Heater or no heater?

[purple_drazi]

The two new boys should be coming tomorrow morning and I've just finished setting up a 5.5 gal divided tank for the 3 bettas. It's a plain tank with a canopy, light and 2 plexiglass dividers with lots of 1/8" holes drilled in them. The new tank doesn't have a filter because Sparky never liked the water movement in the Eclipse, I'm just going to keep it clean the old fashioned way.

I'd like to put a heater in so that I know that the water is the right temp but without a filter to move the water through the holes in the dividers will there be a problem?

 

[wuvmybetta]

Whoever has the heater will be the warmest,more than likely. What does your room temp stay at? Will it be too cold to go heaterless?

Orrr, you could put an airstone in the area of the heater to encourage water exchange. Which of the boys is the most tolerant is the question

 

[purple_drazi]

thanks for replying wuv!

Sparky is in a 2 gal now and blowing bubbles like crazy! so I'd say that he's happy and warm enough. I was reading posts about temp fluctuations though and thought that if I could get a heater in there the boys might be better off.

I hadn't thought of an airstone.... I just didn't want to go with a filter because the bettas always seem to get blown about too much and aren't really that happy (no bubble nests!)