Planning Ahead For Holiday

[pieman]

I'm going on holiday in the summer for 18 days, and this is a long time to leave my fish alone, by then I will have two sets of fish in different tanks (providing none have died)

Tank 1 :
5 Neon Tetra
3 Black Widow Tetra

Tank 2 :
3 Female Guppy ( these will end up giving birth at some point no doubt )
1 Male Guppy

I'm planning ahead mainly because I have nothing else to do but I've had the thought in my head since I bought the fish.
Since none of my relatives/neighbours have fish I don't know any one who could look after them, i've not yet looked into automatic feeders but what the maximum time they run for? Also would fish be ok in a tank that hasn't been cleaned for 2 weeks or had a water change.

Thanks for any help

 

[blitztidus]

The tank, cleaning wise should be fine, but you should change 20% of the water in your tank each day for 3 or 4 days before you leave. some automated feeders can hold up to 4 months plus so you should be fine.

 

[clareriley]

I think the water should be fine.. just do a change twice a week the week before you go. I have seen those feeding stones in the LFS but they only last a week.. im sure iv seen others though in pets at home...

 

[Darkerwhite2]

When i go out for days or more at a time i get my neighbours to do the feeding... if there is someone you can trust to not over feed it can be a life saver (for the fish) .
Its not tough to teach someone to feed the fish. it might be cheaper than a automatic feeder that can last 2 weeks

 

[karlp]

I hate leaving the fish unattended for long periods of time. Mainly because of possible equipment failure.

I would personally use an automatic fish feeder to feed the fish, but have a neighbour come in a couple of times a week just to check the temperature is OK and check that nothing catastrophic has happened (e.g, all the fish floating at the top). It's kind of important to gently emphasize to the neighbour what a delicate ecosystem the tank is, so it mustn't be altered or fish given extra food.

Leave spares of vital equipment in a cupboard labelled, so if something does go wrong and the neighbour spots it, you can talk them through replacing it.

The biggest danger to fish while you're on holiday is a well meaning neighbour grossly overfeeding them.

I'd also recomend trying out your automatic feeder for 18 days before you go. I've found that with some feeders the food gets soggy after a few days and flake will clog up and the food could rot. With the one I've used, I always just put pellets in the feeder (there are some floating ones for surface fish).

I would also recomend doing your last water change at least 24 hours before you go. It's the easiest thing in the world to do a water change and forget to plug something back in afterwards. If you do this 24 hours before you go, you'll spot it.

 

[dwarfgourami]

The danger of neighbour overfeeding can be easily averted by the following procedure:

go to the pharmacy and buy one of those compartmented pill dispensers they sell (for elderly people who forget what drugs they've taken)

put one portion in each compartment

instruct your neighbour to empty one compartment every other day (this means the fish will be fed at 1/4 of normal rates- which helps the tank from getting too dirty)

HIDE ALL OTHER FISH FOOD! This way they will not be able to overfeed however much they want to.

if you have more than one tank, number each tank and each pillbox, so that they won't get mixed up even if your neighbour wanders around the house with them

I had a 10-year-old boy feed my fish over the Xmas holidays and they were absolutely fine.

Have had a disaster in the past with automatic feeders (they fed too much the first few days and then clogged up- so I had a dirty tank AND hungry fish).

 

[diademhill]

Agreed - the pill boxes are great but to make it even better fill up alternate days with some gravel or sand (from the tank) as well as the food. That way it looks like the fish are getting more than they actually are.