Going On Vacation In 3-4 Weeks

kingmed · May 15, 2008

My family and I will be going to Texas and Illinois for 2 and half weeks in June and I was curious what I should do about my fish. I have a 29 gallon, a 55 gallon and a 5.5 gallon tank set up, I know you can get the Tetramin feeders that you put in the tank that are made for holidays, they look pretty neat--just didn't know wether or not it would be worth buying. Also I was wondering if I need to acclimate them a week or so in advance before the vacation and if so how? Also I have submersible heaters that are over half way down the tank, do I need to have someone to come and fill the tanks or should they be O.K., normally I only have to fill them alittle once a week not counting the weekly water change. My filters are AC'S and the intake valve is at least half way down the tank, would the filter be O.K. as long as the water volume didn't get this low?

Colin_T · May 15, 2008

You can check the filters and heaters now and during the next few weeks. Just see how much water you lose over a 3 week period and if it is too much then you will need to get coverglass for the tanks, or have someone come in and top them up for you.
Coverglass are good for helping keep the heat in the tank too. This means you use less power to warm the tanks. They also stop fish jumping out.
Most petshops have standard size coverglass in stock. Measure up your tank and go get a set. You can have corners cut out for airline and heater cables. You can even get them cut so you can lift one section to feed the fish and not have to remove the whole cover.

You can use the holiday feeders if you like. They are normally made from layers of calcium and food. As the calcium dissolves the food is released. If you have suckermouth catfish they will probably eat it all in a couple of days. If the PH of your tank is acid (below 7.0) then they will dissolve a lot quicker than they are meant to. If the PH is very alkaline (above 7.5) they probably won't dissolve completely.

Unless you have baby fish I wouldn't bother about the holiday feeders. I would just feed them more often leading up to the trip and then let them go for the few weeks you will be away. Make sure you do a few more water changes to compensate for the extra food being fed.
Unlike mammals that use most of the food they eat to keep warm, fish take the body temperature from the surrounding water. This means any food they eat goes into muscle growth and movement (swimming). This allows fish to go for weeks or even months without food.

millym · May 16, 2008

hi
can you lower your heaters & filter a bit further down under the water before you go will ensure if the water evaporates they dont end up above the waterline.

you can buy automatic feeders(run on batterys (look online) that dispense a set dose of food once or twice a day. the feeding blocks you can also buy are rather messy & polute the water more. we have 2 auto feeders for our big tank one drops a bit of flake in the morning the other drops some broken up catfish tablets in the evening. our small tank auto feeder drops flake once a day. just make sure you set them up & test them (how much food is dropping, and theyre definately working etc) days before you go.

we have perspex covers on our tanks so water evaporation isnt too bad and our lights are also on auto timers. i always worry about our fish but our system now works well. we did have a horror on our first 2 week trip away around 6 yrs ago though - feeder didnt work, light timers failed nightmare but all fish but one survived! hence the rigorous testing now before we leave.

Miss Wiggle · May 16, 2008

generally i tell people if it's up to two weeks then don't worry about the fish, they're fine without food for that time, make sure you do a big water change the day before you go and don't be tempted to give them a big feed before going or they'll only poo lots and foul up the water.

would it be possible to get someone to pop in a couple of times while you're away. doesn't need to be a lot, if they came in once after the first week and once after the second week and just topped off evaporated water and gave the fish a little feed that would see them through. if you get someone else to fee the fish though make sure you measure out portions of food and wrap them up in foil or something like that so that whoever's feeding gives them the right amount of food :good: