High water temperature

NTdave

Hi everyone, I live in Darwin and am about to get back into fish after many years away. My issue is high water temperature, my tank sits around 30 to 33c on very hot days. It will cool a bit in the Dry season. I have put in black out curtains to reduce light and heat and will run two air stones. Can anyone suggest some fish, that will be cope with these temperatures. Thanks.

Frayk

Any fish from your area should be able to cope with those temps.
You could buy a chiller?
You probs wont need a heater unlike us southerners!!!!!!!

leon

Your mentioned temperature is high, I think you can own the Blue german ram and Persian Killifish.

RxF

2 simple things - Ice and a Fan.
ICE.
Do not put ice cubes directly into the tank, can cause imbalances depending upon the water quality. Do not use cool-packs as a leak could be catastrophic for the tank dwellers.
Put 1 or 2 (depending on tank size) plastic water bottles - 3/4 full and lid off (water expands when it freezes so the first time you need to freeze the contents without the lid or risk splitting the bottle) - in the freezer overnight. In the morning put the lid(s) on and float the bottle(s) in your tank. When the sun sets remove the bottles and put back in the freezer.
If you fill the bottles with the same water you would use to top up or do a water change then a leak shouldn’t be a catastrophe.
Suggest that you first trial this on a day when you will be home and can check the temperature every couple of hours. Some trial and error may be required to get the right numbers and sizes of water bottles. You may also need to tweak this for the Wet, Dry and Build-up periods.
FAN.
If your fish are not jumpers, and you don’t have to protect them from curious cats or kids, you can leave the tank fully or partially uncovered and set a fan to blow across the surface of the water during the day. Start with the fan at the lowest speed so as not to splash water out of the tank.
This method will increase the amount of water lost from the tank through evaporation so you will need to monitor your water parameters frequently until you can anticipate the changes this will bring to your tank.
Once again, I suggest that you trial this on a day when you are home and can monitor the tank temperature.
I kept freshwater aquarium fish in Darwin for over a decade - back then I only needed to employ these measures during the Build-up and the Wet, back then 33deg was considered hot - we rarely saw days of 34 to 36. That’s climate change for you.
Good Luck.