Stocking Help: Fish with widest thermal tolerance range

[Holmesese]

I was recently given a 180 gallon tank with a 40 gallon sump. To set the stage: I have a smaller house and already have a reef tank inside, leaving the insulated garage as the only place to set up the tank. The garage is sealed shut and can’t be used for vehicles.

This past year I measured temp fluctuations and the ambient garage air temp varied from 40 F to almost 90F. I kept an aquarium in there with no fish just to see how I could hold temp. If I insulated the tank in winter and blew a fan on the surface in the summer I could easily keep water temps between 60-86F year round. Obviously, I could have heated it more in winter but didn’t want to pay for more electricity just for an experiment! Before I make the jump and AC/heat the full garage or pay the electric to keep the tank temp dead on 75-85 year round I thought I would throw this q out there and get thoughts:

For temperate FW fish, dealing with a 40-90F water temp range over the course of a year would be no big deal. However, I want a SW FOWLR! What is the widest seasonal temperature variation any of you have had in a tank? For a fish only SW tank what species of fish have the widest thermal tolerance range or from what portion of the map do you think I should look for fish from?

 

[Big G]

That is a great question. I'd contact the folks at KP Aquatics. See what they would recommend.

 

[Holmesese]

Thanks for the tip! They look like a FL producer?

The more reading I am doing the more I think It may be easiest to go tropical or sub-tropical. Heating the tank is easier than cooling it, so if I can get species that can handle the hot summer temps I can suck it up and heat everything in the winter

 

[eatbreakfast]

That is too wide of a range. Most available marine fish live in a narrow temp range. Those that can handle the cooler range can't handle the higher temps. However freshwater fish are usually more accepting of a wider temp range.

 

[Waters]

As eatbreakfast stated, there are fish that thrive in those temperatures, but none that can withstand those type of swings.

 

[Big G]

They look like a FL producer?

Yes they are located in Florida and do a lot of their own collecting. Good folks.