temperature goes between 75 to minimum 65 in the winter. I am keeping endlers, BN, amanos, bolivian ram, and also a nerite, who are all very happy :)
And as Irene mentioned for other fish, my endlers live longer if they are in cold water (they also take longer to grow up!)
@@chelsmeister same I live in a tropical country and some people even suggested to me to get a cooler or something
@@chelsmeister my endler babies also grow up much slower in winter and faster in summer.
North American Centrarchids: dollar sunfish, flier. Larger fish, rock bass, mud sunfish. Monster fish: bowfin. Darters and killifish have interesting BREEDING colors. I live in Virginia, let me know if you are interested, I will see what I can do.
Finally the cold water aquarium is gaining traction. As the demand grows so should the diversity of colours and types 😬.
Thanks for the stream 👍
Correction for you on some of the species temperature. Cherry Shrimps will survive just fine down to 8C overnight, White Clouds will survive 4C. I have them in outdoor ponds and they do really well year round. The best though is Japanese Ricefish, or Medaka (micro Koi). They will survive low temp as long as water does not freeze. Will also survive up to 35C just fine.
I put six WCMM in a 120 litre wildlife pond four years ago and they're still going strong. Not sure on water temps but they've survived winters that have got down to -10c and summers up to 35c
Thank you for covering this topic. When I first got back into tropical fish, I did a lot of internet research on "cool water tropicals", as I live in a cool climate (central Ontario) and didn't want to heat my aquarium. I came up with a lot of species that are readily available and has a temperature range as low as 65F (18C). In addition to the already mentioned white cloud, paradise fish, flagfish and rainbow shiner, I came up with: red wag, micky mouse and green lantern platys; rosy red minnow; odessa, golden, and tiger barbs; zebra and celestial danio; panda, pepper corys; Buenos Aires and bloodfin tetras; bristlenose pleco; Asian stone catfish; pygmy sunfish and Endler livebearers. If you can keep your unheated aquarium at 68F (20C), you can add a host others (e.g., cherry barb, Hillstream loach, neon, black neon, ember and candycane tetras. I was amazed at how many so-called tropical fish can live well at these temperatures!
Oh yeah, looking into native bait fish is also a very good idea for cool water aquariums though they can be on the bigger side and have food aggression issues if ya go that route. Also... Don't put rosey minnows in a heated tank, I've only had a single one survive longer then a month and my first try with crappie minnows, bigger silvery grey to olive colored guys, well... They lasted maybe three days with a heater but months in an unheated tank. Demanding on oxygen and water flow though but for a bigger higher flow tank, I think they're neat. Honestly more native fish would probably be a good idea in general in the fishkeeping hobby, no risk of invasive takeover if what's in your tank has been here already for the past few hundred years at least, and no need for a heater or cooler if they're kept around the same as yearly outside temps (granted they're human safe temps) but since most in North America are threatened or endangered... Idk any legal way to get a bunch of species or I'd at least try to breed some
“Don’t just get one because you’re buying into all of the Minecraft hype”
Very wise words to live by.
can't believe ricefish didn't make your list!
they're very hardly, they do fine at 60F, they come in many colors, very easy to breed, and you can get them at aqua imports!
Could u keep them in small ponds outside
@yearandom914
Part of the year, for sure.
You need to check your winter temperatures against their lowest temperature recommendations. You'll love them in ponds or outdoor tubs!
@@YusS12-i5vIt's done all the time.
as a turkish enthusiast, i'd recommend aphanius mento if you can get them. they're look really similar to pygmy sunfish but are killies like flagfish and are similarly really feisty and love eating algae. they are a bit more temperate than flagfish, and they can tolerate waters down to 5 degrees celsius or 41 fahrenheit for americans during the winter time, and are great outdoors fish in warmer climates. they come from shallow, exposed pools and get really vibrant if given a little natural sunlight, though i believe this is also true with flagfish to a lesser extent, and males are also a little more territorial towards eachother. the main downside to them is that they're really expensive outside of europe lol
OMGOSH! Shrimplets get me every time. That are just the cutest.
I just recently moved to Utah from Florida and started over with my tanks. Got some White Clouds and just love them so far
Great video! Appreciate the metric conversions. :)
Wow, just what i needed. Perfect timing
i have some CPDs and assorted sewellia in an unheated tank with mostly crypts and epiphytes. it can get pretty chilly in winter (60s) but everyone seems happy and the s. albisuera had babies last january, so 🤷♂
I have a similar setup, in winter the tank hits about 65, and fish seem happy.
THANK YOU! The non goldfish/koi cold water category is so underappreciated in the hobby. Sweet little Odo knows whats up! Ha. Tiny feet on snow = no bueno. 💜
And honestly the thing is most fancy goldfish do actually need heaters depending on what's "room temp" for you. A lot of folks will try to say they like cold water but it's more like they can *survive* the cooler temps but they actually need around 77-ish°F to be really healthy and happy !
Great list, and I love that we got to see and hear about your clown killifish and new cherry shrimp here!
Great content, Irene 😁 I love all things "Killi" and Gardneri are very hearty and beautiful. I also love Pygmy Sunfish 🥰 They are tiny and the males are absolutely stunning!
Ooo, I was tempted to add pygmy sunfish to the list but they seemed so shy. Are they very timid in your aquariums?
@@GirlTalksFish At first, they were. As the plants in the tank have grown in and they have become used to me, they are out and about 😁 They have actually started to breed!
Still the best presenter on UA-cam for the hobby!
Great video! Love the shout-out for flagfish; they're my new favorite species. They're wonderful algae eaters!
I am going to investigate different populations of flag fish whilst I am down in Florida, more likely next year than this. Let me know if you are interested.
For those cichlid fans out there, if you want to keep some fascinating, cichlid-like fish that live in cool water, try the sunfish family (centrarchids). These include aquarium classics like the tiny Everglades sunfish, the small blue-spotted sunfish, and the medium-sized pumpkinseed. There are 38 species in all, including orangespotted, longear, bluegill, and green sunfishes, as well as smallmouth and largemouth bass (for giant tanks only). All these are cool water fishes, and if you give them a winter cool-down period followed by a spring warm-up period, they can spawn for you. I've kept several of them, and they have a lot of "wet pet" appeal, much like cichlids.
I’m shocked you didn’t mention ricefish! They have been awesome in my no heater setups!
YES FINALLY!! So excited to see this video :)
My cherries are doing great at 68 degrees. I’m getting ready to move them from a 29g aquarium to a 47g rimless. If I can find them I plan to add CPDs too.
I have white clouds, both gold and long Fin, in two outdoor ponds in Washington. They breed easy and do just fine over winter south ice. Japanese medaka are another really good cold water fish.
Medaka ricefish! Got them outside in West Midlands UK all year round.
Also the bog standard goldfish, sarasa commets etc can live outside all year round here too. And bitterlings are very cool to keep too
I highly recommend the Redbelly Dace, it’s a perfect tank mate or alternative to the Rainbow Shiner. Bright red and yellow on them. I also recommend any species of darter, the colors are super bright on males, and they vary in size and shape.
Thanks Irene! I've got a happy-unheated tank with cherry shrimp and gold white cloud minnows and they are thriving.
Great video!!! You did such a good job-comprehensive, informative and fun to watch! Cheers!!
I’ve been keeping Panda Cory’s for about 4 months and they have been doing great between 65-70°. I did add a heater set at 70°. I have not successfully bred them in these conditions yet, but the tank is still relatively young. The fish seem happy and healthy though.
Great video! I discovered you through Aquarium Co-op and am loving your channel. I am an ecologist but specialize in the midwestern US--I have a lot to learn about all these fascinating aquarium species!
there are a lot interesting North American species, like the Centrarchids (sunfish and basses). Some sunfish stay small and colorful. Get a good field guide and you might have some in your local waters. Hit me up if I can help. I live in Virginia.
@@rembrandtshadows Thank you! I am definitely interested in keeping and breeding small native species.
@@jesshouse529 from the Field Guide to Freshwater Fishes of Virginia, North American Native Fishes Association might be a good place to start.
All of my tanks are unheated. At least, they don't have heaters. The pumps on internal and HOB filters also provide a bit of heating as they do their work, and I only have 2 tanks that don't have anything more than a sponge filter in them (2g jarrarium, 5g quarantine tank). We keep our house 74-78 F year round (warmer in summer, cooler in winter), so it works great. The lowest temp I've registered in any of my tanks is around 72 F in our living room, which stays cooler than the bedrooms. The main thing people need to look at is their ambient room temperature throughout the year.
Oh, stocking:
29g - Gambusia mosquito fish, pleco, panda cories (HOB used only for water movement - stays around 74 F)
6.8g - chili rasboras, blue dream/jelly shrimp (in-tank sump with submerged water pump - stays around 74-76 F)
29g - Endler's, lemon tetras, pygmy cories, bristlenose plecos, neocardina in various colors, Amano shrimp (HOB - stays around 74 F)
10g Riraparian (maybe 7g water) - guppies, orange neocardina (internal filter - stays right around 74 F)
7g - ember tetras, gold honey gourami, cherry shrimp, Amano shrimp (internal filter - stays 74-76 F)
2g jarrarium - neocardina shrimp (blue dream, blue jelly, jade - nano sponge filter only - covered with a snug fitting lid - stays right around 75 F)
5g quarantine tank - contains a heater in case I need it, but I've never had to use it - contains only a sponge filter - this tank sits near the floor, so it's the one that's dropped to around 72 F
Another cool cool species are the Gymnogeophagus from Uruguay and Argentina. Many of the different species are pretty uncommon in the hobby. But they are really cool little earth eater cichlids that can take temps down into the 50s.
Also, several cory catfish can handle cooler temps.
another fish that's cool to keep with goldfish for cleanup and algae control would be hillstream loaches. they do like a bit of flow, though, which would not be appreciated by a lot of fancy goldfish.
Thanks for the list, it's very helpful. Your dog is really cute.
I really appreciate the way you give consise information that can actually put to practical use
I've had the same problem with unheated tanks. In the winter, they just got too cold, especially at night, regardless of keeping the room around 70. So, had to add heater.
Feel you on that.
Honestly I don't bother anymore. I've had a number of incidents and emergencies and have kept even a number of warm water species like guppies and ember tetras in waters as cold as 55 and they've done just fine. Most of what I keep now are cold water anyway (except the guppies) but they're still breeding and active at 65.
My coldwater tank currently has Scarlet badis, clown kilifish, borneo loach (hillstream loach), variety of shrimps including orange eye blue tiger, pygmy corys, and celestial galaxy rasbora. also have some horned nitrites . everyone is happy and thriving. shrimp are even breeding.
Recommendation as an alternative for axolotls, Spanish ribbed newts. Care is exactly the same as axoltols and reach similar sizes though not as bulky and more active as adults, however, they’re much more tolerant of high temperatures! Comfortable up to 75*F, so if you’re comfortable they’re comfortable. And they are fine down to 50*F so winter time drops are an issue either.
I guess they are very social and can take a joke
I experimented this year with keeping white clouds in my unheated space without a heater. they have been doing great . the lat two months have averaged 50F , but in the third month, two are now missing. I think 55-60F would be ideal for them.
This is so informative!!! Fantastic reporting!🌻🌼🐝
An outdoor pond in Colorado is going to get a wee bit cooler than 65. And this is in spring/summer/fall.
My white clouds are in an unheated space and is regularly in the 50s and they are doing well and have great appetites.
Rosy Red Minnows do well in this space too and are super cheap as they're feeders.
I live west of Chicago. I put three Paradise Garage in a 8000 gallon pond. At the end of summer there were thousands of paradise fish. It's insane. You can put them in just about anything outside and they will breed
Surprised CPD's were not on this list as it's said they can take as low as 65 degrees.
Cyprinella lutrensis are great cool water fishes. Great coloration and active swimmers.
I kept White clouds in an outdoor tub over the summer. I thought i took them all out by october when it got down to 15c, but when i totally shutdown and drained the tub in December to my surprise some White Clouds were left over and totally alive under an thin layer of ice!
thought for sure you would have said rice fish. amazing colourful small fish. I keep them in my pond in the uk. and we get minus temperatures. also my cpd are really happy between 23/24
I know this isn't related to this topic but have you made a video yet about fish that live in similar conditions as betas? Specifically fish that aren't schooling fish. My daughter wants to try another fish other then betas but can't really revamp the tank. She enjoys your videos and thought you could help. We did do a quick ask to Google but only found fish that live well with betas which could answer this question but didn't know if there are other fish that don't do well with betas that could live in similar conditions also. I could do a better research but thought we would try connecting with you about this as well. Thank you for your fun and very helpful videos!
I have my shrimp tank on the windowsill with no heater and no filter. In the winter I had it go down to 14°C and in the summer 35°. They won't breed (or move) as much below 15°. They are still fine, eating and all, but not as active. In the summer I was more worried but they were fine too. At about 21°-22° they are most happy I think.
What shrimp do you have?
neocaradina
Good job on the research! 👍Some time ago dug deep into the topic of cool water fish and I was pretty much set on getting Paradise Fish and possibly Whiteclouds. But then I got a cat instead. 😄I'm a big fan of labyrinth fish though and Paradise Fish in particular. 🐟
Love cold water tanks and fish.
👍💖👍
As a kid I would often go into nearby lakes and catch local fish and keep them in various aquariums. At first it worked great they were doing just fine but after a year something just didn't seem right. The local fish around here(carp, pike, zander, perch etc) goes into some sort of "hibernation" not sure what it's called during the winter due to the very low temperatures and lakes freezing. I could never figure out how to do in an aquarium a kid back in the early 90's. I had an idea to pull cold air in from the outside into the tank but never got around to doing that. I just saw something was wrong so I called a fish specialist that took them all. They were great fish except the pike and the perch. They were nightmare monsters. The carps were my favorites along with sticklebacks. The carps were so friendly and would always come to my hand when feeding them and let me pet them(they got quite big). I should note that the indoor temperature back then was around 20-22c, which I'm quite certain was well above what the fish were used to. I always caught them as fry as they would hang around the shores.
Blood fins are a nice cool water fish. They do well with white clouds and paradise fish.
Great ideas, thanks!
I like long finned zebra Danios and neon rosy barbs for the ponds in the spring for mosquito control.
I have a 120 gallon tank. We kept green sunfish in it for several years with no heat. They become very interactive like cichlids.
For the Australian fish, if you can get the southern Pygmy perch. They love it cold. Give them hides and plants and a tank at least five gallons. They might be kinda aggressive though
My neos are overwintering outside, they weathered 33F nights in a 20g pond.
They are definitely very cold hardy.
The same can be said for white cloud minnows, blue paradise fish (opercularis, occelatus), and most of the other fish you brought up that were bred outdoors in ponds, being able to overwinter under ice.
Maybe with the exception of the Florida flag fish, axolotls, and the paradise gudgeon.
Holy cow, no way! I didn't know Neos could live outdoors in such cold weather, so maybe next year..
Are you sure with 33F (0,5 Grad Celsius)? I can not believe this.
@@DieAndereVanessa yes the neocaridinas survived that and bred well the following spring.
Oh, that's amazing. I didn't know that you could go so low with the temperatures with Neocaridina, even though I've read reports like this from time to time. I thought they were exceptional cases.
I keep Macropodus and Barbodes semifasciolatus. In my research I found out that they can tolerate low temperatures, but from 10 degrees Celsius (50 Fahrenheit) I bring them in again. I also read somewhere that Sewellia lineolat also tolerate such low temperatures, but I couldn't find a scientific source.
I like Tateurndina ocellicauda, but again there is no scientific source I can find that tells me how low the temperature can go without harming the animal. That's why I don't have Tateurndina, even though I find it very beautiful.
@@DieAndereVanessa I like tateurndia too, if I had to get a goby it would probably be the stiphodon species or Hypseleotris compressa, since I know for sure that those don’t need it warm.
I think people in Europe, or at least some breeders, made a very strong cold hardy line of macropodus occelatus and opercularis.
Most of them use some sort of cover of the pond to protect it from snow. I really like my cold water fish, I just wished I had more room for more.
Love your content ❤
You know what I would love to see one day? Selectively bred au fish or pumpkinseed. They already have so much cool colors. Wpild be even cooler if they could pop more. They're like less finicky cold water discus lol
i ran no heater this winter in wisconsin i have blue neon tetras black neon tetras brilliant rasboras and mystery snails and they love it!
Loving this topic recently 👍
I have a ph of about 6-6.5 and my shrimp are doing great. So just a note to people who may think their shrimp wont be happy in softer water. They will, and they also breed just as well.
I wanted to do a tank with local Ohio species (where I live). I started with crayfish, then added rosy red minnows. The crayfish ate every single one of them. They also eat any plants I try to put in there, so it's become the crayfish tank. We had a power outage in December 2020, and the temperature in the tank go down into the 40s and they were fine. They actually seemed more active in the cold water.
Check out your neighbors, Zimmerman's Fish.
Would strongly recommend a automatic top off (ATO) system as well as a chiller for axolotls, as well as potentially using RO/DI water maybe since amphibians are particularly sensitive beasties. You can find ATO systems on websites selling saltwater reef supplies!
I saw one of the blue lobsters in a tank with some peppered corydoras at a chain store the other day, I felt so bad for the little guys because they were super curious about him and swimming near him. Luckily he was preoccupied with some larger fish near the top so he didn’t seem to mind them. But still, total time bomb in that tank
I keep crayfish in with my Asian flapshell turtle. They are a GREAT cleaner species, eating all the leftover turtle food and sometimes even eating turtle dung (yuch!). They also graze on algae and because of that, I have a pretty much spotless turtle tank. The water is nice and clear, but I do need to do water changes every other week so that ammonia, nitrates and nitrites don't build up. Another name for a flapshell turtle is a "substrate plough." They will dig up an entire 40 gallon long tank crammed full of plants if you give them a couple of hours, and they will be very proud of their work. They just love to dig and root around. They see it as their purpose in life to dig holes, fill them in, and build other holes, taking time to root around with their little pig-shaped noses from time to time. There seems to be a lot of respect and friendship between the turtle and the crayfish I have. The crayfish like to dig holes too. I guess you could say I have holy pets even though nobody in particular has blessed them. In addition to plants, neither the turtle nor the crayfish are particularly good tank mates for fish. I put guppies in there just once, and they were all gone by the next day. I don't know who the culprit(s) were, but they were gone without a trace. The guppies were someone's culls and I had been given them, so no money loss, but using live critters as food outside of daphnia, blood worms, and brine shrimp, just isn't my idea of ideal, especially when everyone else has a good and balanced diet. Live and learn.
I have a species only tank of clown killies, fantastic little fish!
I've had rocket killies in a 2.5 unheated tank for about a year, and they just moved into a 5gal heavily planted setup. I had shrimp in the original tank though, and any bright colored ones were all killed after a day or two - you could see bites :( so that doesn't always work. Maybe if they had a 5gal from the start, but they were drawn to the bright colors. My wild type shrimp survived their roommates. I do love the killies and would highly recommend!
For me keeping and breeding NA natives, all of my 36 tanks are unheated in my basement fishroom. Temps in the coldest part of winter can range from 48°f to 72°f in the hottest parts of summer.
I really like mudpuppies they come from the northern US and are quite active during the winter. I say they can go down to 50*-65* but they get big growing to 17 inches though they are very rare in captivity though.
Perfect timing, I am getting ready to try a cooler aquarium.
Five of my low subtropical/cool water fish are the climbing perch, snakehead gudgeon, black dwarf snakehead, spotted galaxis and three lines bagridae
I love it how you also put celsius degrees in you movies, many of your american colleagues can take a exmple from . Using Fahrenheid , Inches , feet and gallons and oither mediebal measurment units only used ion the USA
there are a lot of native species which look interesting. I actually had a private aquarium ask me to supply some bowfin to breed. They have interesting colors but qualify as monster fish. They also have Jurassic attitude.
my favourite cool water fish would be Macropodus ocellatus. I keep them outside in the garden all year round. They can be covered under a layer of ice, but it mustn't freeze through. They are actually far too beautiful to be kept only outside. The males can easily compete with opercularis in terms of colorfulness. Actually even more beautiful than the latter. They need slightly larger tanks than the opercularis, but I think they can be kept in 160 liters, for example. They are also not nearly as aggressive as the opercularis. And fry should also be able to swim up.
Dojo loach mentioned! ❤
Funny, I never considered empire gudgeons an oddball fish! Lots of personality - have heaps of these in my Australian native cool water aquarium. Agassiz's perchlet is another Australian native cool water fish with lots of personality - plus their large eyes give them an unusual appearance. The good old pacific blue eye is a very active fish for cool water aquariums. Mostly a plain silver fish but when the males flare their fins it's rather colourful and it's hard to go past their brilliant blue eyes. Rhads have a bit of colour and do well in cold water (tolerant of a huge temperature range) but need a rather low pH and are particularly hard to get hold of in the aquarium trade even in Australia.
Empire gudgeons, pacific blue eyes and rhads all do well in outdoor ponds in Sydney over winter, but haven't ever tried agassiz's perchlets in my pond.
There are several types of very colorful Pygmy Sunfish from America that can do small, cold setups, as well.
Great video!! I wish I could get my tanks with shrimp in them to go below 78 degrees. They are in my 2nd floor study. My Betta tank is at 84! All but the Shrimp tank, 76 & the Ram tank, 84 are set to 78.
I took a long time to look for cold water fish. I live in Wisconsin and am worried about an unheated tank incident. I was hoping to find some fish that could survive a Wisconsin winter.
Can you do a video on arctic or antarctic aquarium fish? The cold water list is very obscure
great video
Rainbow shiners are one of the natives that I breed!
Colorado here too!
also looking to do a cold water tank!
I got my first 40 gallon last month and I got my first fish for it yesterday a lionhead goldfish named lil Wigglesworth
Dojo loaches are the best. Coldwater goober puppies.
Great video, i just want to ask what are those white things on the glass? re they cherry sheimp babies?
I had some white clouds survive the winter in my pond. It got below zero degrees farenheit for days.
I've got 24 karat white clouds, about 17 of them! They're overwintering in my kitchen tank but they'll be going into my mini pond on my balcony once it warms up c:
Oh you missed my favorite cool water fish: medaka rice fish!! Also super easy to breed and come in a huge variety of colors. I have some black medaka rice fish I am going to try to breed this year too!
Fun! Everyone keeps telling me to try them so maybe I should see what the excitement is all about.
@@GirlTalksFish I've noticed the males are especially fun to watch when they're in breeding mode - they flare their fins out in a really pretty display and you can see all the red in their fins when they do
Rosy red and fathead minnows are my 2 favorite coldwater fish... but their the only coldwater fish I've kept
I have two axolotls. As you stated, all the hype of Minecraft and whatnot, has alot of unprepared people getting axolotls. Both of mine, are two completely different personalities. Super Cooper the Aquatic Floof Noodle is a GFP Copper Melanoid. He is a loooong boi. Just measured him at 14". Hes very lazy and laid back. Hes also super sensitive to nitrates above 20ppm. Getting Saprolegnia on his gills if the nitrates get too high. Orion is a black Wild variation. He is super personable and energetic. Gets the zoomies in the early morn. Does some flap flappin scross the tank and willing to come up to say hello! (or beg for a worm) Words of caution....Do your research! Too many of these guys are brought home to unprepared and even uncycled tanks. Eventually causing owners to surrender them in often bad shape. Even though both mine are rescues and i wouldnt trade them for the world, prevention and research is key in deciding on keeping these guys. Side note, i opted for a 1/4 hp chiller in my 60 gallon. Keeps the temp at a steady 62. Be prepared to do what you need to do for the pet you choose to keep. They are wonderful, goofy, clumsy, adorable, and highly enjoyable critters if you take the time to learn. 😊
Yeah for now I'm ok keeping my axolotls in pixels, but if I can ever afford a chiller for a bigger tank they are a bucket list pet. Bucket list, not next month pet ^^'. They are adorable to look at but ik they are pretty sensitive creatures due to their natural habitat and unique biology as they are... Technically salamanders, I just forget the actual scientific term for their Peter Pan syndrome causing them to be stuck permanently in their adolescent form, but it's what really makes them interesting since there's not many fish species in the hobbie that have the same strange adaptation. Emerald dwarf danios and I believe CPDs are the same but nano fish. Ik I can't keep an axolotl happy rn though, I'm not good with cold and it gets hot in the summer where I am rn so yeah... Honestly not a pet for most people, I hear tank chillers run in the hundreds of USD and their sensitivity to water parameters means I'd probably also constantly worry about them rn ngl, so also maybe when I have a bit less anxiety
@@discordiacreates6669 yes...Tank chillers are expensive. Mine was around $600. I honestly didnt think i needed one at first. But where i live, the temps go from 115 in the summer, to negative 50 in the winter. Coupled with being in an upstairs apartment, i quickly realized i needed one. So, i did what i needed to do, for the animal i chose to keep. Unfortunately cost is part of the game. Paediomorphic is the technical term. Neotenic is also used. But yeah...Unlike many, youve done your research and made a good choice. Just wish more people would.
@@kimberlyhenke8956 thank you and yeah, unfortunately I'm also an insomniac so chronically tired but if I ever get on meds that actually work on this not exactly the best wired body, maybe I can start saving up for a proper setup. Tank size though... I'm renting atm and would rather get my own place with a dedicated fish room before I get a second tank over 30gal anyway, but one day I might be able to pull off my dream of owning a mini personal zoo once health related stuff is sorted out and I feel like I'm financially stable enough for a tougher project. Also thanks for telling me the proper terms, think I'd only heard the latter used and it's a newer thing I learned so hasn't stuck in long term memory yet ^^'
@@discordiacreates6669 ahhh...Fellow insomniac! Im a four time cancer survivor. Have suffered from insomnia for years. I definitely feel that! I was quarantined for over a year during the pandemic. Thats when i REALLY started collecting aquariums. I now have 8. I also rent. Id love more aquariums, but im on a second floor, 100 year old building. Haha! My axolotl tank is pushing it. But these tanks saved me from going insane! Lol. My brain goes 100 miles a minute, and the tanks do a great job of keeping me focused. Im a wildlife biologist, wildcat specialist. Even though most of my work is outdoors, my schedule is completely random. The tanks really help with the feeling of a schedule. I agree with the meds too. Its really hard to find that balance between getting a bit of sleep, and becoming a total zombie. I wish you nothing but the best!
@@kimberlyhenke8956 thanks for the well wishes and yeah, I've got other minor stuff on top of my sleep related issues so I'm running... Around ten tanks atm, pandemic starting was kinda the perfect excuse to start that in earnest lol. Also that sucks but I'm glad to hear you survived cancer, my late grandma and mother both didn't, only around two years apart so that's one of those few things that I genuinely both fear and hate with recent history, though it's great that you're still living your life and it sounds like you have a really cool job. Wildcats are super dangerous but they are really gorgeous animals so I kinda envy you, not a college student and likely won't ever be due to the price never seeming to match the reward for way too many people, but I'd honestly love to specialize in some type of small animals, maybe even dabble into marine biology a bit because the natural world is pretty complex and awesome to study. So many underrated animals, but for now I'm just sticking to what's not too difficult for me to manage and that's included starting to collect different corydoras species because they're adorable little hyperactive fish. Current count is three, green aeneas (idk if I spell it right), pygmy and julii. Getting new killifish as the only other egg laying species I've purposely bred so far is next on my list. Axolotls though, are definitely still a long term issue as most of my animals I get specifically because I CAN breed them myself if I put the right effort into it, though atm idk if they'll be on that list or not. Will be fun to find out though one day, since I do intend on getting a pair to keep each other company at the very least. That's also why I won't look into a tank for them rn though, because I shoot for minimum breeding and not just housing size in case an animal decides they wanna do it whether I want them to or not lol
Paradise fish are really similar to bettas, and they are amazing betta alternatives.
I saw some clown cats at the zoo the other day. They weighed over 300lbs!
Also I think dojo loaches are also known as nee-chew. They are a popular fish to eat by humans like my wife.
Good video
well done for learning sthandard metirc units
There are some really cool cold water fish
Me want cherry shrimpies!!! 🤩
The gudgeon is stunning.
Where do you find empire gudgeons here in Colorado ?
Hello i love your videos
Hey Irene, your Clown Killifish are cool and I have a 6 gallon tank so was looking for ideas. What else do you feed them? Would they take ordinary flake or pellet food? I'd like to try shrimp but know they need to be acclimatised carefully. Do you have any videos on acclimatising shrimp? Thanks. PS love your videos