Water temperature/heater question

[tisburylane]

I have a 2-2.5 gal tank. They are very hard to heat simply because small heaters either a) don't work or b) work wayyy too well.

I brought my fish home from the dorm for the weekend and it looked to be a little chilly in his tank this morning. I plugged in his heater, which is 10w, I believe. In my colder dorm it has worked well so far. However, I got home 45 minutes ago after being gone almost all day to 90F water and a fish who was sleeping in a strange position inside his little house-thing. I grabbed a couple of ice cubes and settled to wait and see if the water would cool, unplugging his heater.

I can get away without a heater during the day, the light on the tank will warm it quite enough. However, at night at the cool dorm with winter air coming in, the temperature will drop too much. What do I do?

• Leave the heater plugged in anyway. Betta can handle 90F water, right? Discuss.
• Don't turn the light on, don't use a heater, let the water naturally change temps.
• Bury the heater under rocks, so that the rocks act as more of a buffer to the water.
• Plug the heater in only at night (or set a timer), leave the light on during the day.

As far as Finnick goes, I think he's fine. More half-asleep and frustrated from being woken by the lighting than anything.

[vilmarisv]

You need a heater that turns off automatically or an adjustable heater.
This is a good economic option. http://www.petco.com/product/114078/...t=OnSiteSearch
The water temp drastic fluctuations are an open invitation for Ick and Velvet.

[aokashi]

I'd call the small tank hard to heat thing a myth.

an adjustable heater will do a great job keeping your tanks heated as long as you tank is big enough to house the heater. be it a .5 gallon or a 5 gallon..

some fish can tolerate 90F some cant. if you think your fish is doing fine at that temp. you can leave the heater on...

however a higher temp will shorten his lifespan.

[happypappy]

I've tried alot of different heaters for my 1.5, 2.5 and 3 gal tanks. I thought a 25W would be too strong. After alot of trial and error and buying many mistakes I have come to realize that my favorite for my bettas are the 25W adjustable submersible.. the hydro theo and the marineland visitherm. The hydro is smaller so watch the length and shop around -- I used amazon. good luck

[megaredize]

i am using the tetra ones that are shown in the link, they are 50 watts because no one selss 25 watts where i am and it heats reliably, it never over heats and tanks stay at around 79 and i even have them in my 3.5 gallon critter keepers.