Sick Betta

[Antiragweed]

What type of heater do you use for such a small aquarium? Does it maintain a good steady heat or does it fluctuate? I have a 12 gallon Eclipse tank and it currently has no heater and I was looking to purchase one!

[Sasami]

Quote: Originally Posted by Antiragweed What type of heater do you use for such a small aquarium? Does it maintain a good steady heat or does it fluctuate? I have a 12 gallon Eclipse tank and it currently has no heater and I was looking to purchase one!

A 12-gallon is no problem at all to heat as they design heaters for 10-gallon aquariums . You'll want a 50-watt (although if you only need the heater to raise the temperature a few degrees you can easily use a 25-watt).

Don't just buy the cheapest one or yeah, it might fluctuate.

My absolute favorites are the Visi-Therm Stealth heaters by Marineland. They heat to the exact degree you set them to (you often have to experiment when using other brands ) and are extremely safe and reliable. I purchased my first Stealth heater about four years ago and it's still running strong. I've used other brands but they weren't reliable and/or ended up breaking. Some were ok but none quite matched up.

[luvboyrats]

I have a 50 watt submersible heater for my betta breeding tank. It was only about $17. It's really important when you're heating a small tank to do it slowly though. For instance if you want your fish at 80F and it's currently at 72F you don't just want to quick it way up all at once. You just kick it up a little at a time, a couple of degrees a day maybe until you have it where you want it. Otherwise those little tanks can heat up faster than you expect them to and cook your little fishies.

Also even though bettas like fairly shallow water, it's important for safety reasons to have the water at least deep enough for the heater's minimum water level for safety reasons. This is usually about 6 or 7 inches.