Junior fish sitter

[fishorama]

We're going on vacation in 2 weeks. Our old usual guy doesn't work next door anymore. He lives too far away. My husband talked to another neighbor that has a dog sitter come by sometimes. Cool! Might she want to fish sit for us? Yes! She'd love too!

I only have 3 tanks with fish, so 5 minutes of feeding at most each visit. It turns out she's only 13 (eek!? I thought she was older). Her mom called today & the mom will come for at least an intro visit but maybe more. How hard can it be to throw a few pellets into 2 tanks & 2 pinches flakes in another? We've had neighbors fish & bird sit for us before & all went ok...but they were adults.

They're both kind of excited about it, someone had given them a tank but it's not set up, no fish yet. I said I'd be happy to help them when they ready. But after we get home. I'd like to encourage new people into our hobby.

This seems like an ok arrangement for just a long week & I'm glad there will be an adult at least sometimes & a neighbor she knows 2 doors down.

I hope this is not a bad decision on my part. There could be a power outage (maybe), a sudden tank leak or a dead fish (more worrisome for them than me). If my house catches on fire, an earthquake or something else dire happens, well, my fish won't be my main concern.

What say you my forum members? OK or treading into stupid territory? I think my fish would be ok for a week with no feeding; my husband strongly disagrees. This is our compromise solution, my fingers will be crossed the entire time we're gone & hope we can answer our new cell phones...that's iffy right now, lol.

 

[Colin_T]

Healthy adult fish can easily go for a week without food.

Most young people can look after fish just as well as adults, assuming they know what to do. I used to teach kids how to keep fish when I worked in the pet shop. The kids learnt faster than the adults and were just as good as any adult when it came to looking after their own fish. Show the pet sitter how much to feed and specify "don't overfeed". Feed them once and leave it at that.

 

[Essjay]

You could buy some of those medication dispensers, the type with a compartment for each day, one for each tank. Fill them with the required amount of food, then hide the fish food tubs so they can't add more. Label each box with the tank's description. Then all they have to do is open the compartment for the correct day and add the food to the tank.

 

[fishorama]

Thanks Colin. That what I think too about overfeeding. When in doubt, feed less! I think Mama will almost always come too, she's off work that week. We did a speaker phone call today (not my favorite communication form). Mom & I talked, kid said nothing. But that left me feeling like I get mom & daughter at kid pet sitting prices, ha!

I won't expect water changing, filter cleaning or any disaster planning...maybe next time if it works out this time & we're gone more than a week. I just want minimal fish feeding & no problems. I don't think that's too much to ask. But as responsibilities go up so do wages, I'm good with that too.

 

[fishorama]

That's a good idea too, Essjay I did something similar when I had more tanks. I think because it's just 3 tanks & 2 get pellets only, I can trust any age of fish sitter to count out 4 or 6. A "pinch" of flakes is harder to quantify but I may just put that amount in a small dish as "representative" of how much = a pinch.

I do have 2 different kinds of automatic fish feeders I was given. I've read neither is very accurate. I'm worried they may clog or dump all the food in at once. Plant folks sometimes use them for fertilizers too but that's not on my agenda. My plants are lucky to get root tabs every 3 or 4 months & that's enough for them & me, lol

 

[Colin_T]

Since you have 2 weeks before you go away, you can do the following to help the fish.

Add a heap of live plants now but don't do it in a week's time, either now or after you come back. The plants can act as a food source if the fish get really hungry. You want to add the plants a few weeks before you go so if there's a problem with them, you are there and can sort it out. You don't normally have problems with plants but sometimes they have stuff on them that can poison fish or shrimp.

Increase lighting to 16 hours a day to encourage algae to grow. The fish can feed on that.

Feed the fish 3-5 times a day for a couple of weeks before you go. This lets the fish gain weight (build up fat reserves) and they can live off that.

Do more frequent water changes and gravel cleans when feeding more often. Do a big water change and gravel clean one day before you go.
Make sure any new water is free of chlorine/ chloramine before it's added to the tank.

Clean the filter a day or two before you go so it's nice and clean and won't block up while you're away.

Make sure the tank is well covered to stop fish jumping out.

Feed the fish before you leave and have a nice holiday.

Unlike mammals and birds that use most of the food they eat to keep warm, most fish take their body temperature from the surrounding water. This means any food they eat is used for growth and movement. This allows healthy adult fish to go for weeks or even months without food and not be adversely affected.

 

[emeraldking]

Yes, it shouldn't be that hard to explain how things work during your absence. I would just go for it. And yes, what Colin has already stated as well, those fish will be fine when they're not fed for a week.

 

[Back in the fold]

Don’t chance it . Let them go without feeding for the vacation week . How hard can it be to put a pinch of flakes in there ? It isn’t hard but what is hard is for the uninitiated to resist adding several more pinches and then a handful because “ they looked hungry “ . You know the rest of that sad story .

 

[TwoTankAmin]

When I go away and need my brother to feed the fish I use a simple and easy method. I cut up squares of aluminum foil. I fold one in half, put in the food I want fed into a given tank and then fold the foil into a packet. I place the packets on the lid of the tank into which they should be emptied. I then provide written directions for when to open a packet and put it into the tank.

I normally will put a mix of foods into each packet or different single foods into several packets. I tell bro it doesn't matter which packet he chooses to feed to make life easy. When he is feeding a tank with bottom feeders who would eat at night, I tell him to dump the packet in the evening.

I mix flakes , sticks etc into the same packet when tank has mixed types of fish. This method works great as it is almost possible for him to make a mistake. The foods are pre measured by me and the specific foods are chosen by me. All bro has to do is to open and feed. I might instruct him to drop the food across the surface or, if there is more than one lfe to put a part of the food into each space under a lid to make sure it spreads around.

Foil is cheap and pretty much standard in any kitchen and it is easy to unfold the foil. I have made all the feeding related decisions and all that bro does is open and dump making it all pretty much idiot proof.