brrrrrr.cold! help please.

[sandybottom]

my furnace kicked the bucket. nothing can be done until monday. i have a 15 gallon grow out tank with 2 orandas. 2 10 gallons with bettas. 2 hospital tanks 2 gallons a piece with betta,shrimp and cory cats. it is supposed to get down to 6 degrees tonight. i can move the small tanks to my moms house. the goldfish should be ok, however they are orandas so i worry. i do have 100 watt heaters on my 10 gallons. my brother brought a couple of space heaters over to help. my best idea is to put the fish in coolers if need be. or float one of the bettas in the others tank and give the goldies a heater.i'm worried about stressing them. any ideas would be welcome.

[callistra]

Use digital space heater you can set to a certain temp. Close off doors to the rooms with the tanks to keep the heat in and the space heater wont' have to run as often. That will keep your house a temp and the tank heaters will do the rest.

[sandybottom]

no doors.they are in the central part of my house,between the kitchen and livingroom.my house is a drafty trailer. i need to share the heaters between the fish and the 5 humans too. i could always put the mini tanks into the 10 gallons and put their mini heaters in gf tank.close off all external rooms and have everybody sleep in two rooms. or we can have a "camp out" with the kids in the livingroom.

[LittleBlueFishlets]

You could wrap the tanks with towels or blankets to insulate them.... I once put aluminum foil over the tops of mine, since I figured a lot of heat was being lost through the lids.

[sandybottom]

well, everyone seems comfortable for now. just have to monitor them. i really don't like running space heaters overnight. just being paranoid probably.bad news is, this will cost me between $1000-$2500 to fix or replace the furnace. i wanted to set up my 40 gallon next month. now i have to wait.

[Tikibirds]

I'm not a fan of space heaters either - but I kept mine on all the time when I lived in Alaska. It's gets pretty freakin cold inside when it's -60F outside and you happen to live in a ghetto 70 yr old apartment

Depending on how cold it is where you are, I think I would either float the bettas with the goldies or if its not that cold, wrap the bettas tank in towels.
Not sure if a space heeater would be enough to keep them warm..I had a small little ceramic one, not the bigger kind with the exposed coils - those kinda scare me. I was afraid those would start a fire when I was asleep

[RoMay]

In case of a cold snap (what I learned from my dad who had other fish):

1. Tin foil or Saran Wrap
2. Duck(t) Tape
3. Saftey Pins
4. Blankets and or towels.

Wrap the tinfoil or Saran wrap around the top of your cage. Leaving some room for airholes. Make sure it's a snug fit with duck tape. Do not tape it down to the aquarium because you need to get in at some point. Drape blankets or towels over and wrap them around the tank to the best of your ability. Using the saftey pins to secure them in place.

Extra tip:

In case of big enough earthquake use saran wrap and duck tape to cover the top so fishies don't fly out and you can keep as much water as possible in the tank. In case of power outage wrap the tanks with towels and blankets and secure with saftey pins.

[sandybottom]

well it been a tough night. one of the space heaters blew our outlet out. now we need a new junction switch too. the center of the house is pretty warm. but we are afraid we will blow out something else and be totally without power. everyone looks comfortable. glad i got the 100 watt heaters for the betta. goldfish are at 60 degrees right now. they are still hungry, so that is good. the betta tanks are holding at 78 still. they are coming to look at the furnace tomorrow. but i don't know how long before they can fix it. may have to use the space heater for a week. hopefully not longer. wish me luck guys. this stinks.

[sandybottom]

bathroom outlet wires melted together. we almost had a fire. we could smell it. hot water pipes are frozen. forecast is -3 tonight. now i'm getting sick too, on top of everything else.

[carbonxxkidd]

Oh my gosh, I know first hand how freaking cold it is right now!! Good luck and I hope you guys are able to stay warm and get help soon.