75 Gallon Tank- Never Home

[Pimp]

75 gallon tank that will be all for looks. Probbly be a communty tanks with neons and blah blah


my real problem is that i will only be home 3 days every week.. fri - sun

If a i buy an automatic feeder will that keep the fish well for the other 5 days where i will not be home?

 

[Ilya]

Fish can last weeks without food. For example, if your shipping a fish to a costumer (your a breeder) you don't feed them the day before you put them in their little baggies. Then you send them off with USPS or Fedex and they'll last in their cozy little bags. I wouldn't be worried about it that much.

 

[Pimp]

so an automatic feeder will do the job?

 

[Ilya]

Yeah, and feed them not so much. Or they'll probably make a mess when your not around . (Gotta keep the ammonia low )

 

[LuckyCricketMafia]

I feed my barbs in my planted tank 3 times a week. And they do fine, I would worry about feeding too much.

 

[Pimp]

o. and are barbs good at cycling a tank.. i need to fish cycle my tank since i cant be home to add the ammonia

 

[Aphotic Phoenix]

Will anyone else be home?

Feeding issue aside...what if a filter or heater malfunctions? Or the tank springs a leak and no one is around to catch it or clean it up quickly? Or if several fish get ill/die polluting the water and/or spreading illness to other fish in the tank?

I understand the desire to have pets, but there are a lot of things to consider if you aren't going to be home often to take care of them.

 

[Pimp]

ya just be me. I will get 2 heaters for that reason. The tank springing a leak. well me and my bro have had a lotta tanks and none of them have had a leak.. and the filter well .......


come onnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnn

 

[WayneVT08]

It seems like you are trying to get us to tell you what you want to hear. And when you're saying it won't spring a leak, that's when it'll happen. You say something and then it happens.

 

[Pimp]

ya i know...... can i like re-inforce the the tank? add extra glue or someting?

 

[Ilya]

You can saran-wrap it !

 

[QuotheRaven]

To be honest in my opinion you should not get the tank...if your only home 3 days a week and it's a 75 gallon you have to set aside some time to clean it....also with the feeding issue, electrical and leak risks it is a large commitment when your only home 3 days a week.... Perhaps a compromise if you cannot be talked out of the tank a smaller tank is better 10-20 gallon so a leak won't provide such large risks and less maintenance in the water change area

 

[Dorkhedeos]

i would say go for it as long as you dont stock it too heavily, and there is somebody watching to make sure nothing really bad happens it should be fine. im planning on doing that myself as well once i move off to college. i will be home 2 days a week, every sat-sun. i dont think a dead neon in a 75 gallon would make that much of a difference for a few days. just make sure you dont stock up normally. say you can put 100 neons in there, just put like 70-75 in there instead. 3/4 of what you would normally put in there just for insurance. as for feeding, you might be able to get away with feeding 3 times a week, but im not sure this is good in the long run. why dont you just ask your bro to feed your fish for you?

 

[Aphotic Phoenix]

im planning on doing that myself as well once i move off to college. i will be home 2 days a week, every sat-sun.

No offense, but I didn't know a single person who went home every weekend during college...even the people who lived 20 minutes away from campus. I thought I'd go home all the time, and I didn't. In fact my cat died while I was in college, and my parents didn't even tell me about it. Things might be different for you, but don't underestimate all the effects of college life.

Ask yourself why you want pets if you aren't going to be home to enjoy them. I was faced with a similar situation when I was considering a job that would keep me away from home for long stretches of time...I had to come to grips with the fact that if I accepted the job I simply couldn't own pets. It wouldn't be fair to them. Obviously not everyone feels this way...I still have friends who don't understand why it's wrong to fight bettas, or why it's wrong to just flush a fish down the toilet if you don't want it...to them fish aren't "real pets". And I agree that fish are somewhat low maint. compared to say a dog or a cat, but are IME more high maint. than a gerbil...but I would certainly worry a great deal if I had to leave a huge glass box full of water and electrical equipment required to keep an animal alive alone week after week.

 

[Pimp]

feeding i have down. and my son will be able to check on them( not everday) during the week.

Just the leak is the biggest concern for me.

I don't plan to fully stock the tank.