Last winter when I didn't have any of my aquariums so this was hardly a concern, we were out of power one day for almost 20 hours. It also happened on several occasions that power went out for 3 or 4 hours at a time.
Of course, now having fish, the situation is very different.
I have the following:
-a 10 gallon, soon to be 20 gallon tank housing a dwarf gourami, 5 neons, plants, snails and shrimp
-a 10 gallon half-filled, housing a red claw crab
-a 75 gallon paludarium housing 8 fiddler crabs
My biggest concern is that 75g. It's housed in our basement where temps in the winter are 68*F to begin with. I keep it at a comfortable 78*F water and 73*F ambient by using a ceramic heater and (obviously) a 50w heater for the water part. The water part is 24 inches long by 16 inches wide and 6 inches tall. I'm only concerned about keeping the water warm.
How would you guys go about it? What I thought about is using candles. For the palludarium, I'd stick 3 or 4 in the sand and hopefully the crabs wouldn't ingest any. For the water part, and I'd do this for all tanks, I was thinking about using candles as well, placed in tall, narrow glasses weighted at the bottom. They would float upright, submerged in water enough to transfer heat from the candle to the glass, to the water.
Any other ideas? Help me out.
Also, what is the absolute minimum these critters would be able to tolerate:
-fiddlers
-red claw
-neons
-gourami
-snails, shrimp, plants
The main issue is that I don't know the exact Uca variety I have, which is something I seek to find out. I've read that they can widthstand temperatures as low as 40*F, but going lower spells fatal. For red claws I've read in several places that anything below 50*F can be fatal.
Of course, now having fish, the situation is very different.
I have the following:
-a 10 gallon, soon to be 20 gallon tank housing a dwarf gourami, 5 neons, plants, snails and shrimp
-a 10 gallon half-filled, housing a red claw crab
-a 75 gallon paludarium housing 8 fiddler crabs
My biggest concern is that 75g. It's housed in our basement where temps in the winter are 68*F to begin with. I keep it at a comfortable 78*F water and 73*F ambient by using a ceramic heater and (obviously) a 50w heater for the water part. The water part is 24 inches long by 16 inches wide and 6 inches tall. I'm only concerned about keeping the water warm.
How would you guys go about it? What I thought about is using candles. For the palludarium, I'd stick 3 or 4 in the sand and hopefully the crabs wouldn't ingest any. For the water part, and I'd do this for all tanks, I was thinking about using candles as well, placed in tall, narrow glasses weighted at the bottom. They would float upright, submerged in water enough to transfer heat from the candle to the glass, to the water.
Any other ideas? Help me out.
Also, what is the absolute minimum these critters would be able to tolerate:
-fiddlers
-red claw
-neons
-gourami
-snails, shrimp, plants
The main issue is that I don't know the exact Uca variety I have, which is something I seek to find out. I've read that they can widthstand temperatures as low as 40*F, but going lower spells fatal. For red claws I've read in several places that anything below 50*F can be fatal.