holiday woes

[esoxlucius]

Ok guys, advice needed, it might be a bit long winded but bear with me. The wifes on my case because we haven't had a summer holiday since 2014, basically due to me not wanting to leave my tanks in the hands of inexperienced neighbours/friends/family etc. However, i've promised her i'll sort something out so we can escape for 2 weeks in summer next year. I'm fretting already at the thought. I don't trust anyone near my tanks, not that i know anyone who's even got basic understanding of the hobby anyway.

What i'm thinking of doing is quite drastic, that is basically to do a large water change on each of my 2 tanks the night before we go and not feed the fish for the full 2 weeks i'm away. All i'll do is get my brother to pop in each night and do a few basic checks and top up the water level in my sump if necessary (this i think i can trust him to do, haha). My thinking on this is that i believe that a starvation period like this won't harm my fish and due to this starvation period my tank water's not getting fouled up and as a result my nitrate creep will be minimal. Or at a push if 2 weeks without food is a bit much i could show him how to feed them and just feed them once a week whilst i'm away.

Do you think i'll be ok doing this?

 

[Achilles1763]

This sounds like a good idea... as it is what I do! I have a fahaka in a 220g community tank so water quality and feeding while I am away is always an issue... I basically do two large water changes in the 3 days before we go so the water is as pristine as I can get in and then just leave the tanks or get a mate (who has owned fish before) to pop in and feed them. I prep the frozen food on the fridge so he literally just picks it up and puts it in the tank. The one feeding in two weeks has never caused me problems and I have been doing this for years. My fahaka is now 2.5 years old and 16 inches so it doesn't seem to have caused any problems!

 

[esoxlucius]

This sounds like a good idea... as it is what I do! I have a fahaka in a 220g community tank so water quality and feeding while I am away is always an issue... I basically do two large water changes in the 3 days before we go so the water is as pristine as I can get in and then just leave the tanks or get a mate (who has owned fish before) to pop in and feed them. I prep the frozen food on the fridge so he literally just picks it up and puts it in the tank. The one feeding in two weeks has never caused me problems and I have been doing this for years. My fahaka is now 2.5 years old and 16 inches so it doesn't seem to have caused any problems!

Do you feed your fahaka up in the days before you're leaving to give him good fat reserves or would binge feeding be a bad idea?

 

[Achilles1763]

She gets a bit more food than normal for the week leading up to the holiday... and I usually throw in a few cheap livebearers for her to chase when she gets really hungry.

 

[Warborg]

I've pre-packaged food before so the sitter just puts those in on feeding days so there is no overfeeding. If your gone 2 weeks I'd say only have them fed once(after one week). The fish should be fine. Cleaning the water before you go is a good thing.

 

[DN328]

This sounds like a good idea... as it is what I do! I have a fahaka in a 220g community tank so water quality and feeding while I am away is always an issue... I basically do two large water changes in the 3 days before we go so the water is as pristine as I can get in and then just leave the tanks or get a mate (who has owned fish before) to pop in and feed them. I prep the frozen food on the fridge so he literally just picks it up and puts it in the tank. The one feeding in two weeks has never caused me problems and I have been doing this for years. My fahaka is now 2.5 years old and 16 inches so it doesn't seem to have caused any problems!

Sounds like a good plan.

 

[millerkid519]

You will be fine with 2 weeks of no feeding and no water change. Just do feed a bit extra for a few days before and a big water change right before you leave. Fish are cold blooded and have a way different metabolism then humans which allows them to go long periods of time without eating.
We also should ask what type of fish, is the tank over stocked, age of your fish, size of tanks.

 

[RD.]

I would love to see a pic of your 16" Fahaka. That's a big'un.
The only issue I see is if the Fahaka gets a hunger on, and decides to attempt to eat parts or whole of one of its tank mates.

BTW - while it's true that most healthy adult fish can go weeks without food, some fish can get very pissy when they get on the hungry side.

 

[esoxlucius]

You will be fine with 2 weeks of no feeding and no water change. Just do feed a bit extra for a few days before and a big water change right before you leave. Fish are cold blooded and have a way different metabolism then humans which allows them to go long periods of time without eating.
We also should ask what type of fish, is the tank over stocked, age of your fish, size of tanks.

I don't have any young fish as in fry, where obviously a starvation period would prove too much. I have a 16 month old RTGG on her own in a 180 and then in my other 180 i have a community of tinfoils, balas, clowns, dennisons, chalceus and flagtail all of which are 2 year old minimum. Total starvation for 2 weeks doesn't sit well with me thinking about it. I think a once a week feed just to help them along will be better.

 

[Achilles1763]

Yeah a feed after the first week is a good idea... my fahaka is in a comm with some large cichlids so 2 weeks without anything could be catastrophic! The dither/target fish help but it's not cheap... it it does mean that over the weeks there are things for the big fish to chase/eat to just take the edge off the hunger,as RD said a pissy fahaka is NOT good for anyone!

Below is the fahaka... she is hard to measure as I cannot take her out of the tank. But the tank is 24 inches wide and she is well over half the width and nearly 2/3rds of it so 17-18 inches I reckon.