3 week "vacation" panic-ee, help!

360 Views 4 Replies 4 Participants Last post by RussellTheShihTzu, May 10, 2014

Kumo

Discussion Starter · May 10, 2014

My parents are dragging me away from my 2 tanks for 3 weeks sometime in the upcoming month or two, which I'm biting and scratching the entire way because my fish are like my babies and I'm terrified of leaving them in the care of others.

So my question is,
What is the best way/easiest way to manage in this situation? I CAN NOT take my tanks along with me (too much stress on the fish since it'd be a new hotel room every night). My parents are having friends come over feed their plants, so I'm thinking of leaving specific instructions to feed a certain amount of food once every 3-4 days? I'm terrified of what the filter will look like though after that time, because typically I clean my tanks filters 3-4 days :/

My fish babies if you're curious:
Betta, corry, mystery snail, glass cat fish, neon tetra

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MattsBettas

· #2 · May 10, 2014

I don't think it will be a huge issue as long as a water change is performed before leaving and they aren't overfed. Healthy fish can go a long time without eating... I have a fish that spent over two weeks with babies in his moth, then proceeded to breed again a day after having a small meal (and he's still healthy). Sick fish have been known to go for well over a month or more without eating.

My bigger concern is with the water... How big are the tanks? What are in them?

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jaysee

· #3 · May 10, 2014

3 weeks is not a big deal for them to go without food, and that's the best thing or them IMO and E. Assuming your tanks are cycled, there's nothing to worry about with regards to the water too.

For most people with filtered tanks, cleaning them once a month is really frequent. Why are you cleaning them every few days???

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Kumo

Discussion Starter · #4 · May 10, 2014

I give my fish a variety of food each day so they can pick/choose what they want to eat (I clean out the uneaten food after about 10 minutes have gone by). I have a 10 gallon tank and a 2.5 gallon tank.

My 10 gallon's inhabitants:
corry (3), betta fish (1 boy), glass catfish (2), 1 mystery snail, 3 neon tetra

My 2.5 gallon's inhabitant:
betta fish

I've got a canister filter, but I think that's too strong for my 10. I only set that up when I have my 20 gallon set up.

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RussellTheShihTzu

· #5 · May 10, 2014

We were gone for five weeks last Fall. Our dog/horse/cat sitter fed the fish once a week. I did a 50% water change before we left. Everyone was a-okay. One tank was a 20 long divided community with three Bettas and the other was a 2.5 with one Betta. All parameters were safe when we returned.

Lights were on a timer and he did have to top off the tanks. I left out five gallons of water and a bottle of Prime.

You don't need to clean your filters; just squeeze them out in used tank water. If you actually clean them, you destroy the beneficial bacteria and could start a whole new cycle.

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