If I wanted to heat a tank with Guppies, can I just put it on the heater?

Question

I know it might sound silly, but isn't it still a good way as to not spending too much money on supplies?

If I didn't put the heater too high up, then why would I need a specific heater for a tank (just wondering)?

You might want to know I don't know what dollars/bucj's are equal to in Euros...

You might also want to know that I don't yet own Guppies and I want to get information before getting bad habits...

Answer 1

No. You would need to purchase a heater appropriate for the tank.

Answer 2

Putting a low wattage light (15 to 25 watts) near the tank will help to keep it warm and would work alot better then setting the tank on a heater. You will have to play with the distance to adjust the temp but so long as your room temp says constant the tank will do OK. This is not an ideal fix and really should only be used as a temp fix until you get a change to buy a tank heater. Make sure that you give the fish a dark place to hide. It will need it because of all the light. Keep a close eye on it because there is not thermostate to control the temp. Thats your job.

Good luck.

Answer 3

A few items you aren't considering here.

The first is that your setting on the room thermostat only makes that part of the room that temperature. Once the internal sensor is above or bleow that setting by X number of degrees, the heater will kick on or off. You'd have to do a lot of experimenting to find the setting needed to keep the tank at a specific temperature.

Two, since the heater produces the heat, it will naturally be warmer than the temperature in the room where the thermostat is located. So if you want your tank to be 76o, the rest of the room will be considerably colder.

Three, if you sit the tank on the heater, the heat will transfer by conduction (directly through the metal to the glass) rather than convection (air temperature) so your tank will heat much more rapidly.

Four, fish need a relatively constant temperature. Anything that would keep you comfortable, may cause your heater to be kicking on and off during the day.

You don't say how large your tank is, but I don't imagine it's all that large. Maybe a 10 gallon for an example? For a heater, all you need is one with 5 watts per gallon (50 watt), unless you need to increase the temperature more than 10 degrees, then you should go up one size. So this would only cost about $15-$20 for a decent submersible heater (http://www.thatpetplace.com/pet/group/11431/product.web ). That's less than the cost of a sweater to keep you comfortable, which you might need if you used your method.

Incidentally, guppies don't have to have tropical (76o+) temperatures. As long as the room they're in stays around 68-72o at the lowest (and some will say even lower to 65o), they'll be fine: http://www.fishprofiles.com/files/profiles/562.htm

You can use this website to convert US dollars to Euros: http://www.sciencemadesimple.net/currency.html

And this one to convert temperatures from Fahrenheit to Celcius http://www.sciencemadesimple.net/temperature.php

Answer 4

I raised show guppies for 15 years. I never had a heater in a guppy tank. Our house stays at 66° in the winter and 70° in the summer. The cooler temp will mean that your guppies won't develop and mature as fast but they also will live longer in the cooler temps.
DON'T SIT A TANK ON A HEATER TRYING TO KEEP IT WARM!
Temperature fluctuations are a good way to stress the fish and let the be overcome with Itch. Just the stress alone will be enough to do them in. Guppies are so neat!

Answer 5

The temperature needs to stay at a constant temp, not go back and forth to when the tank is set on a heater, the smaller ones cost less than 10 bux. you need to buy a heater that's appropriate for the gallon sized tank you have, and buy a temperature gauge to stick on the outside or inside of the tank... cost no more than a couple bux for the gauge and make sure the water temp stays around 78 degrees.

Additonal Info... because heating water takes longer than heating air in your house... you would have to leave your heater on constantely in order allow the water to slowly heat up and then to maintain that temp would just be much safer for the fish to buy an aquarium heater, something that is meant to heat water and keep it at a desired temp at a safe pace for the fish. Hope this answers your question :-)

Answer 6

The best heaters are 20 buck's. If your cant afford that you shouldn't have fish, bottom line.

Answer 7

Put the guppies in a metal pot, then heat to boiling. Simmer for five minutes, allow to cool, then dip the guppies in ranch dressing.

(Just kidding!)

Answer 8

no i am pretty sure the glass will break