Best fish for 18 to 20 degrees celsius

Seppeo

At the moment i am growing tilapia in my spare bedroom in my appartment. But to keep them at 27 degrees celsius costs a ton of energy..

I think my water will be between 18 to 22 degrees all year, does anyone know a fish for this temp? I thought of brown trout, but my system is fairly small (250l) which is fine for tilapia but i dont think i can grow a decent sized trout in there.

Any suggestions?

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nosliwmas

Seppeo wrote:

At the moment i am growing tilapia in my spare bedroom in my appartment. But to keep them at 27 degrees celsius costs a ton of energy.. I think my water will be between 18 to 22 degrees all year, does anyone know a fish for this temp? I thought of brown trout, but my system is fairly small (250l) which is fine for tilapia but i dont think i can grow a decent sized trout in there.

While it would not be ideal, i.e. not in the sweet spot for Tilapia, perhaps if you can keep water temps at 18ºC and above, they would survive. Remember that there are some varieties which reported are more cold water tolerant than others.

TILAPIA: A POTENTIAL SPECIES FOR KENTUCKY FISH FARMS

In 'TILAPIA: A POTENTIAL SPECIES FOR KENTUCKY FISH FARMS', KSU Aquaculture Specialist wrote:

Tilapia performance is best in a temperature range of 72-90º F (22.2-32.2º C). Growth and feeding slow when water temperatures drop below 70º F (21.1º C.) However, tilapia are cold intolerant and die when water temperatures are lower than 45-55º F (7.2-12.8º C.) Blue tilapia will survive in lower water temperatures (above 45º F (7.2º C)) than most other species of tilapia.

Good luck!

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Sam

scotty435

Bullhead, Black bullhead or Brown bullhead would work although they like it slightly warmer as well. I'm not sure if there are Yellow Bullhead in your area but they would also be an option. Bullhead have a nasty spine that you have to watch out for but they are very durable. They breed above 27C which is a little higher than your temp but they grow pretty well over 20 C. They'll eat pretty much anything they can get their mouths around. Temps lower than what you posted won't be a problem for them since they can go near to freezing if not lower (they may go into a sort of dormancy period if it gets really low). They also handle Low Dissolved Oxygen levels pretty well.

They don't grow as fast as Tilapia but they still grow pretty well - to about 8 inches the first year.

I'd be tempted to try the Blue Tilapia first and if that didn't work try these. I wouldn't grow them together although that might work.

nosliwmas

Seppeo,

I forgot to share the best Tilapia temp tolerance summary I've seen.

In the book, Tilapia Culture by Abdel-Fattah M. El-Sayed, page 36, Table 3.1:

Attachment:

Tilapia_Culture-Temp_Tolerance_Ranges_of_Tilapia.png [ 106.29 KiB | Viewed 7755 times ]

Hope some will find this useful, and perhaps the references will lead to more details about the various studies.

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Sam

Seppeo

Thanks for the tips. I like the bullhead catfish, but I dont think I would be able to source them in the Netherlands.

Lets wait for winter. Ive moved in a few months ago so I still got to see how badly my house is insulated during winter.

My fishtank is insulated with a lot of EPS, had a few cold days and my water stayed at 24 degrees. Which I think is within an acceptable temperature regarding their optimum. Without heating I dont think temps will ever drop below 14 degrees. So all should be fine, except maybe my wallet

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