Risky Business

[086]

Please post some stories about vacations and the people that took care of your tanks. I'm planning on a 3 week trip and scared about what could go wrong.

In preparation, I installed better tops to prevent escapes, added more visual barriers to limit aggression, bought backup equipment, have timers all set and said my prayers. Why do I have this feeling that my Ctenopomas will have problems. The 3 weeks without a water change has been tested with zero problems. I'm not worried about the fish themselves, it's the human mistakes that concern me. I will have pre-measured food bags because overfeeding is the biggest mistake I can see happening.
So please,
tell me your stories about 2 or more weeks away from your fish.

 

[tlindsey]

Please post some stories about vacations and the people that took care of your tanks. I'm planning on a 3 week trip and scared about what could go wrong.

In preparation, I installed better tops to prevent escapes, added more visual barriers to limit aggression, bought backup equipment, have timers all set and said my prayers. Why do I have this feeling that my Ctenopomas will have problems. The 3 weeks without a water change has been tested with zero problems. I'm not worried about the fish themselves, it's the human mistakes that concern me. I will have pre-measured food bags because overfeeding is the biggest mistake I can see happening.
So please,
tell me your stories about 2 or more weeks away from your fish.

Welcome aboard
Most will have that same experience with leaving fish under someone else's care.

 

[HarleyK]

Howdy, prepackaged food portions is the single most important thing you have control over. And giving your pet sitter your cell phone number just in case

enjoy your vacation,
HarleyK

 

[086]

Cell phone is important even if I'll be in a 12 hour different time zone. I do predict they will have some excuse and only show up on weekends. Can't always depend on in-laws. Profession pet sitters are not available because our location is too remote for them to travel and earn enough money.

 

[jjohnwm]

You are correct to be worried...but IMHO you are incorrect in thinking that any special preparations or precautions are required.

I spent years working for about half of each year on distant remote jobsites where I lived for 2 or usually 3 weeks at a time. My wife was instructed how to top-up all my tanks in case of excessive evaporation...but all were covered, and she literally never once had to add a drop.

Food was prepackaged in individual plastic snap-top single-serving food containers, bought cheap at the Dollar Store. I had many dozens. She was instructed to add one container per tank, every other day. When I left, each tank had a row of containers lined up on top, each containing one feeding for that particular tank. The only exception to this was tanks containing very young fry, which would receive once- or even twice-daily small feedings, pre-packaged the same way. For healthy adult fish, especially larger predators like Ctenopoma, going without food for a single 3-week period is perfectly fine.

If you are going away just for a single 3-week vacation...I would make sure that the tank is properly topped-up before leaving, is properly covered...and that's it. No feeding, no maintenance of any kind, and most importantly IMHO...nothing added or changed in the days just before leaving. No redecorating...no added plants...no just-purchased and un-tested auto-feeder gizmos...no new fish...ABSOLUTELY NO CHANGES OF ANY KIND!!!!

Virtually every problem fish encounter during an absence of the owner is brought on by someone "tank-sitting" them.

 

[tlindsey]

Cell phone is important even if I'll be in a 12 hour different time zone. I do predict they will have some excuse and only show up on weekends. Can't always depend on in-laws. Profession pet sitters are not available because our location is too remote for them to travel and earn enough money.

What type of fish do you have?

 

[tlindsey]

I would make sure that the tank is properly topped-up before leaving, is properly covered...and that's it. No feeding, no maintenance of any kind

This is what I did but was gone for only 1week. Topping off is crucial especially if you're running a sump. Returned home happy.

 

[esoxlucius]

You can put whatever measures you want in place whilst you're away but you're still in the hands of the gods. I guarantee that if anything does go wrong it'll be tank sitter related!

For me, it's very simple. Huge water change, check everything before I go, no feeding measures whatsoever, and most important.....keep any human being away from the place! It's served me well up to now.

Unless you have someone in your family who is equally clued up as yourself, which I don't.

 

[SalviniCichlidFan]

Please post some stories about vacations and the people that took care of your tanks. I'm planning on a 3 week trip and scared about what could go wrong.

In preparation, I installed better tops to prevent escapes, added more visual barriers to limit aggression, bought backup equipment, have timers all set and said my prayers. Why do I have this feeling that my Ctenopomas will have problems. The 3 weeks without a water change has been tested with zero problems. I'm not worried about the fish themselves, it's the human mistakes that concern me. I will have pre-measured food bags because overfeeding is the biggest mistake I can see happening.
So please,
tell me your stories about 2 or more weeks away from your fish.

I find the biggest potential problem when asking someone else to feed your fish for you is that they tend to overfeed. To solve this, I usually leave bags of pre-packaged servings of food so it's foolproof. Also, I tell people to feed every other day because truthfully most fish don't need to be fed everyday so you're saving the other person's time and also reducing ammonia buildup in your tank while you're gone.

 

[086]

Here is my setup for the past 5 years. I have a planted 55 with 3 full grown ctenopoma, 4 mostly adult angelfish, 1 adult Bristlenose Pleco and some Otocinclus that have survived for years. The Angels will need to be fed, I have a fishomatic 14 day feeder that holds 4 pre-measured floating sticks broken in half. I'll set that for every third day. It's been used before and worked great for floating sticks in my Angel only 38 gallon tank. The Angels are mostly near the surface and will get that food. Ctenopoma are mostly near middle and bottom floating face down in the plants. Typical leaf fish behavior. So this should work for the Angelfish only.

I greatly appreciate the experience from jjohnwm. Not feeding the mini monsters for 3 weeks could be just fine. That saves me from pre-packaged food. However would 3 weeks without food raise aggression levels?

As a backup plan, I've raised platys for the last 6 months. They're in a 10 gallon UGF tank right next to the 55. Any platys that are introduced to the 55 seem to last about 3 days. The platys are too big for the angels to eat. the idea is to have the in-law pet sitter net 3-5 platys from the 10 and transfer to the Ctenopoma tank. It provides a limited food source that can't be eaten all at once.

What could go wrong? Fish jump out of a tank where the lid was not closed? The platys can't be netted due to lack of experience? A conscientious objector that can't feed fish to other fish? Please leave comments on this idea.

Best advice so far. No changes whatsoever.