ADF temperature range

[njnolan1]

I know this must be a question posed a hundred times but every care sheet I look up gives me different answers.

My tank is unheated and currently 78. It's going to get much warmer in the coming months and I'm a bit nervous about the water getting too warm. It's a 5.5 gallon.

How warm is too warm? Also, the tank doesn't feel that warm at all so I'm curious if the mercury thermometer is wrong. Mercury is supposed to be pretty good from what I understand. Thanks for any help!

[Jenste]

78*F water temperature will feel cool to us as it is 20*F cooler than our bodies.

Larger volumes of water hold temperature better than smaller volumes.

Keeping the lights off will lower temperature. Keep the tank in a spot that is out of the sunlight and where it will get air currents. (towards a center spot on the wall or room, rather than tucked into a far corner.

Adding an airstone can also help lower temperature as it encourages evaporation. Surface movement in general will help with this.

That all being said, I do not feel that your ADF will be endangered long term if you have slightly warmer than average temperatures.

[rodsboys]

I had a incident a few years back when the children of some dinner guest played with my heater. I discovered it two days later when my whole breeding colony was floating and bloated.temps were in the high 80's. I lost them all. I'm still pissed about that and have never been able to put a colony that nice together again.

[njnolan1]

Kids... Sorry that happened.