What to do with ghosties?

[xjenuhfur]

Goblin and my ghost shrimp are getting along fabulously. But I'm going away for 6/7 days for spring break in a couple weeks. I'm taking Goblin with me in a temporary tank/bowl/I'm not sure what I'm buying yet. But I'm worried about the shrimp, since I can't take them as well. Could I just leave them in the tank (it will stay filtered and running while I'm away) and throw in a wafer(s) or will they be good for a week?

[JKfish]

Unless your tank is less than two gallons. they'd be fine in there, same with your betta boy. It'd probably be less stressful for him to stay in his tank anyways. Bettas can actually go without eating for a really long time. After a week, he'd be hungry, but not hurt. A wafer would probably cloud up the water too much. Just try and gut-load them and then do a water change before you leave.

If you have a smaller tank (less than 5 gallons), you might want to enlist the help of a neighborhood petsitter for a partial water change while you're gone to keep the water clean (just give really good instructions), and maybe even have the person drop in a pellet or two for your betta.

[xjenuhfur]

My tank is 4 gallons, and I'm living in a dorm. All 3 of my roomies won't be home either. Which is why I'm in a pickle. So if I grab a 2 gallon tank I can put all my ghost shrimp and betta in at the same tank? I've got 6 shrimp and my betta.

[JKfish]

A four gallon is actually okay, you could leave your boy in there for a week when you go on your break, so long as you do a big water change right before you leave. Oh, is it cycled?

The only thing I would be mildly concerned about would be your betta boy getting hungry enough as to want to eat the shrimps while you're gone, so if you could sperate the shrimps and the betta, that would help as a preventative measure and also even help with the water quality. :)

[xjenuhfur]

I wouldn't be too upset if he ate one, they seem to pester him more than anything. I could probably do a 75% change before the break. And I have a filter in it, but I've only had the tank 3 weeks and don't have a testing kit so truthfully I have no idea if the tank is fully cycled or not. I do a 10-25% change a week. I do have a marimo in there to help with everything as well. If I separate the shrimp would they be okay in a gallon with a wafer and the marimo?

[JKfish]

Okay, just as a sidenote, in a 4 gallon you'd want to be doing 40-50% water changes a week typically.

The shrimps would be fine, but I would not leave any wafers in there. It would end up decompsing and creating too much ammonia, which would accumulate and possibly kill your shrimps. It'd be smarter to simply feed them a lot over the week before your departure.

[xjenuhfur]

I did a 75% yesterday. And even with the filter I need to do a 50% a week? It's possible, but would two 25% a week work? It's still 1/2 of the water being changed just at different times.
But thanks so much on the help. I'll just feed them more during the week before I leave. :)

[JKfish]

That'd work fine :) If you didn't have a filter in, you'd actually also need the occasional 100% water change as well.

[xjenuhfur]

Ahh okies. I knew I probably wasn't doing enough wc, but since my tank is 4 gallons I figured at least a 25% (1 gal) would be okay until I found a good rhythm with school and whatnot. Now I know I need to save another gallon jug! We cant run a hose from sinks here. I tried. -_-

[JKfish]

You should be fine with just one if you are doing 25% twice a week, the changes would be several days apart and you don't need to age water if dechlorinators are used