manbern
Members
Hello all! So, with this cold snap that just recently passed through, I found out something about my garage...........it's not insulated well enough to keep my aquariums at an acceptable temperature for my fish. I went into my garage one day to grab my shoes for work, only to find out that my tanks were dark and none of the filters were running! Apparently, it got cold enough in my garage to keep the heaters constantly running, and eventually all that amperage draw, tripped my breaker. I immediately ran back into my house to look at my circuit breakers and sure enough, the one for the garage was tripped. I have all my tank lights on timers, and the last shown time on it, was 6pm. And I found this at 1:50pm the next day! So, it was 20 hours that my fish went without heat! Thankfully, I had a battery backup air pump that only runs when the power goes out, but that too was dead when I checked on the fish, but at least it was there, to provide oxygen until the batteries ran out. I wonder how long the pump lasted? Anyway......
Yeah, I'm thinking that I'll have to re-home my fish that live in the garage, unless you guys can give me some CHEAP tips on how to keep the tanks warm enough throughout the winter. I have 3 Protomelas Marginatus, 1 Red Cap Lethrinops, and 1 Buccochromis Nototaenia, ALL female. Well, the Protos may have a chance to be males, but haven't "popped" male yet. They are all pretty young, 3 inches and under. I also have 3 clown loaches, juvenile unsexed, under 2 inches. And lastly, I have a beautiful juvenile male Pundamilla Nyereri (Ruti Island). I would add him to my display tank, but I think he would just get beat to death because everyone in there is at least triple his size. I remember when I first dropped him into the display tank (along with 4 other new additions), my Diddy Comp straight up stalked him and tried to eat him. He finally found a crevice that the Comp couldn't get into and just stayed there, didn't even come out to eat. So, when I stuck my net down there to get him out of there, he literally swam right into the net, like he was saying "GET ME THE FREAK OUTTA HERE!!!!", Lol! He's grown quite a bit since then, but still too small to go into the display tank.
So, there you have it. I would REALLY LIKE to keep my fish, so tips and advice on how to keep my tanks warm during the winter would highly appreciated. If I just need to chalk this one up as a loss, I guess I have some fish that need a new home because my wife wont allow me to bring my garage setup into the house.
Yeah, I'm thinking that I'll have to re-home my fish that live in the garage, unless you guys can give me some CHEAP tips on how to keep the tanks warm enough throughout the winter. I have 3 Protomelas Marginatus, 1 Red Cap Lethrinops, and 1 Buccochromis Nototaenia, ALL female. Well, the Protos may have a chance to be males, but haven't "popped" male yet. They are all pretty young, 3 inches and under. I also have 3 clown loaches, juvenile unsexed, under 2 inches. And lastly, I have a beautiful juvenile male Pundamilla Nyereri (Ruti Island). I would add him to my display tank, but I think he would just get beat to death because everyone in there is at least triple his size. I remember when I first dropped him into the display tank (along with 4 other new additions), my Diddy Comp straight up stalked him and tried to eat him. He finally found a crevice that the Comp couldn't get into and just stayed there, didn't even come out to eat. So, when I stuck my net down there to get him out of there, he literally swam right into the net, like he was saying "GET ME THE FREAK OUTTA HERE!!!!", Lol! He's grown quite a bit since then, but still too small to go into the display tank.
So, there you have it. I would REALLY LIKE to keep my fish, so tips and advice on how to keep my tanks warm during the winter would highly appreciated. If I just need to chalk this one up as a loss, I guess I have some fish that need a new home because my wife wont allow me to bring my garage setup into the house.
