Next level nuances...?

[Tannin Aquatics]

I was thinking about this the other day:

We spend a tremendous amount of effort, time, and money at replicating the physical and chemical aspects of natural environments for our fishes. We have amazing water pumps, heaters, water conditioners, and lighting systems. We use them to replicate, in a broad way, conditions similar to what we encounter in the natural environments where our animals come from.

However, I'm curious why we never have done much to replicate "seasonal" variations in weather by manipulating lighting conditions (like intensity, spectrum, duration, beam angle), temperature, and water chemistry (I'm sure that the pH, alkalinity, etc. vary slightly in say, the plains region in Africa, or the Pantanal region in Brazil during the rainy season versus the dry season). (click to read more)

 

[mchambers]

Interesting post. In July 2012, following the derecho that swept through Washington, we didn't have power in our house for five days. I had to go through all sorts of gyrations to keep my fish alive, including lowering the water levels and not feeding them. (Also, the fish had not been fed much in the two weeks before the derecho, because I had been out of town.)

When our power came back on, I followed up with frequent water changes, due to a concern that the beneficial microbes in my filter were probably greatly diminished. Shortly thereafter, several of my fish decided to start spawning, including my Corydoras sp. C123.

So I have thought about how to simulate a dry season/rainy season in my tanks, but I haven't really found in approach that works, and I'm not willing to turn off my filter and lights for a week again!

 

[Tannin Aquatics]

Interesting post. In July 2012, following the derecho that swept through Washington, we didn't have power in our house for five days. I had to go through all sorts of gyrations to keep my fish alive, including lowering the water levels and not feeding them. (Also, the fish had not been fed much in the two weeks before the derecho, because I had been out of town.)

When our power came back on, I followed up with frequent water changes, due to a concern that the beneficial microbes in my filter were probably greatly diminished. Shortly thereafter, several of my fish decided to start spawning, including my Corydoras sp. C123.

So I have thought about how to simulate a dry season/rainy season in my tanks, but I haven't really found in approach that works, and I'm not willing to turn off my filter and lights for a week again!

I agree with the "scary factor" of turning off filtration and heating!

Oh, and interesting about the Corys...Seems like they are some of the most "responsive" fishes to environmental changes in the context of spawning, doesn't it?

However, I think that a more gradual decline in temperature and changes in overall environmental conditions (in line with the temp changes in natural stations- I"m sure that information is available somewhere!) could yield some fruit, so to speak.Gradual programming of lighting schedules, subtle manipulations of pH, alkalinity, etc., and decrease/increase in temp, water movement, etc. to correspond with what's happening in the wild could be a challenging, yet potentially interesting experiment!

Stay wet!

Scott