It's particularly cold tonight!

[Artarmon]

So it is more cold than usual tonight, which is about 16 degrees celcius (60.8 degrees fahrenheit)... Usually where I live it is at least 23 degrees celsius at night (69.8 degrees fahrenheit).
Now my problem is that I don't have any heaters for my tanks (at this point in time I just can't afford them, and the air temperature is normally high enough that this isn't so much of a problem :) ).
Anyway, I know the fish need pitch black for a certain number of hours a day... and was just wondering if it would effect them too much if I were to leave them in the bathroom for the night with the heat lamp on which raises the air temperature in the room to about 28 degrees celcius (82.4 degrees fahrenheit), or should I just leave them as is for the night, or what else I could do?

Thanks for any advice!

[kelly528]

Definitely don't leave the light on 24/7; it will drive them nuts.

A heater isn't an option its a necessity. Even if you would consider your house warm temperatures are still fluctuating, something that a heater will counterbalance. Furthermore, improper temperature makes fish very prone to disease. If you don't get proper heat soom I guarantee you will be wasting your money on meds. They add up. Say your fish gets something bacterial, which is a good possibility considering infection-causing bacteria are always present in even the cleanest water. Now to cure it you will need

$10 - QT Tank or bin
$20 - Heater for QT
$20 - Filter for QT
$10 - Maracyn
$10 - Maracyn 2
$70 - Curing an illness that could have been prevented by proper care.

So get a heater off craigslist or even the classifieds. Anything that heats 20g and under will run you $15 at most, usually $5 or $10. In fishkeeping some equipment needs to be thought of an an investment rather than an expense. $10 of prevention beats $70 of cure!

[1fish2fish]

If you put him in the bathroom with the heat lamp on but somehow were able to darken the tank (ie wrapping a towel around it) that could work in the mean time. I'm guessing in AUS you don't have craigslist or walmart right?

[kelly528]

Kijiji maybe or join an australian fish forum where you ge tthe benefit of local classifieds.

[Artarmon]

Kelly the thing is usually the air temperature here is hot enough so that the water is a good temperature without having to have a heater in the water. I have a thermometre which I check it with, but yeah. Norally it is not an issue.
I have checked around at fish stores and such and all the heaters I have found are $30+ I know that's not really much money, but I don't have that much to spend on something which would only be necessary on a few occassions, y'know?

And no 1fish2fish- we don't have walmart, and the local equivalents don't have anything near the range of products that walmart has. I've also checked on craigslist/trading post online and there is nothing in my local one that would be appropriate for the tanks what I have.

I do my best... I really do.

[1fish2fish]

I know how that is.. believe me. I have to scrimp and save for everything. I would try using the heat lamp but just cover the tank so its darkened... its worth a try.. and then hopefully it will warm up soon :)

[Artarmon]

-nods- Being 18 and living alone and trying to juggle university makes it hard for me to get many hours at work (15 hours a week if I am lucky), which leaves me at earning $195 a week or around abouts. And that has to go towards food, transport, supplies for uni, bills, and weekend outings. And to add to that I have just had to fork out $400 on text books!

And It is a lot warmer again today, I ended up putting a couple of towels around the tanks last night to make sure it was dark.

I am sorry if I do the wrong thing, but I really do do as best as I can and I love my fishes

[1fish2fish]

There is really no right and wrong when it comes to fish keeping. Before I was able to upgrade my tanks I had two bowls that didn't have heaters that got down in the 60's at night. In fact my oldest fish (who is going on 4 years old) spent most of his life in an unheated bowl... I'm not saying that that is ideal but I was doing my best with what I had.

Maybe you can start saving.. like a dollar a week.. or whatever you can afford.. then buy your heater once you have enough. Thats what I do when I need something for my fish tanks.

[Artarmon]

I have been doing that really, I have a savings account which I have been putting money into towards buying myself a new laptop. At the moment I use an outdated desktop with windows 98
I guess once I get enough to buy some advanced set ups in that account I could take some out, and start again with my laptop savings. Hahaha.

[dramaqueen]

I would just put them in the warmest room in the house and put a towel around them.