Too Many Tanks??

[cameracorpus]

A common problem but one not too bad to have. Due to an incredible deal that I got from a lady Thursday, I now have, in addition to the tanks in my house, a 20L, 20H, and 3 10 gal tanks with no space for them. They all have hoods. 2 of the 10s have incandescent hoods, the rest are florescent.

My garage is pretty much a shop, so it would be very difficult to put all the tanks in there since all wall space is currently taken, and so is all the power.

I have a "Florida Room" which is basically a large screened in patio that faces southwest. Solid roof, 3' walls then the rest is screen. One plug-in available. I live in Corpus, BTW.

I could easily fit a rack for either 3 10's or the 2 20's. I can build whatever I need.

I'm wondering what would tolerate the occasional cold weather. I seem to remember from experience that goldfish do OK, but if I go that route I want to use exotics, not just a tank of comets.

Plants are also of major interest. Even terrarium or other habitat suggestions, but as a rule my wife can't stand reptiles.

I could run heaters on the coldest days, but can't feed them electricity from now until April.

Any suggestions would be welcome.

See you all tomorrow at the HCCC auction if you can make it!

Mike

[thekarens]

Goldfish require 10g per fish so you wouldn't be able to fit too many of them. Then you would have the issue of those hot Corpus summers. Goldfish don't tolerate the heat well.

Hopefully someone will have some good suggestions.

[TaTeR ToT]

hillstream loaches, high fin loaches, doljo loaches, gymnogeophagus.
those are just a few

[TaTeR ToT]

white cloud minnows, smaller sp of native perch like black pirate perch.

[TaTeR ToT]

sheepshead minnow, native killies, and native darters.

[Nickintex]

sheepshead minnow, native killies, and native darters.

+1

[geoff_tropheus]

too many tanks...

[ssrprelude]

Never

[myjohnson]

two tank rule?

[cameracorpus]

Two tanks per rack, maybe.
I love the native idea. I did that for years, don't know why it didn't dawn on me that they are tolerant of temperature swings. I guess that's what happens when you get old..... Thanks folks.

[OrandaMan]

For the mention of killifish, most cold water killifish require chillers, as they absolutely need cold water, some of them very cold.

Also, platies can handle lower temperatures than most tropical fish, though I would suggest keeping a couple of heaters in there for when the nights get really, really low. And perhaps a space heater in your garage would help. It's generally a bad idea to keep a space heater running unattended, but if you keep it on concrete and away from anything flammable, you should be okay running it only at night and in the early mornings. Except, perhaps for the two or three days of true winter we'll get. In that case, you can go out occasionally to check on it.

What happens in the summer on 100° days will probably be the bigger problem.

Would you want to sell one of them?

[OrandaMan]

Oh, and some saltwater fish come from colder climes and could handle it. Might want a heater in there anyway considering that they won't have the depth of the ocean to escape surface temperature, but they can handle colder weather better than just about any other fish.

Would be hard to find, though. Almost definitely would need to order them from an online retailer or a specialist store in another state. And again, maybe a chiller. But it might be worth it.

[cameracorpus]

I'm still thinking out exactly what I will do, so right now I'm hanging on to them. Once my planted tank if fully planted I'll probably move the Peacock fry into the 20h and then go from there.

I missed out on a double stand with a 20L footprint at the auction, so right now I'm thinking of reinforcing some existing shelving in my garage. Yes, the heat will be much more of an issue than the cold, especially down here.