Re: NANFA-- wintering darters outside

Wally Billingham (wally_at_wallybillingham.com)
Thu, 19 Sep 2002 22:08:23 -0400

I tried this last winter here in NW PA with bad results. I moved into a new
house last summer and it has an unheated back room I never thought it would
get much below 30-40 in the room. It did once in January when it got down to
about 10 degrees below zero. The plastic rubermaid tub they were in froze
solid and the fish died. So when the tub defrosted I tried it again but this
time without fish to see if a heater would work. They do not make any
aquarium heaters that go that low, so I thought I would just use a very
underpowered one and set it at the lowest setting. That really did not work
what happened was that the heater stayed on all the time and then burned
out. I then tried it with a larger heater and it too stayed on all the time
and heated the water up to about 60 when the air temp in the room was about
40-50. In my fish room the tanks in the winter get down to about 63-65 so
that was of no use to me.

In Southern Tenn., you would not have the problem with super cold like we
get up here, so give it a try. If you do get a real cold snap since its
outside why not use a camping heater near the tank kinda like Fruit Tree
Farmes do with smelt pots.

Wally
----- Original Message -----
From: <Prizma_at_aol.com>
To: <nanfa_at_aquaria.net>
Sent: Thursday, September 19, 2002 7:08 PM
Subject: NANFA-- wintering darters outside

> asking help, suggestions or experience in doing this...
> im considering leaving a few tanks outside on the patio this winter for
> darters. i will use a power head w/ a ug filter and a gravel substrate.
java
> fern and moss if they will survive the cold. it will get cold enough to
ice
> over a few times so i will install a heater that will turn on if the water
> gets below say 40. i cant heat the water all winter but i could prevent it
> from freezing. im hoping to see some breeding color and activity as spring
> approaches. i live at the bottom of tn and our winters have been very mild
> the last few years. very few freezes or snow. a lot of folks up north over
> winter their darters in the basement. i dont have that option. i can keep
an
> eye on them on the patio tho. i dont know if heaters have a setting to
turn
> on at 40 being most are for tropical fish.
> thanks...
> casper

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