Seasons

[Nerine]

Saw this on Planetcatfish....and they saw it somewhere else!

There is suggestion of even adding pollen and insects to the tanks to imitate seasons along with extra water for rain, dry spells etc.

How many people have lights that do the seasonal shifts....does anyone make changes to their water to imitate the seasons?

I am thinking of how I can make some changes to my small 55 gallon tank...it doesn't have much space for lights or extra gadgets on top! if I had a 75...now that would be better (getting my dollars saved up for the giant auction!)

I had a 125, but I came home a couple days ago and it was being packed up in a truck! it was sold for $300, including stand, canopy, filters and all my airline tubing argh! I gotta go buy more tubing now!!! but think of how much better it would be to set up a working biotope in a large tank but anyways....

wondering how much extra in $ and gadgets it would be to set up some seasonal shifts! and if anyone has gone all out and accomplished this!

[fischkopp]

Why?

Most keep tropical fish. The length of a day doesn't change much in the tropics. It's 12 hours, give or take.

Dry season simulation might be of interest for some who want to breed certain fish, but for most this isn't necessary. But for that you mainly change water parameters like temperature, hardness, overall TDS.

[Nerine]

Their reasoning is that there are several types of tropical fish that only breed with hormones in captivity and were wondering if providing seasons would help instead of just stable temperature, ph etc all year round.

my fish's ancestry lies in Peru, so lots of rainfall, warm temperatures so it wouldn't do them much other than to have massive amounts of water changes (which they enjoy)

but it's an interesting thought...I have heaters under my plants and the more delicate ones go through a light seasonal change as per their natural habitat...so why not fish

[touchofsky]

I didn't do it on purpose, but I inadvertantly provided a change in season to a little 10 gallon tank with some cories.  I was going away on a 2 week holiday in the fall, and I did a water change.  I unplugged the heater while doing the water change.  I forgot to plug it in after the water change.

So, the tank had a big w.c. with fresh water, the temperature dropped while I was away, and the lights were only on for a few hours a day.  I guess I simulated fall, and the cories spawned while I was gone.