I have somebody coming over to look after two tanks. My question is should I instruct this person to do a water change while I am gone or will the fish be OK to do a water change the day before and the day after I return? I have two Oscars and two convicts in one tank and four African cichlids in a 30 gallon tank.
What are your thoughts with the water changes?
Hello; So two tanks. We do not know the size of the Oscar tank nor the Oscars or Convicts so cannot say what the need might be for that tank.
Four African cichlids in the 30 gallon may not be too bad if small.
My normal advice for folks being away for up to two weeks is to not have an inexperienced person come in to do anything. I put lights on a timer. I have an air bubbler of some sort going in addition to a power filter. I at most would do decent feeding a couple days before leaving and a WC as close as possible before leaving. I would usually just leave the tanks on their own while gone.
I have had many times away over the last five decades and my worst problems were when someone fed or did something to the tanks. So much less likely to have problems.
If the person is experienced that can be different thing altogether. But an inexperienced person can screw things up in very novel ways. Not just killing fish but breaking tanks or messing up filters or just spilling water. You call tho and good luck.
