July 13, 200719 yr comment_172677 I'd like some advice on heaters please. I would like to add more fish to my current collection of 5 barbs (2x Ruby, 3x Rosy) which are currently in an unheated tank. I am quite interested in Odessa Barbs which my LFS has in a heated tank. One of the people at the LFS suggested that I would be fine to get a heater and put it in with my current 5 fish, then add the Odessa Barbs. I would like a second opinion though, because my experience has been that the LFS doesn't always give the right advice... Would my current 5 fish mind the addition of a heater? They were sold from an unheated tank and seem more than happy with their current unheated environment. If so, what is the optimum temperature to increase the tank to, and does it need to be increased over a slow period of time? Also, in future would it be fine to buy a half dozen or so danios from unheated tanks and put them into the heated tank? Report
July 13, 200719 yr comment_172678 You should be OK swapping your tank to a heated one. But I would raise the temp in slow steps, put the heater in on it's lowest setting, then wind it up a couple of clicks each day untill it's around 24-25C. Your existing fish will just think that summer has started earlier Ruby Barbs should be happy between 22 and 26 deg Cheers Ian Report
July 13, 200719 yr comment_172679 slowly increasing the temp would be fine, just increase it over by a degree or two over several days to around 25 - 26 if you want to add tropicals. i have a couple of rubys and several rosy barbs in a community tank at around 26 degrees Report
July 13, 200719 yr comment_172680 All those barbs cope with lower temperatures than most tropical which is why you can get away with the tank unheated, if the room temperature doesn't go below 20 - 22C. They are also good (possibly better) with a temperature of 22 - 26C I bred odessa and rosy barbs outside in paddling pools over summer although I suspect the temperature in the pools was hotter than the temperature of my tropical tank inside 8) Report
July 14, 200719 yr Author comment_172734 Thank-you for your comments - they are very helpful. Heater is now on its way! I'm sure there'll be a lot more questions from this quarter as I learn more and more. Cheers. Report
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