How Long Can Tropical Fish Live Without A Heater?

dependence how hot the room is. If its fairly warm then quite a while but if its quite cod and theres a big drop in temp then not long.
 
if your changing to sand take all the fish out and put them in a bucket etc with the filter and heater they will last much longer in there than an unheated tank
 
ok will do that then.

thank you
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dependence how hot the room is. If its fairly warm then quite a while but if its quite cod and theres a big drop in temp then not long.

always hot in my house
 
Here in london, its hot. I broke my heater like a month ago and ever since, i dont use one, of course I might get one in a few weeks for winter :crazy:
At the moment my unheated tank is 28 degrees
 
i changed to sand a few days ago, and they stayed in their huge bucket thing for about 3 or 4 hrs! the temp didnt drop for about 2 hrs. when it did i just put the heater in the big bucket! they loved it! of course i didnt want to keep them in there that long but the sand didnt settle for ages, and i had to do another water change before i could put them back in! something you have to think about though is the ammonia - dont let them stay in a bucket too long or they will poison themselves. the type of filter i have meant it wouldnt work in that bucket. if you can, put the filter in the bucket too.

oh and wash the sand stupid amounts too - i washed mine 3 times (though was recommended only twice) and it wasnt enough - the extra full water change sorted that out, but the fish could have been back in the tank a lot sooner if i'd washed the sand even more initially!!

oh, pour the fresh water onto a dinner plate, not the sand itself ;)
 
Wouldn't worry about it as it's summer now. I've done substrate changes in autumn with fish in bucket for hours with no problems.I've also had to bring new fish home in winter in unheated containers on public transport which took up to 2 hours and they always survived with no ill effect.
 
I've got a spare heater that I can put inside a 5 gallon bucket and also a 2 gallon tank and heater that' compatible with that tank as well. For my 29 gallon I have a 150 watt heater. Plenty of back ups if needed. Luckily, there's a Petsmart only 5 minutes from the house though.

I did lose my heater a few weeks ago, woke up in the AM and the tank was 71 degrees. The Betta and Corys were barely moving, all was back to normal quickly though once I got the spare up and running and ran to the Petsmart.
 

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