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Water temperature
Why every fish has a comfortable temperature, what the heater does, and how to set it for a mixed aquarium.
What the temperature means
Every aquarium stands in a room at 22 °C, and its water drifts toward that unless a heater keeps it warmer. Every fish has a band of water it's comfortable in, shown on its card and on its Reef Journal page.
The gauge under your level and coins shows the temperature next to the water quality. Open it to see where the water is heading, how many fish are comfortable there, and to set the thermostat.
Comfortable bands
Every species belongs to one of four groups:
- Reef fish · 24 to 28 °C. Most of the catalogue, and nearly every fish until the lagoon fish arrive.
- Lagoon fish · 27 to 31 °C, like the Parrotfish. Warm shallows and open tropical water.
- Temperate fish · 17 to 22 °C, like the Knifejaw. Happy at room temperature, never in a heated reef.
- Hardy fish · 20 to 28 °C: the estuary wanderers and the Bristlenose Pleco. At home almost anywhere.
What the wrong temperature does
Inside its band a fish is not affected at all. Outside it:
- Growth slows, down to 60% of its normal speed at 4 °C or more outside the band.
- Up to 2 °C outside, gold quality is out of reach; further out, silver is too.
- Temperature never harms a fish's health and never kills it.
Heaters
Every aquarium gets a Glass Heater, a gift that arrives with its first fish that reads temperature and keeps a reef comfortable. The Equipment tab of Build & Buy sells 3 heaters: the Titanium Heater from level 30 reaches 29 °C for lagoon fish, and the Controller Heater from level 50 reaches 31 °C.
A cheaper heater lets the water swing a little either side of its setting: ± 1 °C for the Glass Heater, ± 0.5 °C for the Titanium Heater, and none for the Controller Heater. A fish counts as comfortable only when the whole swing stays inside its band. A better heater trades half of the old one in, like all equipment.
Setting the thermostat
Open the gauge, turn the thermostat with − and +, and press Set. It's free. The water warms toward the new setting at the heater's own speed, or cools by 0.5 °C an hour, and the gauge shows how long that takes. Fish aren't flagged while the water is on its way.
A heater can only warm: set it to Off and the water stays at room temperature, 22 °C. The gauge suggests the setting that suits the most of your fish.
Mixed aquariums
Groups that don't share a band can't all be comfortable in one aquarium, so mixing them is a choice:
- Reef and lagoon fish share 27 to 28 °C, but only the Controller Heater holds the water tightly enough for both.
- Temperate and reef fish share nothing: keep them in separate aquariums, or accept slower growth for one group.
- Hardy fish get along with anyone.
In the game: https://fishies.lol/wiki/mechanics/temperature · Fishies 0.8.24
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