Coldwater Fish

[Shawn84]

Anyone got any idea of what other cold water fish beside goldfish and koi. I have a spare tank that I might wanna turn it into a cold water tank. No heater and it will be in the basement so it will be pretty cold during the winter.

[Anja]

I have White Cloud Mountain Minnows in the unheated basement tank and one Bristlenose. For the BN I found you have to watch them closely, though. Some of them will stop eating when it gets too cold; I had to relocate the first two to other tanks when they got skinny, but this one's been happy in there for about a year now. Coldest temp in my basement is about 15°C overnight in the winter.

[Darth]

+1 on the white clouds

[Shawn84]

My basement is a finish basement so there is heat down there. I don't know what is the lowest temp it will get down here.

[Yams]

Alot of North American Native Fish you can keep that are cold water...

American Flagfish (Very nice looking fish - *Added*)
Mosquitofish
Sunfish
Bluegill
Bass
Crayfish for your inverts

A local biotype be nice, can go catch the fish yourself too! Good summer vacation idea!  

[Shawn84]

I got some american flag fish in my community tank. They are not bad looking. White clouds seem to be very colorful. I might wait till winter and check the temp of the basement to see what is the lowest it will get too and then make a decision then. Thank you alllll

[Fishnut]

I have a 72 gallon tank in my living room that is 100% cold water...well, room temperature water.  I have a heater in the tank that comes on once in a while in the winter and it's set for 72 degrees.

Here are the inhabitants of the tank:

Gymnogeophagus "Bike Creek" - their parents were wild caught by Spencer Jack in Uruguay
Yellow Rainbowfish
Turquoise Rainbowfish
Lamp-eye killiefish
Some kind of Panchax Killie fish...he's a 2.5" colourful killie that has an attitude
Glo-Lite danios - the ones from Mayanmar, not the genetically engineered coloured ones.
White cloud mountain minows
Pearl Gourami
Blue gourami
bushy-nose plecos
Brochis cory - I had them in warmer water and they did horribly until I put them in this colder tank
Sterbai cory - these guys are doing 10x better than the sterbae's I have in a heated tank
Mountain Swordtail

Most fish will do very well in cooler temperatures.  You have to pay attention to the temperature requirements of the species, but you'll see that many fish that are "tropical" are able to be kept very comfortably in room temperature tanks.  They do tend to grow slower, but their lives are longer since the temperature isn't speeding up their growth and life.

[sas]

Alot of North American Native Fish you can keep that are cold water...

American Flagfish (Very nice looking fish - *Added*)
Mosquitofish
Sunfish
Bluegill
Bass
Crayfish for your inverts

A local biotype be nice, can go catch the fish yourself too! Good summer vacation idea!  

Be very careful doing this.
There are a couple licenses that are required here, one being a fishing license.
Catching and transporting fish without paperwork, can result in heavy fines.

Contact your local MNR for details.

[magnosis]

Contact your local MNR for details.

This.  (My dad was the director of wildlife conservation in Gatineau... I know a little bit on the subject).

It's one thing to catch fish and either release or eat it.  It's a whole different story to catch live fish, transport it and release it somewhere else, be it your aquarium (good) or another lake or river (bad!)

[Shawn84]

I wouldn't have to worry about that. Since i wouldn't be getting those fish. I'm looking into making a whyte cloud style tank. I'm gone a try my hand in aquascaping.  

On the side note what plant can I use in a cold water tank.

[Fishnut]

Madagascar Laceleaf plant!  They do so well in cold water tanks, they're beautiful and they can get HUGE!!  I recently figured out what I was doing wrong with my laceleaf plants for the past few years.  I would put them in a tank, they would grow a few leaves then die, completely.  I had one years and years ago that I grew to a massive size that I had just thrown in a tank in the basement and given minimal attention.  The difference must have been that the plant I gave little attention to must not have had a heater in the tank.  Since I moved my most recent laceleaf plant to my cool water tank, it has flourished!

Other than that, I have successfully kept cryptocrenes, valesneria and mosses.  Just like my list of fish, you have to look at the requirements of the plants.  Most "tropical" plants can be kept at cooler temperatures.  I had an amazon sword plant in the tank as well, but it didn't do well.  I'm not sure if it was because one of the plecos kept eating it or if it was the temperature...or both.  It never grew too many new leaves.  I moved it to a non-pleco tank that was also heated and it has grown some new leaves.