# Heater alternatives



## jrteeter (Oct 24, 2005)

Hello all I'm new to this site and thought i'd pose a question.

As a kid I've had the typical ten gallon fish tanks and have maintained them quite well. As I got older I slowly downgraded until i didn't have a tank at all.

Well some time ago I picked up a beta at the local store and am now up to 5. I have each one in small vases throughout my home which is pretty cool cause each room has a different fishy friend. I've also added small snail to some or a small bottom feeder to each tank (making sure not to over crowd)

Well now winters coming and i have no way of heating or maintaining the temp of the bowls so that they are consistent for the fish. Most heaters need more than a 2 gallon tank to work well and need to be submerged or partially submerged and their just isn't room in these less than one gallon vases.

Is their a heating pad or something that my bowls/vases can rest on...i know the betas can handle a cooler temp but i really want to have other things (snails, bottom feeders, etc) in my tanks too...but for that i need to have a more consistent temp. What do i do?


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## Cichlid Man (Jan 19, 2005)

Welcome.:hi:
You can use a reptile heating mat, but this isn't recommended. The best thing to do is to get one big tank and divide the tank into sections so that the bettas won't fight. One heater can power all the bettas all winter, also the bettas can display to each other through the glass.


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## goodie (Sep 2, 2005)

I came across this 


> http://www.cichlid-forum.com/phpBB/viewtopic.php?t=95791


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