Is it required to have a heater

[WinnieTabz]

Hi everyone, thanks to those who helped me alot on my concern about my betta about stunning its growth. I took your advices and got myself a 10 gallon tank, question is tho do i need the heater?? Is it nessesary? Why? Yhanks all

[MattsBettas]

Yes. I reccomend a 50 watts. They are necessary unless you can keep your house above 75 degrees.

[AyalaCookiejar]

Yes, they are tropical fish and they need to have 78-80 degree water. If their water is too cold/hot they will be more prone to disease, less active and not as happy overall. The proper conditions keeps them healthy.

Edit: a 50 watt ADJUSTABLE heater is what you need, as preset heaters are not reliable and often over/under heat the tank.

[WinnieTabz]

Originally Posted by MattsBettas

Yes. I reccomend a 50 watts. They are necessary unless you can keep your house above 75 degrees.

Well its 6:43pm here and i have a therm on the tank and it reads 78 degrees, is that good or bad?

[AyalaCookiejar]

If the tank stays at a consistent 78 degrees you should be okay. Make sure it doesn't drop at night. It must be warm in your house!

The only thing is, if he happened to get sick, sometimes raising the temp helps and its just hard to do with no heater..

[TheCheese909]

Temperatures fluctuate in your house by time of day and time of the year as well as outside weather. It's recommended to have a heater so your aquarium water does not drop below 75 degrees (which is the minimum, still a bit cold for a tropical fish).

I would recommend getting an internal thermometer, one that goes in the water not on the outside of the tank, to see what your aquarium water temp is during the day with the light on and during the night when the light is off. This will help you determine if you need a heater.. more than likely you do just because of the temperature fluctuation.

[callistra]

Unless your house stays a stable and constent temp of 80F+ (meaning no dips at night or peaks in the heat of the day) you do need a heater.

Also your water temp will be several degrees below your room temp.

You also can't use heat lamps, pads and other things to heat it up because it will cause uneven heating. Your tank also needs to be on an interior wall away from exterior doors, windows and any vents. Those will also cause temperature fluctuations.

[WinnieTabz]

Well I live down here in Hawaii. Does that matter at all?

Also I found out that this morning the tank temp was about 75-78. This afternoon was at 78 night 78

[Aluka]

Depends on how warm your house is. My room is always super hot, my water stays above 78 degrees even in the winter. So no heater for me!

[veggiegirl]

Okay it is extremely important that bettas have a heater in their tank. Like all tropical fish bettas cannot handle temperature fluctuations. Temperature fluctuations cause fish extreme stess and compromises their immune system which causes them to become susceptible to many terrible and often fatal illnesses. Even a few degrees fluctuation can mean a sick fish so I would defiantly get your betta a heater.