Office Heating?

[MrHoohah]

Greetings!  I've been lurking on this forum for quite some time, and I've been loving how informative the community is.  Anyway, I've got a problem for which I haven't found a clear-cut solution, and it might require a bit of creativity to solve.
 
I have a relatively new obsession with fish (went my whole life with only a passing interest in fish, never owned a single one until February of this year, and I just turned 28), and now I have 7 tanks ranging from 10 to 55 gallons at home.
 
Recently, I decided to take my obsession to work.
 
At my office, I have a 5-gallon tank with a boatload of live plants, and last Friday, Rudy, my new, gorgeous, three-month-old, halfmoon betta just moved into it.
 
Here he is posing:

 
He's very energetic and curious, plays around in the plants (and sometimes tosses leaves around like a dog shaking a rag, which is hilarious), follows me, etc., pretty great little cubicle companion, and he's a pretty big hit with most people at the office (My area is pretty high-traffic).
 
Anyway, human resources requires me to not have any electricity hooked up to the tank.  Filtration is not a problem; I do a small water change every other day, and keep a close eye on water quality.  The plants seem to be doing their job pretty well.  Heating, however, is an issue.  At the moment, the tank is at 71 degrees F, a little cool to begin with, and the northern Minnesota winter is coming.  Despite the office's decent climate control, I don't fully trust it to keep my little guy safe 100% of the time.
I've thought of a heat lamp, but most are pretty bright, and I'm in a shared semi-cubicle (also, again, high-traffic), so that would probably get mighty disruptive, and might even violate the whole HR policy anyway.
 
IF, per chance, I can't find a solution, I'm perfectly willing to bring the little guy home and replace him with a cold-water fish.  I would love a dojo loach or some white clouds or something, but I'm really not sure on their space requirements, so I'm open to suggestions.
 
So, yeah!  Thanks a lot for reading, hope to hear from you all soon!

 

[Ninjouzata]

Hiya
 
I can't really think of any solutions for you, sorry Maybe someone else will!
Bettas need to be kept at 78-82F, so I'm thinking you may need to take him home.
Here's a caresheet for you, if you havn't already read it: http/www.fishforums.net/index.php?/topic/423364-betta-splendens-caresheet/
 
Dojo loaches have no place in a 5g, I believe the minimum is 55g. They are neat though.
White clouds need to be kept in groups of 6+, and are very active so also don't belong in a 5g tank
 
I don't know much about coldwater fish, hopefully someone with more knowledge in that area will come along soon!

 

[N0body Of The Goat]

A Betta deserves more than a 5g (~19 litres). No fish except newborn fry should really be in such a tank IMO.
 
Every fish deserves to be in a tank with filtration. I don't understand how you justified taking him to work and doing this when HR said no electric supply, he should have gone back home with you that day.
 
Keeping fish too cool is just as bad as keeping them too warm, one shuts the fish down lowering their immune system, the other sends the fish into hyperdrive and they will die of old age way before their expected time. ~75F (~24C) is a minimum requirement for Betta splendens.
 
Dojo Loaches are much more active at night, don't let their daytime antics of sitting around buried in soft sand deceive you, my 8 (they are very social and need such numbers) used to do lap after lap midwater in my garage 5x2x2. A large volume 4-footer could just about look after a group for life, but it would need excellent external filtration; large water changes; very little else in the tank (perhaps say 8-10 White Clouds).
 
WCMM are not suitable for anything less than a 60cm long tank IMO, they are too active for "nano" tanks. 

 

[fm1978]

Tank sizes and suitability aside - this has already been broached by other members...
 
If you work with a computer why don't you look into a USB heat mat that the tank can sit on top of? It's not exactly circumventing the 'no electricity' policy, however, it will be very low power and very low voltage and you may also be able to find one that is completely water-tight, perhaps in-line with your companies safety regulations.
 
Alternatively, something solar powered and not running off mains electricity?

 

[Wildbetta]

I suggest you take him home since they will not allow a heater which the betta requires.  Unfortunately I do not know of a fish that is ok without either a heater or a filter. 

 

[MrHoohah]

Thanks for all that, everyone!  That was much quicker than I expected.
 
The USB idea sounds worth looking into, and the solar power idea actually sounded pretty great, especially since there are huge windows here, so I'm gonna do a little more research into that, but it looks like I'll probably be taking him home before I can get any of that hooked up.
 
But I'm going to answer back on a few things.
 
First, I won't argue minimum tank size.  Too many differing opinions from experts.  However, something did just strike me - the ten gallon tank was 20 bucks less than the 5.  And now I feel silly.  So -if- I end up figuring out this heating thing, I'll most likely upgrade.
 
Secondly, I can entirely justify the lack of mechanical filtration because I went into this hobby with substantially more knowledge about plants than fish, and I have a 15-gallon tank from which I removed mechanical filtration three months ago (which I admit was an experiment) because the tank was/is heavily planted and well-trimmed.  It's been stable - it has not read more than 0 on ammonia, nitrates, or nitrites since removing the power filter.  That's how successful fishkeeping was done for quite a significant chunk of history, and bettas are extremely poor swimmers, so lack of current is probably preferable, no?
 
Also, Mr. Of The Goat, that 60cm long tank with white clouds sounds fantastic...  I might end up going with that.  Thanks!
 
Thanks again, everyone!

 

[Wildbetta]

Thanks for all that, everyone!  That was much quicker than I expected.
 
The USB idea sounds worth looking into, and the solar power idea actually sounded pretty great, especially since there are huge windows here, so I'm gonna do a little more research into that, but it looks like I'll probably be taking him home before I can get any of that hooked up.
 
But I'm going to answer back on a few things.
 
First, I won't argue minimum tank size.  Too many differing opinions from experts.  However, something did just strike me - the ten gallon tank was 20 bucks less than the 5.  And now I feel silly.  So -if- I end up figuring out this heating thing, I'll most likely upgrade.
 
Secondly, I can entirely justify the lack of mechanical filtration because I went into this hobby with substantially more knowledge about plants than fish, and I have a 15-gallon tank from which I removed mechanical filtration three months ago (which I admit was an experiment) because the tank was/is heavily planted and well-trimmed.  It's been stable - it has not read more than 0 on ammonia, nitrates, or nitrites since removing the power filter.  That's how successful fishkeeping was done for quite a significant chunk of history, and bettas are extremely poor swimmers, so lack of current is probably preferable, no?
 
Also, Mr. Of The Goat, that 60cm long tank with white clouds sounds fantastic...  I might end up going with that.  Thanks!
 
Thanks again, everyone!

I hope you are able to figure something out.  I would have loved to have a fish at my previous workplace.  I think the tank size you have your boy in is perfectly fine.  I do understand the feeling about the larger tank being cheaper.  It is a more widely made size so cheaper to build I guess.  As far as filtration, you are totally correct with the betta not needing it.  Other fish that do not have the ability to breathe surface air do though unfortunately at least with an airstone for circulation.  If you could get away with an airstone then I would suggest least killifish for your 5 gallon as they are really small and do great as nano fish.  They also do not require a heater which is convenient.