To heat or not to heat

[Gideyon]

I came across this video from Cory 

It got me wondering... 

I have a betta.   I've always heard that warmer temperatures help their healing and overall health. 

But has anyone tried room temp for their own fish, even if not a betta? 

I know I can look up weather conditions from their native place, but I wonder with fish bred out of the wild that their natural habitat isn't natural to them.  

[xXInkedPhoenixX]

I'm doing it very successfully. Two 20 gallons, a 10 and and a 3 gallon, their temps today are 75, 76.1 (the 20s), 77 (10 gallon) and 76.8 (3 gallon). As of this moment my room temp is 74.8. My Otos are breeding. So. It works. 

[Struggle]

Most of my tanks do not have heaters or very small ones if they do. The ones with heaters are in with either fry I’m trying to grow out faster or fish I’m trying to spawn. 

[Gideyon]

Do y'all have a betta in one of those? 

 

I keep my tank in the basement where in the winter it's in the 60s. I probably won't try to go heater less until spring kicks in.  But I want to be sure it's okay for him. 

[Struggle]

Just now, Gideyon said:

Do y'all have a betta in one of those? 

 

I keep my tank in the basement where in the winter it's in the 60s. I probably won't try to go heater less until spring kicks in.  But I want to be sure it's okay for him. 

I have kept bettas this way before but I doubt the water temp got into the mid to low 60s.

[xXInkedPhoenixX]

I did have an unheated 5 gallon Betta tank. His temp was typically 77-78 degrees. He sadly only lived to a bit over a year but the vast majority of that time he was active and healthy. 

[Hobbit]

I do think bettas really benefit from a heater. I wonder if those super long fins make them lose body heat more quickly than other fish. The betta I most recently had ended up dying when I forgot to plug in his heater. The temp dropped from 80 to 71 overnight. In the morning he was gone. 😞

I also observed a coworker’s betta when some friends were fish-sitting for her. It had an unheated (really small) tank and it spent all its time inside a pvc cave, occasionally darting to the top for air. I managed to find a nice way to give her a marimo moss ball, and she said the fish loved it and spent all its time sitting on top of it. I assume it was doing that for the tiny bit of heat coming from the moss. 

I’m sure a lot of other fish can do without a heater, but I think bettas really benefit from them, if your house is lower than 75 degrees or so.

[Cory]

The key here is what ambient temp your rooms runs and which fish you decide to keep. It used to be guppies never needed a heater. When most of them were bred by hobbyists in the USA. Coming from overseas where the temp is always hotter naturally, they struggle in unheated tanks without generations of work.

[lefty o]

i have gone un heated for all my aquariums. having said that, i dont keep fish that require 80degr or warmer water. those that i keep currently can handle the mid 60's to the mid 70's my house runs at year round.

[RockMongler]

I do unheated, but it was something I specifically planned for with my stocking choices.  And it's one of the reasons I don't have a betta.

I have white cloud mountain minnows, hillstream loaches, and red cherry shrimp.  All of these are species that are well known for doing great in cooler water.  I'm glad I did, because I was able to get through sub zero temps outdoor temps, and no electricity for over 2 days, with no casualties in my tank (I think my tanks bottomed out around ~50F, with my apartments air temp bottoming out around 40F).  I've heard enough about bettas and lower temps that I'd rather not risk it myself without some form of heating.

[xXInkedPhoenixX]

@Hobbit though my betta seemed good the vast majority of his life (no hiding, active, ate, followed me) -- I won't keep another one just in case it was the cooler temp (78 isn't to me, but hey I'm not a fish) that caused what I think is an earlier death than desired. When I started my other tanks I made sure the species I picked were fine in the unheated tank. I really like not having to worry about a heater breaking/mafunctioning. I'm the type of person that would run 2 just in case the other failed (and that's ugly to me but gotta do whatcha gotta do). I was also concerned about what would happen if it DID fail, or the power went out for 2 days (like @RockMongler) and they were SO used to *insert temp here* that they were unable to adapt? Personally I think it's natural to expect a "high temp" and a "low temp" during the course of a day. My tanks never get below 71 and that's rare. I live alone so I can set my temps wherever I dang well please and that's typically on the warmer end of the spectrum. (75 in summer, at least 74 in winter). Everybody I've picked is good with it- even when the guy at the LFS tried to convince me I needed to run a heater....

Edited April 19, 2021 by xXInkedPhoenixX

[Hobbit]

@xXInkedPhoenixX I think 78 is great for a betta, but like you said it’s nerve wracking to have to worry about the power going out and the fish not being able to adapt. I don’t think it was the cooler temp that got to your betta. I’ve heard of bettas living really long lives in temps lower than yours. If your betta was active, I think that means it was comfortable at the temp you had it.

[Gideyon]

1 hour ago, Cory said:

It used to be guppies never needed a heater. When most of them were bred by hobbyists in the USA.

This is what I was wondering about.  It's hard to gauge a fish's preferred temperature if they've been bred from generations of domestically bred fish. 

I guess it's trial and error. 

For example, my betta is great in 75 degrees. Even though I try to raise the temp, for whatever reason, my thermometer reads 75.   I've read people keeping bettas in unheated water for years. That's  blasphemous in betta fish keeper communities.