I Don't Want My Fish Fried or Frozen! : HYDOR Mini Heater
Written: May 18 '09
Product Rating:
Pros: submergible, heats small bowl, no thermal shock, can hide in gravel, easu to clean
Cons: None that I have found.
The Bottom Line: If you plan to raise fish in a bowl, make it at least 2 gallons big. Use a HYDOR MINI HEATER to keep temperature consistent for the fish
Caprig's Full Review: Hydor 7 Watt Mini Submersible Heater
When I was first given a betta fish for a present, I was told just to change the water when it was dirty, and that they could live in this tiny little plastic container happy and healthy. All we had to do was feed him twice a day a tiny little bit of special food.
When our fish died we felt a great loss. His little happy personality and love of human interaction was deeply missed.
We got another set of betta fish- this time with two small containers. Surely one of them would live! Within a few days the first one died and the second one was heading that way very quickly.
I got very upset because surely something was wrong. The second fish has a personality like the first betta we ever had and we wanted to fight for his life.
Thankfully, there is now a lot more available on the internet than I had access to back when we had our first little aquatic friend, and through much research, I was able to save his precious little life by acting quickly.
WHAT YOU NEED TO RAISE A BETTA FISH THAT THEY DON'T TELL YOU
When you are raising betta fish, you can not raise them in a tiny little bowl very well. Not only is the water unhealthy (think of yourself being raised in a toilet bowl), but the temperature is not proper to raise a betta fish in.
The water needs to have a small amount of aquarium salt added to it which will help fend off diseases- just a heaping tablespoon for two gallons is enough.
The first thing that you need to do with a betta fish is to get a minimum size bowl of 2 gallons. There has to be a layer of gravel on the bottom so that the good bacteria can dwell making the water more inhabitable for the fish.
The second thing you need to do is try to find some bulbs for the fish for plants. Many people have trouble getting bulbs to sprout- we happened to luck out- our first three betta bulbs sprouted and have lived very well.
The next thing which is most important, is a thermometer. Just a simple suction cup thermometer is fine. You press that up against the wall so that you can read it from the outside.
Last but not at all least- most importantly to go along with the thermometer purchase, you need to have a heater for your fish.
That is where this review comes in.
WHAT IS THE HYDOR MINI HEATER LIKE?
The HYDOR MINI HEATER is a heater that is designed for 2-5 gallon bowls or aquariums. You can use it with a simple bowl set up and no filtering systems or anything.
The HYDOR MINI HEATER is a 7 watt heater which is completely closed so that there is no danger of water leakage. It has a cord that is about 3 feet long. The heater is a flat curved flexible pad at the end of the cord with a suction cup on it to hold it against the wall of the bowl.
This can be left up against the wall or buried under the gravel.
WHAT DOES THE HYDOR MINI HEATER DO?
The purpose of the HYDOR MINI HEATER is to provide a small increase in temperature of the water by a few degrees in either celcius or farenheit. If your room is 70 degrees farenheit, then the water will go up to about 73-74 degrees.
If the water runs dry for any reason, the heater will not be ruined like will happen with some aquarium heaters.
FEATURES
Submersible No Thermal Shock Safe Under Gravel Extra Small and easy to hide if desired
For 2 gallon tanks temperature increase will be approx 5 degrees farenheit
For a 5 gallon tank temperature increase will be approx 4 degrees
For 8 liter tank the increase will be approx 2.5 degrees centigrade
For 20 liter tank, the increase will be approx 2 degrees centigrade.
COMMENTS
Our precious little fish recovered beautifully after a visit to www.bettatalk.com where I was able to get a betta first aid kit to help fend off the problems he had.
However, before the first aid kit arrived for our betta, the heater and salt in the water helped a lot to bring him back from the door of death.
The HYDOR MINI HEATER has worked beautifully. All winter long, the water in his bowl has been in the perfect warmth range. It is easy to keep clean when I change his bowl once every week or two, as there are no crevices that are hard to reach or clean.
The temperature has been consistent for a year and I have really been thankful for this heater. Many times our little fish will hang out by the heater and sleep by it. It is so fun to see.
I can not recomment the HYDOR MINI HEATER enough for you if you are raising any fish in a bowl. Make sure that you use this in at least a 2 gallon bowl which will give your little fish much happier and more healthy existence.
WARNING
Keep your eyes on the thermometer- if the outside weather is in the 80 degree temperature range, the bowl water can easily exceed the ideal temperature range for the fish and they could die. At that point, just turn off the heater and/or remove and only turn on again when the nights get cold or when the outside temperature falls below 80 again.
The water takes about an hour or so to heat up the 4-5 degrees that the heater will provide so allow for time to heat up. WHERE TO GET
We got our HYDOR MINI HEATER at Pet Mountain.com.
You can also find these heaters at www.amazon.com and in Petco stores and online. They are available in many places if you do a Google search.
The price is around $13.
You can find out more about the HYDOR MINI HEATER at their home site of
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