Hypothermia!!!

[GuppyDude]

Winter is here!....or approaching in some of those lower states but its comeing and liveing in wisconsin im running into problems alredy. i came home and all my tanks were at 70 degrees, my gups were fine but my bettas really took a hit the male wouldn't eat and was simming in an S shaped pattern...not good. i got the space heater goin and a warm pad under his bowl and he purked up and is eating fine now. i need some advice on keeping his bowl warm

 

[JoKeR]

yes winter is coming

IDK what to do yet.....

 

[Auratus]

I have two bettas in my brothers room and it get's pretty cold in there. I've been covering them with towels at night but I don't know what to do either

Edit: Idea. Maybe you could get one of those night time (their black) heat bulbs for reptiles. They are only like $5. I just remembered that I have one and a clamp lamp. That might work.

 

[jkun17]

I use electric blankets. Just lay them under the bowls and voila. Try to keep them away from windows too.

 

[turbotiber]

yeah I had a close call the other night too, all of them were at 70 and no one really wanted to heat, so I cranked up the space heater!! It's kidna hard to keep them warm though because the room is quite big and has 3 big windows, so the heat just disperses so fast. I'm really worried about when I go on vacation and I leave them with a babysitter. Thinking of that electric blanket... maybe I could get one just for them. They're either in 1.5g or 2g unfiltered so heaters are out of the question. *sigh* what to do

 

[_groove_]

I live in Montreal, and its COLD here now, its been below freezing for about a week... My apt is heated but before they turned on the heat back in October, we were having cold nights.

My solution to this has been to keep a 75watt UV bulb (incandescent black light) right on top of the bowl pretty much all the time, positioned in one of those long armed desk lamps.

I also keep a tinfoil that I pierced with several little holes and fitted on top of the bowl most of the time to prevent leap of faith when Im not around and to help slow the heat loss off the surface and keep a buffer of warmer humid air for the little guy to breathe.

Needless to say, fishy is still with me and presently my apt is warm enough with the heat now going that I can keep the light off and it still stays around 78 in the water unless my thermometer is lying. If it gets really cold this winter (like last year when the rads could be melting but with -20 F outside it still cut through!), the UV lamp will come into play again. It definately radiates enough heat that if you leave it there idefinately it should be fine. You just have to watch it a bit to see how close to the bowl it needs to be to reach the desired temp. It may look a bit freakish, but I dont think anymore so than a heating pad or blanket

If I find that for some reason the temperature is fluctuating wildly over the winter, I'll have to go for a 2.5g aquarium and a nano filter and mini heater...

Dont forget if you heat the bowl water, u gotta have water u change it for at the same temp... I was boiling a small amount of water and adding it to the aged to accomplish this when my apt was not warm enough. Now that my heat is going, the aged water is the same temp anyway...

Phew that was a mouthful! Hope it helps, and yeah, I know its only workable for up to a few bowls.

 

[jkun17]

Blacklights, eh?... interesting....

 

[_groove_]

Yeah, I chose that cuz its not bright and hard on anyone's eyes, mine or his, and it still kicks off heat...