Holiday related tank anxiety.

[esoxlucius]

Whether it's due to a business trip or family vacation what do you do with your tanks whilst you're away? We've all been there at some stage during our fish keeping lives. It can be a cause of real anxiety, and rightly so because there is so much that can go wrong.

Each hobbyist, when the time comes, will have their own routine or methods of trying to put measures in place and just hope that disaster doesn't strike in their absence. I'm no different. I've just come back home after 10 days away, and can thankfully report that everything went like clockwork.

The most important thing for me is to do a large water change the day before I go, and another on the day I return.

And, due to the fish I have, no fry or juvies, I am confident of also NOT feeding for the whole duration. This obviously helps massively with nitrate creep.

I also use pumps and heaters that I can be confident aren't going to let me down, though it's always at the back of my mind that even the most trusted brands of gear can have bad days!

The house wasn't completely empty whilst we were away. My eldest son, who's at that age where he wouldn't be seen dead on holiday with his parents, remained at home to take care of the dog, cat and snake.

The only instruction I gave him regarding my tanks was to stick his head in the fish room every morning and give the tanks a quick visual, and also listen for pumps whirring and water running.

My absence routine is pretty basic but it's been extremely effective thus far.

The threads I see where people are getting their auntie May to pop in to feed the fish everyday, or Uncle Joe's gonna come down and attempt to do a water change, absolutely fill me with more anxiety than I could ever experience doing it my way, lol.

 

[Backfromthedead]

In addition to the large water change right before i leave, i also:

-steadily decrease the temperature in the tank in the week leading up to the trip to whatever room temperature is at that time of year, usually 68-75F vs 76-82F like i normally keep them. I will also cut the flow in the tank by around half. I dont know if all this actually accomplishes much, but in my mind lower temperature and lower flow=lower metabolism and less waste accumulating in the tank. This is only if i leave for more than a week straight with no one at the house able to feed them.

-while not all of my tanks necessarily have one running at all times, when i leave town i will run an air pump and stone in the display tank that is plugged into a separate circuit than the rest of the tank.

 

[dmyersWv]

Thankfully I have a friend who I got into the hobby who house sits for me.

 

[The Masked Shadow]

Large water changes before. I have trusted people 3 times to feed my fish and 3 times they have successfully killed atleast one fish. I now do not trust people to take a pinch of fish food, so I just leave them be.

 

[dmyersWv]

I understand completely. Same guy who is now in the hobby. Feed 6 months of food while watching the house for 10 days. I lost some discus. He couldn't believe how hungry the fish were.

 

[esoxlucius]

have trusted people 3 times to feed my fish and 3 times they have successfully killed atleast one fish.

Feed 6 months of food while watching the house for 10 days

Your experiences with other people feeding your fish, and coming back to a disaster, are sadly all too common, but totally avoidable. Fish can go a long time between feedings, a lot lot longer than most hobbyists realise.

The pros of this are firmly on the hobbyists side, in as much you save money on food, which is good for your pocket. The fish aren't defacating as much, helping your filters say cleaner for longer, not to mention slowing down nitrate build up. It's also beneficial for the actual fish to have a regular gut clear out, and also fatty liver disease, amongst other problems, can be avoided. It's a win win for you and your fish.

The attitude to feeding of a large percentage of hobbyists can be summed up perfectly by a comment my son made during a phone call whilst we were away. "Dad, are you sure these fish don't need feeding, they're swimming in front of the glass like crazy when I go to check on them every morning." That, right there, is the trap that people fall into.

But it's also worth pointing out that my approach to feeding during my absence is not a blanket approach that every hobbyist should use. It depends on what fish you have. It's each hobbyists call as to what's going to work for them.

I will also add that when I got back none of my fish showed signs of being under nourished. But even so, their first feeding was a slightly larger than usual one just to compensate for 10 days without anything.

 

[duanes]

The only time I had a disaster, was when I asked a neighbor teen to feed.
As soon as I walked in from that vacation, I could smell death.
Even though I had given specific instruction on much to feed, the tank substrate was covered with an inch of pellets, and dead fish were everywhere.
Since then, (it was decades ago) I have let fish fast, for at least 2 weeks, and have had no significant death toll.
If its summer, I unplugged heaters (when I used them).
Always did a major water change just before leaving, and cleaned out impeller shafts.
My major concern is pumps crapping out, or overflows getting plugged up.

 

[tlindsey]

The only time I had a disaster, was when I asked a neighbor teen to feed.
As soon as I walked in from that vacation, I could smell death.
Even though I had given specific instruction on much to feed, the tank substrate was covered with an inch of pellets, and dead fish were everywhere

Wow

 

[esoxlucius]

My major concern is pumps crapping out, or overflows getting plugged up.

......or maybe a monkey falling into your tank from a tree above and drowning. Now that would deliver some serious parameter issues! Lol.

You're ok now anyway. Retired, so no business trips, and you are on constant vacation where you live, so no need to holiday, lol.

 

[krichardson]

Wow

I went through that sort of thing with a similar situation years ago and as a result I don't trust anyone to tend to my tanks while I'm away.....as long as there is no power outage and the water levels in my sumps don't get too low things should be fine for a week or so.....but I still worry the whole time I'm gone.