Betta newbie

[greg6585]

Hello everyone. I am an experienced fish keeper of 15+ years but am a newbie to the Betta and this forum. All those years of experience are of large tanks with many types of Tropicals and Cichlids.

Anyway, I stopped at a Petco and was looking at the Betta's and spotted this beauty, showed my wife, and then decided we had to take him home. It is a purple Halfmoon Betta male.

I bought the 1.5 gallon setup which comes with a filter and light. I also bought the hydor mini heater that looks like a heat pad....this is my problem. I left the heater on before work, tank was at 84*, when I got home, it was 88* . I immediately set the fan oven the top of the tank and brought the temp down to 82*. I am afraid if I leave the heater unplugged before work, the temp will go too low. I am the only one home for the next couple weeks to keep an eye on it.

Is there anything I can do to keep it up to 82* or a special type of heater that I can buy that works better for this size tank? Obviously, the tank is not big enough for one of those heaters that hang on the back.

[Oldfishlady]

Welcome to the Betta world,
I keep most of my Bettas at 76-78F unless I am breeding and then I only keep them at 80F.
How warm is your fish room? you may be able to keep him comfy with just the room temp.
Some Betta are more sensitive to temp than others.
What is his behavior like with high-vs-lower water temp?
What are the watts on the heater and what type of lights-they could be part of the high temp too.
Love to see a pic of your new Betta...he sounds beautiful.....

[Kokonoko]

I don't have much experience myself to reply to your question, but I do believe thier are heaters with self-monitoring temps built in them. With these all you have to do is set the appropriate heat temp, and leave it to its own workings. If the temp drops to low, the heater will kick on automatically until the tempreture is restored, and shut off afterwards.

http://www.aquariumguys.com/minitherm.html <-- I'm not sure what specifically you mean by "hanging off the back", if you actually ment hanging and/or the suction cup types. This heater has an adjustable temp settings, and should work fine for your tank.

Although, on a side notes, while bettas can live within a 1.5 gallon set up, it is often emarked that they dont fully flourish (or become more comfortable) in anything less then 2g's! ^_^ Although love is key right?

Also if I'm wrong, please skold me! >.<;

[greg6585]

Originally Posted by Oldfishlady

Welcome to the Betta world,
I keep most of my Bettas at 76-78F unless I am breeding and then I only keep them at 80F.
How warm is your fish room? you may be able to keep him comfy with just the room temp.
Some Betta are more sensitive to temp than others.
What is his behavior like with high-vs-lower water temp?
What are the watts on the heater and what type of lights-they could be part of the high temp too.
Love to see a pic of your new Betta...he sounds beautiful.....

My room is actually pretty warm @ 78-80F.

With the water @ 88*, he didn't seem to have any adverse affect....just swimming around. I don't know yet how he will react to low temps

Heater is 7.5 watts and the lights are not the problem...they are cheap lights that do not get hot and on top of that, they are off when I'm at work

Will get a pic up when I can get a good quality one

[greg6585]

Originally Posted by Kokonoko

I don't have much experience myself to reply to your question, but I do believe thier are heaters with self-monitoring temps built in them. With these all you have to do is set the appropriate heat temp, and leave it to its own workings. If the temp drops to low, the heater will kick on automatically until the tempreture is restored, and shut off afterwards.

http://www.aquariumguys.com/minitherm.html <-- I'm not sure what specifically you mean by "hanging off the back", if you actually ment hanging and/or the suction cup types. This heater has an adjustable temp settings, and should work fine for your tank.

Although, on a side notes, while bettas can live within a 1.5 gallon set up, it is often emarked that they dont fully flourish (or become more comfortable) in anything less then 2g's! ^_^ Although love is key right?

Also if I'm wrong, please skold me! >.<;

You are right, I meant the hanging heaters with the suction cups. Also, I will look into a tank a little bigger very soon

[kuklachica]

I work at petco and try to steer people away from that heater for that reason you mentioned. It is designed to bring the water temp approx 8* higher than room temp. So your room was probably at 80* when he was was 88*. I'd recommend an adjustable heater that shuts itself off when it gets to the certain. Or at the very least a tetra heater that brings the temp up to 76* and shuts off.

[dramaqueen]

Hello and welcome to the forum.

[Ajones108]

Hydor isn't a bad brand, just that style is bad. I was using it before in my 2.5 gallon tank and it wasn't really heating my tank up enough because my bedroom was like 68 degrees...

I use a Hydor Theo 25w Heater in my 2.5 gallon. And I fell in love with it the moment I put it in the tank. <3 It has an adjustable temperature dial and if the tank gets too hot it clicks off. :)

[greg6585]

Thank you all for your replies. Good news, I just got home from work and immediately checked the tank. It is at 80*...room temp.

The little guy's swimming around all happy. I will go and order one of those 25W with temp adjustment since I have plenty of time before winter.

Thanks again