We have swordtails and platies living in cold water here in the south west of Western Australia. We find them in the wild (people release them here) and we have had them in ponds. At the Karrakatta cemetery, they have a few ponds there and they are full of beautiful looking green swordtails. We catch Xiphophorus variatus platies in the upper reaches of the Swan River in Perth. ll these areas have water temperatures of 3-5C in winter and up to 30+ in summer.
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That's what I'm saying... A lot of people are just not aware of it that platies and swordtails can withstand lower temperatures just fine.
If you'd look at wild species of the Xiphophorus genus, there are species that have a wide range of temperature tolerance (so, also upwards 30+) but also species that only tolerates lower temperatures. If you keep those at higher rates, they won't last that long.
Even now, I'm keeping platies and swordtails outdoors. And we are having a weird summer this year; warm, cold, rain, extreme dry. So, not a steady summer this time. But these fish are even frequently dealing with lows of 8-9°C at night. And then at day, the temperature goes up at decent highs. And when it gets too high, you'll notice that those fish will go deeper, where it's less warm. or they're hiding under the leaves of those plants to find shelter.
Air temperature and water temperature are different things, and I know those members recently posting in this thread know that. Fish surviving when the air temperature is 8-9 C at night is not the same as fish in water that is 8-9 C, as water retains heat longer than air. I really do have to question this species living well in water that is 3 to 5 C.
Keeping a distinction between the habitat of a species and areas where the species has been introduced is also important. In its native range, and as an introduced species, X. maculatus inhabits slow-flowing lotic systems, i.e. upland and coastal reaches of rivers, and lentic systems. Within these habitats it prefers structure, i.e. aquatic or emergent vegetation (Page and Burr, 1991; Barton and Wilmhoff, 1996; Allen et al., 2002; Froese and Pauly, 2007). In the USA, X. maculatus occurs in warm springs, weedy canals and ponds (Page and Burr, 1991). X. maculatus thrives in anthropogenically-modified habitats and in urban creeks in Brisbane it was often associated with introduced emergent vegetation (Houston and Duivenvoorden, 2002). [cited from https://www.cabi.org/isc/datasheet/59752#tohabitat
Keeping a distinction between the habitat of a species and areas where the species has been introduced is also important. In its native range, and as an introduced species, X. maculatus inhabits slow-flowing lotic systems, i.e. upland and coastal reaches of rivers, and lentic systems. Within these habitats it prefers structure, i.e. aquatic or emergent vegetation (Page and Burr, 1991; Barton and Wilmhoff, 1996; Allen et al., 2002; Froese and Pauly, 2007). In the USA, X. maculatus occurs in warm springs, weedy canals and ponds (Page and Burr, 1991). X. maculatus thrives in anthropogenically-modified habitats and in urban creeks in Brisbane it was often associated with introduced emergent vegetation (Houston and Duivenvoorden, 2002). [cited from https://www.cabi.org/isc/datasheet/59752#tohabitat
I did hear there were platies living in a creek nearby to where I live, most likely been dumped. After they were unable to be removed, they’ve been living in there for years and temperatures often reach around 2-3 degrees Celsius in Winter. I’m curious to see if they’ve survived in that temperature, though I’m sure they would’ve if they’ve been doing it for years.
My temperature readings were taken from the water with a glass aquarium thermometer, so it was pretty cold water.
It only takes a few generations for fish to start to adapt to cooler water. I had numerous species of Australian & New Guinea rainbowfish living outdoors in Perth and the water dropped down to 5C in winter and got up to 40C+ in summer. Other people have had similar results with rainbows, livebearers and even barbs.
A friend (Ken rip) had ponds with rosy barbs, swordtails, platies, rainbowfish, white clouds, American flags, goldfish and Koi in. They were single species ponds and the water got cold in winter, and sometimes had a thin layer of ice on the surface. The goldfish, koi and white clouds are naturally cold water, but the barbs, livebearers and rainbows were all tropical/ semi tropical species and he had them outdoors for 20 years.
Another friend had a pond of swordtails and used to supply the shop with them. And we had numerous customers with livebearers and barbs in ponds.
My temperature readings were also from the water, Byron. And not the air. There are different platy species in the wild. But the Xiphophorus maculatus is the most wide spread one.
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