Hi,

I am new to natives and to NANFA; but I am an experienced fishkeeper.

I understand the nitrogen cycle and basic husbandry.

What I don't know is water parameters for natives. I am on hard well water, at around 400 TDS. Also we have hot summers, occasionally days into the 100's. I prefer not to use a chiller or AC for the fishroom.

We can also get water temperatures down to the 40's in winter--of coarse heating my aquariums is relatively simple. But species which can withstand occasional cold spells are preferred.

I really like pygmy sunfish and shiners.

I have:
Goldstein's American Aquarium Fishes (2000).
Peterson's A Field Guide to Freshwater Fishes : North America North of Mexico
and the excellent McGinnis Field Guide to Freshwater Fishes of California: Revised Edition

However, I am not seeing much mention of hardness or temperature for some of the species I've been researching.

What are some smaller colorful natives that meet my criteria?
How about larger natives (like sunfish and crappies) ?

BTW I am in California so am restricted in what I can import.

Thanks!
Stefan

Most natives are not finicky about hardness, as long as it's not fluctuating wildly. They also tend to be cold hardy, within reason; I've caught pygmy sunfish and other southerly-distributed species swimming under the ice. Heat can be a problem for stream-dwellers such as darters, sculpins, and many minnows; however, this is in part a reaction to the low dissolved O2 in warm water rather than the heat itself, and can be ameliorated with aeration or turbulence.

Do you have any tanks in your fish room now? What kind of temps do they reach? If they're staying in the low 70s or below, you can keep virtually anything other than trout and other obligate cold-water fish. If they're below 80, using aeration to oxygenate the water, and fans to drop the temp a few degrees will keep most species going through the summer.

Pygmy sunfish, true sunfish, many killifish and topminnows, and livebearers tend to do well in warm temps.

We just moved in last summer, and I put in all my current aquariums after the summer was over; so I am not sure how hot they will get. My guess is 80 degrees top--if I rig some fans on really hot days.

I use sponge filters with air stones for all my tanks, so dissolved oxygen will be high.

Thanks,
s

My Elassoma gilberti (gulf coast pygmy sunfish) breed just fine in water that is 17 degrees of hardness. I discuss my water parameters here: http://forum.nanfa.o...i/page__st__200