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i finally saved up enough to get a heater, it said it can heat up to 25 gals and i have it in a 20gal. so far its just been sitting in there for the past few days not plugged in

do i put it all the way in the water?
do i keep the dial top thing out of the water?
can it touch the decorations?
and any other advice would help too. please, treat me like an idiot here because i have no idea how to work this thing

also my rams sometimes look at each other and swim backwards, what does that mean? should i seperate them?

and my betta has expanded his territory to half the tank now, should i house him alone and put in one of my smaller bettas?

If your heater is fully submergable I'd place it as near to the bottem as you can. Heat rises, and the lower in the tank the heater is the better the heat is distributed.

I think the rams are bluffing at each other, as long as they don't actually fight it's no problem. Maybe once is challenging the other for a territory? If the 'fight' is about a shelter place you may have to add some more hing holes to prevent trouble.
Unless you have a male and female and they are courting. But I have never seen that, so I can't say anything about that.

Bettas are a nasty piece of work, has it attacked any fish? As in actually nipping and persistantly chasing them through the tank?
You'll have to move him then.

Just push the decorations aside enough so that it's not touching them, same as you would move your bed or couch if you had it placed against a heater in your house. It's pretty safe for your fish, my plec used to suck on mine when she was little, but I think prolonged exposure (meaning if they touched it for too long) would probably not be the best idea. Those are just all the basic cautions that the instructions tell you to do. No need to fear the heater. Just remember that you're mixing electricity with water.

Sorry! It's just...y'know...a box filled with water and all these electrics things stuck inside of it or near it (heater, filters, lights, etc) you have to be careful!

But seriously, don't worry. As long as you follow all the proper precautions, everything will be fine and dandy. Why don't you just move the plant to a different spot? Fish can swim through the leaves, it's okay if it's blocking a hiding spot.

They're just goofing off and checking eachother out, sounds like. Rams tend to be rather "bullheaded," I've noticed. While they are very calm and alert fish, they are not afraid of much either--if they have any aggression towards something they will charge in head first. Luckily they are more apt to mind their own business than worry about their tankmates. If they are backing away from eachother that is a sign that there is curiousity and maybe a little wariness.

What you do have to watch out for is if they flare their fins, clench their muscles, and line up next to eachother tail to mouth. They will circle for a few seconds in almost a perfect circle, often making a few "jerky" movements. This is just their way of displaying, but sometimes the next move is for them to swim diagonally for a moment as they line up to face the other, then dash forward and lock their jaws together. If it escalates to that point they can really tear eachother up pretty quick, and they will stay locked together for a while and try to roll and tear off whatever part of the other fish they have a hold on. I've noticed they go for the head, eyes, and mouth, rather than the fins like some fish, so they can do some pretty nasty damage if they get the inkling. It is pretty surprising to realize how strong they are once they get into a fight, that stop-go-stop way they swim when they are checking out food is a dead give away. Their fins are designed for control and bursts of speed, not for show.


This one actually confuses me because mine show characteristics from both sexes, so I can't speak much from personal experience--I knew mine were pairs more from their behavior, rather than their appearence! sweatdrop The biggest give away is blue scales in the mid-lateral splotch on the fish's side. Blue scales means female. Also, the first ray of the ventral fins, and the second and third ray of the dorsal fin are elongated and jet black in the males, while the females may have not quite as deep black a coloring, and the fins are not elongated in such an exagerated manner. Also, the females tend to have a good amount of pink to pinkish-orange coloring on their bellies.

Of course, if the fish is young or stressed some of the coloring may not be as evident. Or, you may have tranny fish like mine.


The water keeps it cool to the point that it takes a few seconds for contact with the glass to start to feel painful, and longer to start to burn. They will have enough time to put some distance between them and the heater before it does any damage.

One thing you should watch out for is water changes, and for 2 reasons.

1. Don't smack the heater real hard with your hand or the vacuum, you can break the glass!

2. Don't let the water level drop too low on an exposed heater, and don't let a submersible heater come out of the water at all! They can either overheat without the water cooling them, or the temperature difference between the glass being cooled by the water and the glass which is exposed will cause the glass to expand and contract differently, and it may shatter along the difference line.

There are some horror stories out there, but honestly, most people will never have trouble with their heaters. Just take a few precautions to avoid overheating and electrical shock, and you will be just fine.