Do Fish Hibernate, And In General, Do The Seasons Affect Them?

2023 Author: Molly Page | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-11-27 22:49

Do fish hibernate, and in general, do the seasons affect them? After reading this question, I want to immediately answer: no, of course. However, in reality, everything is not as simple as it seems at first glance.

How much the change of seasons affects aquarium animals depends on their natural habitat. For example, if a fish lives in a slow-flowing stream in an equatorial forest, then its environment is quite stable. It is to these "conservatives" that most of the South American haracinids, discus, Congo, pearl gourami and other famous and popular fish belong. They do not like sudden changes in conditions and can go into shock if a lot of fresh water is added to the aquarium, or if the temperature deviates by more than 3 degrees from normal. Common plants from Southeast Asia - cryptocorynes - shed their leaves when the water parameters change, which will not grow back soon.

Pearl gourami (Trichopodus leerii)

If your pets come from reservoirs, the temperature and chemical composition of which changes throughout the year, then they react positively to a small regular water change. For example, fire barbs, green barbs, and some other barbs live in rivers that rarely get warmer than 24 ° C. In the spring, in the mountainous upper reaches, there is a sharp melting of snow, and the temperature drops by several degrees. At the same time, the amount of salts dissolved in water decreases, that is, its hardness decreases. For successful breeding of these fish, it is necessary to arrange a small "spring" for them, to simulate the usual conditions in the aquarium.

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The situation becomes more complicated if you decide to keep inhabitants of high latitudes, say, from North American or ours, Russian ponds and rivers. They definitely need a change of seasons, that is, cooling water in winter (up to 5 ° C), adding fresh soft water in spring, etc. In an ordinary warm-water aquarium, they are doomed to slow death, so domestic fish are not for the novice aquarist. By the way, to the question of hibernation: it is our northern fish that, when the temperature drops, go into a daze and almost stop feeding. First of all, this applies to large species: carp, catfish, etc. But burbots, which at a young age are also sometimes kept in an aquarium, on the contrary, do not eat at temperatures above 15-16 ° C.

Glass catfish

Oddly enough, it is necessary to save not only our cold-water fish from the heat, but also the inhabitants of the tropics - representatives of the genera Zinolebias, Notobranchius, Afiosemion, etc. The fact is that these small beautiful fish live in puddles that are filled only during the rainy season. In 7-8 months, they need to have time to grow and sweep away the eggs, which will remain in moist silt until next year. Thus, if the temperature in a reservoir with these "annuals" rises above 22 degrees, all processes in their body will accelerate, they will quickly grow up, grow old and die.

If fish react to real changes in water parameters, then plants also have a certain "internal clock". If desired, the aquarist can make his pets winter in the middle of summer, and they will innocently believe him. But only plants “remember” when the seasons really change. So, having planted an aquarium with beautiful hornworts, arrowheads and water lilies from the nearest river, as well as an American kabomba, you risk contemplating absolutely bare soil and walls in December: these plants die off for the winter. Tropical pistia almost never survive until spring, and Vallisneria significantly reduce growth rates.