keeping bettas warm in winter

[BettaBoyz]

all my boys are outfitted with lights (Flash has a desk lamp, King's got the built-in light of his tank, and Lil Phoenix has the small pals pen light unit) but i don't trust them to keep water warm!

first, i cant find the mini-heaters.

second, permanent heat pads are insanely priced and since i can't pile all my Bettas in one place it's stupid anyway

third, i'm not sure what people mean by temporary heat pads.

any solutions?

 

[FishHeads]

all my boys are outfitted with lights (Flash has a desk lamp, King's got the built-in light of his tank, and Lil Phoenix has the small pals pen light unit) but i don't trust them to keep water warm!

first, i cant find the mini-heaters.

second, permanent heat pads are insanely priced and since i can't pile all my Bettas in one place it's stupid anyway

third, i'm not sure what people mean by temporary heat pads.

any solutions?

How warm is your home? As long as your home is fairly warm, then all you could do is wrap the tanks in insulated blankets at night. That's what I do with some of my newer fish that are in the dual hex tanks still. My bigger tanks I just have heaters in. I have never used a heat pad so I have no idea how it works.

 

[BettaBoyz]

well, my room is being kept at 68*, the rest of the house has varying temperatures all throughout the day and night. my dad sees little point heating a house when no one is there.

 

[FishHeads]

Hmm....Space HEaters rule. I have one in my dorm room for my Hex Betas...But I don't highly recomend it....

 

[wuvmybetta]

Do you have plastic over your windows? I did that this week to my house (just for the bettas ) 68 is pretty darn chilly, 65 is really as low as a betta can handle it before going in to hypothermia , the best idea I can come up with is.....maybe a warm wet towel beside their bowls (not too close) OR go to the baby dept in your Wal-Mart and look for a wipe warmer,it's a long piece of cloth with velcro that wraps around boxes of baby wipes to keep them warm,it plugs in the wall,you can experiment with an empty tank and see how warm it makes the water,try it wrapped around a tank or lay it out flat and put your tanks on it in a row

 

[Inchworm]

Wipe warmers? What will they think of next?

How do temperature fluctuations effect the bettas? With most tropicals it's a bad thing. But bettas, in small amounts of water must be subjected to it frequently. Do they get ich more than other fish?

 

[AquaNut]

I honestly don't know how people successfully keep bettas in those little unheated tanks (well I can understand how wuv does it... she lives in Texas ). My bettas look worse for wear as soon as I take their heat source away. Occasionally one of mine has to spend a few days in an unheated 'holding cell' of some sort, and their fins droop and their colour fades within a day or two.

An incandescant light bulb, over or directly beside the tank, is more than enough to keep a betta warm. However, it's also not very power-smart and, due to the heat produced, is a fire hazard if left on when nobody's home. My lfs told me those mini heaters everyone talks about getting at the Wal-marts in the US aren't CSA approved, BettaBoyz. You can get a very large reptile heating pad for $40 or less. It would be large enough to line all of your bettas up on it. It might seem like a lot of money, but it's really not much in comparison to so many other things we need to buy for our fish. If I have to replace a heater on one of my community tanks, it costs me $40, and that is to heat just one tank. The wipe warmer seems like a good idea, too, but you'd need one for each fish, and it would probably add up to the same $$. Let us know what you figure out.

 

[wuvmybetta]

I honestly don't know how people successfully keep bettas in those little unheated tanks (well I can understand how wuv does it... she lives in Texas

,no kidding,the weather here is so crazy,in the 50's one day and the 80's the next (during winter) outrageous, so my bettas just have to tough it out. My inside temps never drop below 75 thanks to central heating 8) ,so my babes will be fine