Fish that exhibit parental care suitable for an unheated aquarium

[storckm]

Right now, I have two tanks set up, a 55 gal., and a 10 gal. I plan to move all the fish out of the 10 gal. and keep only my Cherry Red Shrimp in it. There's a good colony going there now, but I have a couple of Oryzias and a few white clouds in there as well. In the 55 gal., I have nothing but shrimp, both the Cherry Red and some Ghost Shrimp (and some snails). I plan to let them build up there population before moving any fish in. I'm planning to set up a 15 gal. long some time in the next few months.

The White Clouds and the Oryzias seem to get along peacefully enough, although the latter are definitely shyer. I may keep the Oryzias in the 15 gal. (so I can see them) and put the White Clouds in the 55 gal., but I'd like to get some fairly hardy fish that exhibit some kind of parental care, ideally bi-parental. (I've wanted to try this out myself, and my eleven year old daughter is also very interested--she was bugging me about it a lot in the fall.) Do you have any suggestions for such fish that would either cohabit peacefully with the White Clouds in the 55 gal.--I'd prefer this--or else be content in the 15 gal., and which would not need a heated tank? The water can be as cold as 58F or so in the morning these days.

[Higher Thinking]

Being able to co-habitate is kind of subjective really. Most any type of fish will make baby fry into a snack, but parents will do their best to keep the fry alive. German blue rams, altispinosas, kribensis will all be parental raisers. But raising and breeding fish isn't always as easy as putting fish together. The kribs could be fairly easy, but the dwarf cichlids may need more work.

As for cold water fish....I don't know of anything that would work. Why don't you just put a heater in it?

[Imi Statue]

Temperature is everything here, What range are you expecting the tank to be at day and night?

Paradise fish might be what you want.
http://www.fishforums.net/index.php?...rami-paradise/

They are fun, but again the temp is everything here as most fish we keep are not cold water specimens.

[storckm]

These days, the tanks seem to be around 60F. In the summer, they're at tropical temperatures, mid 70s. I do have a heater, but I don't think it's powerful enough for the 55 gal., and I like choosing fish that will work in an unheated tank.

I considered Macropodus opercularis, but I was concerned that it would be too aggressive. Also, if I have to remove the female after mating, I don't have another tank that's big enough. Or would she find a place to hide in a planted 55 gal.?

Someone suggested looking into Gymnogeophagus, but I'm not sure where I'd find one, nor what species would work in a planted tank and not grow too large.

[Imi Statue]

Divider or floating tank for the fem-fatale.

There's not to many that like or even tolerate the lower than 70 temp range(these are "tropical" fish) so your pretty much limited in that arena. Now the mid 70's there's some. I've seen Gourami's breed in this area.
Gold, Blue, Giant, Pearl, Moonlight could work at around 75ish (just depends on the individuals), and really good food/water conditions.

Good luck though.

[John K]

How about Apistogramma Borelli ? They like cool water and are are pretty hardy. Not exactly bi-parental, but the male does some territorial guarding wile the female takes care of fry. Never had them myself, but they're on my list.

[auban]

look into some of the wild type bettas, particularly the mouth brooders. I think they fit the request.