Heater Necessary for GF?

[Craig]

I've never heated a bowl or a tank with GF ever. don't recall seeing
anyone else do it either. I thought room temp or "colder" water was
their best environment.

It does get to be a bit cold at times here in theSF Bay Area. We don't
heat the house at winter and the little fishies did fine last winter.

Any physical signs that GF are not thrilled with the water temp?

And on a side note I was curious as to why some people's GF died
(at least that is what some posts claimed) during
the east coast blackout. Why would they die so fast if the filter
stopped for 24 hours? How would that differ than from someone just
not cleaning the tank, you just would not have dirty water circulated
that's all.



Craig

[Donald Kerns]

Craig wrote:

> I've never heated a bowl or a tank with GF ever. don't recall seeing
> anyone else do it either.

Come on over and then you won't be able to say that.
(Cold and Bleak in Boulder Creek, CA)

> And on a side note I was curious as to why some people's GF died
> (at least that is what some posts claimed) during
> the east coast blackout. Why would they die so fast if the filter
> stopped for 24 hours? How would that differ than from someone just
> not cleaning the tank, you just would not have dirty water circulated
> that's all.

If you've got a canister filter that doesn't have any circulation for a
while, it goes anaerobic and can spit out poisonous stuff when the
power comes back on.

Also if you're overstocked and are relying on your airstones, no
airstone = no O2 = dead fish.

-D
--
"There is nothing so strong as gentleness, and there is nothing so
gentle as real strength." St. Francis de Sales

[Tom La Bron]

Craig,

I live in North Central Oklahoma and when my fish are brought in they stay
in barrels in one of the rooms of the house. I use no heaters, and the room
they are in is usually cooler than the rest of the house and we don't keep
the house that warm. The fish do fine. In fact, sometimes we go away for
ten days and we turn the heat down to 50 degrees. It never really gets down
to 50 inside the house, but the do just fine.

In the winter months if the fish are inside I also don't feed them that much
either, usually only once every other day.

Tom L.L.
=============================
"Craig" > wrote in message
...
>
>
> Donald Kerns wrote:
>
> > Craig wrote:
> >
> > > I've never heated a bowl or a tank with GF ever. don't recall seeing
> > > anyone else do it either.
> >
> > Come on over and then you won't be able to say that.
> > (Cold and Bleak in Boulder Creek, CA)
>
> It doesn't much below 50 here in El Cerrito, CA (across from SF) so I
> think they'll be ok.
>
> >
> >
> > > And on a side note I was curious as to why some people's GF died
> > > (at least that is what some posts claimed) during
> > > the east coast blackout. Why would they die so fast if the filter
> > > stopped for 24 hours? How would that differ than from someone just
> > > not cleaning the tank, you just would not have dirty water circulated
> > > that's all.
> >
> > If you've got a canister filter that doesn't have any circulation for a
> > while, it goes anaerobic and can spit out poisonous stuff when the
> > power comes back on.
> >
> > Also if you're overstocked and are relying on your airstones, no
> > airstone = no O2 = dead fish.
>
> thx much for the info.
>
> Craig
>
> >
>

[BErney1014]

>I thought room temp or "colder" water was
>their best environment.

According to the top Chinese producer of high quality goldfish you are correct.

>Why would they die so fast if the filter
>stopped for 24 hours?

That's a good question and most likely was a bacterial revolt due to lack of
circulation. A large holding station studied bio filters and reported in as
little as 15 minutes the bacteria began a die off when circulation stopped.

[Azul]

On 30 Aug 2003 13:47:55 GMT, (BErney1014) wrote:

>>I thought room temp or "colder" water was
>>their best environment.
>
>According to the top Chinese producer of high quality goldfish you are correct.
>
>>Why would they die so fast if the filter
>>stopped for 24 hours?
>
>That's a good question and most likely was a bacterial revolt due to lack of
>circulation. A large holding station studied bio filters and reported in as
>little as 15 minutes the bacteria began a die off when circulation stopped.
>
No, I believe my fish had a genetic problem. He never grew like he
was supposed to do and a power outage for just a few hours had him
sitting on the bottom. Also the Toronto area was in the middle of a
heat wave and the temperature inside the upstairs of my house zoomed
up rapidly. Hot water does not hold oxygen as well as cold. Couple
that with a previous problem and it was too much for him. He was in a
20 gal fully cycled tank with only one other fish and that fish came
out of this with no problem, but a very bad attitude for a few days.
Besides when the power went off, I took the material out of the
filters and rinsed it and dropped them into the tanks, so there was no
filter plugged in to give a problem when the electricity came back on.

Azul