taking species from cold water to a pico warm tank

[michaelmouae38]

Hi all I am new to this sort of thing so be kind. ok I live by Half Moon Bay CA and was wondering if certain inverts or crabs and or live rock can go from the cold water to a 4 gal pico 78 degree tank??? I know it may be stupid but just wondering.

[gerbilbox]

That's almost guaranteed to be a bad idea. The California red rock shrimp is sometimes confused for a peppermint shrimp and I've read that people have unknowingly introduced them into tropical tanks, and they do seem to survive but they do not do well in warm waters. The California coast is consistently cold so I doubt if other animals will be able to do well (assuming they survive). The biochemical machinery that powers all organisms are generally temperature specific.

 

The only possible exception would be tidepool animals which are used to temporary extremes that can get above 90°F on a hot day of a low tide, but they are only exposed to those temps for a brief period. If you're going to keep an animal from the ocean, keep them at temperatures similar to what they experience in the wild.

 

Not sure about the live rock you can put it into a tank without cycling.

[johnmaloney]

There are some species with range overlap. Not many, especially not many inverts. It is usually larger fish with broad ranges. Rock is federally protected in all of the USA

[AquaticEngineer]

Hi all I am new to this sort of thing so be kind. ok I live by Half Moon Bay CA and was wondering if certain inverts or crabs and or live rock can go from the cold water to a 4 gal pico 78 degree tank??? I know it may be stupid but just wondering.

 

 

Dont do it.

[C-Rad]

You could do what some of us have done and set up a cold water tank so that you can catch your own stuff. I live in California too, and while the laws only allow you to take 12 species of inverts from within 1000 feet of shore, you can take almost any invert from farther out than that. No fish I'm afraid, and as always there are some places that are protected, as well as bag, size, season, and method of catch restrictions for a few specific species (like abalone and lobster). Get a good used chiller for $200 - $250 from craigslist and take the cold plunge.

[AquaticEngineer]

.....Get a good used chiller for $200 - $250 from craigslist and take the cold plunge.

 

Do that