Betta Experts - Please help!

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eah

Aquarium Advice Freak
Joined
Jul 7, 2006
Messages
207
Location
New England
I have two male bettas. One lives happily in my community tank where there is a good heater and the temp is set at 77 degrees f. The other has his own 2 gallon tank that sits on my the desk in my home office. When the summer ended up here ( :cry: ) I went out to the local Petsmart and purchased a heater for his little tank. The only available options were those heaters that keep the tank 5 degrees higher than the room temperature. When I woke up this morning the tank was down to 71 degrees!

I have read that bettas should always be in water that is at least 75-75 degrees so I'm sure that poor Finnegan does not appreciate the cooler temperatures. However, I'm not sure what to do since there is not a warmer room that I could move him to... We typically keep our apartment heated to 65 or so at night or when we are gone for the day and 70 when we're home.

What do you other betta people do to keep your little guys comfortable in the winter? I would appreciate your recommendations!
 
eah said:
I have read that bettas should always be in water that is at least 75-75 degrees

I am going to assume you mean 75-78 degrees, right? That's pretty much correct (they can stand higher temperatures as well - up to 85 comfortably I understand).

With that in mind, you can wrap the 2g in a towel or blanket at night during the winter, since there won't be any light anyway. Or you can get a Visitherm 25w heater (which I understand has temp control and fits a 2.5g (not sure about a 2g).

http://www.drsfostersmith.com/Product/Prod_Display.cfm?pcatid=12060&N=2004+113767

71 degrees is a little cold for a betta to be in. I would wrap the tank for the time being until the weather warms up or you get a new heater. HTH
 
Well, my girlfriend keeps her bettas in front of her air conditioner and their apartment is always cold so I wouldn't worry too much. She was never able to breed her bettas but they didn't die and they seemed happy (not miserable lol). But if you are really that worried about your betta you can buy one of those 2.5 gallon aquarium kits that are about as tall as a 10g and then put a regular heater in it, but I would recommend getting a thermometer because that also runs the risk of over heating. I wouldn't worry to much about it though and be careful because if your apartment gets warm enough that heater could end up cooking your fish. Just make sure your home stays around 70-75 if you can and he should do fine.
 
71 is ok for a while. It won't harm the betta. The betta will certainly digest a little bit slower and it won't be so active, but it isn't going to hurt for them to have lower temperatures over the winter. Keep in mind that in the wild the species would outlast occasional cold nights.
 
MSU Fan said:
eah said:
I have read that bettas should always be in water that is at least 75-75 degrees

Yes, sorry about the typo!

I do have a thermometer in there and will look into the visitherm heater. Thanks for the link. I may break down and end up buying a five gallon tank for the little guy, but I assume that particular heater would still be okay for a tank of that size.
 
A 25-watt heater in a 2.5 gallon tank would be ok. A 5 gallon tank would be better. A Visitherm Deluxe (glass heater) would work in a 2.5 gallon. A Visitherm Stealth (plastic) heater would be fine for a 5 gallon. The Stealths are a big longer than the Deluxes and say they can go in up to 8 gallons, so I think the Stealth model would be a little too much for a 2.5 gallon tank.

I have found that water temperature fluctuations can be very stressful on bettas. A stable temperature of 78-80 degrees is best.
 
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