Would I Need A Heater In The Actual Tank Or Would My Room Temp Be Enou

[Parasaurolophus]

Well I was just wondering as I want to eventually get fish like neon's and rummy nose tetra and I know they need a heater but it made me think as I already have a bearded dragon and gecko in my room and both have heating systems and the temperature even with the window open never drops below 70 f so would the fish still need there own heater or would the temperature of the room be enough to heat the tank at the moment the temp is 82 f during the day its about 75 f.
I was also thinking about getting platys first as a starter fish would they also be ok without a heater given the conditions in my room?

Sorry if this is a stupid question.

 

[MewMew42]

I would personally get a heater just for reassurance, just set it for about 25c and if your room is as hot as you say it is it should never really need to come on =]

 

[OldMan47]

A platy in a room at 75F is going to be fine without a heater. This is just the platy, not the neons or the rummy nose. Each fish has its own temperature needs just as it has its own water needs. Also you should consider how cool the room will become when winter arrives, as it does eventually for most of us.
I find another objection right now. Since you want the soft water fish, there is no point to starting with a hard water platy. Even though the platy will do fine all the way down to about 70F in the room, it will not thrive in water suitable for long term use by neons and rummy nose. You may want to rethink your stocking and check what kind of water comes from your supplier. It is far easier to keep fish that are well suited to your tap water than to be constantly adjusting water parameters to suit the fish.
I have a tank that runs much softer than my tap water on purpose, but I went into it with both eyes open and understood what I was getting into. It is not something I would advise, especially for someone new to the hobby.

 

[Parasaurolophus]

I wasn't going to put the platys with neon's and rummy nose I just wanted a starter fish that would help me get into fish keeping again. I was planning on getting the tetra's at the end of summer or next year.
But I'm still thinking it through and doing my research.
Thank you for your advice

 

[Assaye]

I would always advise a heater, even for coldwater fish. It doesn't need to be set above room temperature, although you must of course carefully research the temperature range of the fish you want, but it does keep the temperature stable which is crucial to the health of most fish.

As Oldman said, find out what the pH and hardness (KH/GH) of your local water is and stock fish based on that. If you have hard water, avoid tetras like neons and rummy noses and other soft water fish. If you have soft water, avoid platies and other hard water fish.

There is no such thing as a starter fish. There are some fish that require a lot of experience but even the "hardiest" fish needs excellent husbandry and superb water conditions to thrive. A platy will suffer if you don't have a cycled tank or do too few water changes, just like any other fish. By all means get a small group but try not to see them as starter fish. I would read the stuff in here to get you started.

 

[waterdrop]

I agree with Assaye. Our tropical fish hobby now has a wonderful process called Fishless Cycling that has become a core skill for many beginners to learn and it simply takes this period of exposing the animals to permanently damaging poisons out of the picture. Its a wonderful advance, but as with anything new, it can take many decades for it to work itself into the lore of the hobby and be accepted. Our beginners section tries to help make this happen.

You seem like possibly a perfect candidate for fishless cycling because you are obviously knowledgeable about keeping pets that have requirements outside the normal and for which you have to study up and learn different kinds of skills (I wouldn't know the first thing about about creating a healthy environment for a gecko or bearded dragon! )

The top 3 articles to get your questions up to speed are in the Beginners Resource Center, the Nitrogen Cycle, the Fishless Cycle and the Fish-In Cycling Situation.. to start to have some vocabulary to discuss the topic, which is larger than the articles themselves.

There's a neat timing thing we find here in the beginners section that if you get a fishless cycle going in your first tank, there is supposedly a long boring wait for the bacteria to grow in the biofilter, but it turns out to be just about the right amount of time to have a bunch of great learning interactions with the members here about other starter topics, not least of which is the whole topic you started with, that of what types of fish to stock your tank with, what sort of community you can build, given the water you are forced to have by the happenstance of where you live and what comes out of the tap! Basing your community on the foundation of what tap water chemistry you've been given is an important way to start.

~~waterdrop~~