Mr. Gardener wrote:
On 16 Feb 2006 05:15:44 -0800, wrote:
According to my super duper temperature converter, 10 degrees C is 50
degrees F. When I think of a cold water tank, I think of household
room air temperatures, which, in this energy conscious house, (read
heating oil cost phobic), our overnight thermostat drops the house
temperature to 60 F. From my perspective, when you say cold water, you
mean really cold water. Heaters are commonly available that measure
about 6 inches, (do your own conversion), for around 10 or 12 dollars.
I have several that I've used in small fry tanks. Another option is
the ordinary back ache heating pad under the tank. I know the cheap
ones aren't thermostatically controlled, but set on low in a chilly
room, they won't overheat your water. Bringing your water up to 65 or
70 degrees would open a few more options for you. 3 or 4 white clouds
or guppies would probably do fine in that setup. Cories are happiest
when they have friends around, and I wouldn't put more than one in a
three gallon tank. Even though a fish is known to survive very cold
temperatures, there is a difference between surviving and thriving.
When we bring captive animals into our homes, we owe them a chance at
the latter. If you could somehow find a way to fit a 5 or 10 gallon
tank, you will open up several more options, and your tank will be a
little easier to maintain with the larger body of water. Though you
are willing to clean your tiny tank daily, keeping your water quality
up can be tricky in such a small tank.



-- Mr Gardener

Doh, looks like it's not really working out. To make things clearer:
temp dips to 10*c/50*F (probably not even that low) only when heating
is off (when no one's around), usually it's more comfortable room temp.
Probably a bad idea even if temps go low only rarely. I'll look at the
heating options then. BTW what did peole use before we had thermostatic
heaters? I heard one way was to use incandescent lamps, but the other
microheater options seem better. And if I can get heating I might as
well heat it to fully tropical temp and get a betta.
Also I remember I've tried keeping a banana plant in a fishbowl (w/o
fish), didn't work because it kept getting smothered in algae--used one
halogen lamp for light. But I'll worry about fancy plants later.

Seb