holiday problems with tank

[alwaysadore]

okay so in june me and my family are going to europe for 3 weeks. in a couple of days i will be getting a 26 gallon fish tank*BOUNCINGS what do i do!!! by then i will have fish in there. I am definitely not leaving them unfed for 3 weeks, cause i don't want to come home to dead fishes.

I dont really want to move the tank as im unsure of weather the fish will all die. but i will as a last resort. The people in my street all have pets of their own, and last time we went away for the weekend, they forgot to feed my parrot, and if they forgot my parrot they will certainly forget my fishes. my mum has a friend who has been breeding guppies and has a whole like 50 gallon tank and all, but they live like 30 mins away. any ideas please help*SICK*

 

[Kiara1125]

Congrats on the vacation and fish tank!! Just have your friend come in and feed your fish once every other day for a week or two. If she knows how to keep fish, then she will know how much to feed them. You can also get them a slow release feeder that lasts for 14 days. Fish can go long periods without food, so I think they will be fine. Sorry I said she, I just assumed. I have a 50/50 chance right?? XD

 

[alwaysadore]

hahahahahah well she was a he but oh well lol. im not too keen on those feeder blocks as once when my fighter fish was alive we went away for 2 weeks and gave him a feeder block, but it overfed him and he ended up getting fin rot by the time i got back it was to late, we gave him medicine but yea....

the problem is though he lives 30-40 minutes away from us, i have another friend nearby but she doesnt have a clue about keeping or cleaning fishes and their tanks.

 

[Thyra]

If it were me, with what I know now, I would cycle the tank properly and stock it with a minimum of fish. I would do the routine maintenance the day before I left, put in one vacation feeding tablet (or whatever they are called) have your friend check on them and feed them lightly once - like at the 9 day point and then check your water and do your maintenance as soon as you get home. I have left my fish for nine days at a time with no problems. You don't say where you live. If it is hot and water evaporation is a problem - then you might have a concern. A lot depends on that and the type of heater you have. If it is not submersible and is sticks out of the water it could over heat the tank.

 

[Kiara1125]

That's a good point Thyra. I suspect that the vacation feeder overfed your Betta because he was in a 5 gallon (or 5.5) right?? I've never used the feeders before. But I've successfully been gone for 2 weeks with no maintanance done my tank. I did a water change before I left and feed my fish until the day that I left. They were all accounted for and everything seemed fine (although I didn't test the water). I even counted some new Platy fry (ugh..yay, but ugh...more fry...stop breeding!! XD). The fish did take a toll on my plants though. They ate all of my duckweed. It's a good thing to have, IMO. Duckweed can be a nusiance, but it can also be a savior when you go on vacation as food for your fish. They grow quicky and are mostly found as hitch-hikers when buying fish or plants.

 

[alwaysadore]

oh cool so i could use some live plants and they could live off that for 3 weeks, but still i might ask my friend to pop over twice a week and make sure everyone is doing fine

 

[Kiara1125]

Yup, but make sure that they are types of plants that your fish will like. Ex- NOT broad leaf plants, fish hate that stuff.

And sorry about the thing where I said I thought your betta was in a 5.5 gallon, different person, same avatar. I looked over it and got confused for a minute. Sorry.

 

[Thyra]

Many fish do not eat plants and its going to take you awhile to get any plants established. And what is your friend going to do if everything isn't fine? Are you talking about the friend that doesn't know anything about fish? I have noticed on this forum that most of the time - if they don't know anything about fish - they tend to over feed and the fish are dead when the owner gets home. If you are uncomfortable with the idea, you could work on the planted tank and get the fish when you get back.

 

[alwaysadore]

no i will ask my friend who has all the fish to pop over and feed them twice a week, maybe on the way back or to work. kiara thats ok lol )

 

[Kiara1125]

Lol kay thanks. I felt so bad. XP Anywho, good luck!!

 

[skjl47]

Hello; For a period of over three years I had to be away from my house for work. The first job was nearly 500 miles away. I had to leave my tanks, fortunately I only had two set up, for over three weeks. I put the lights on a timer. I got one of the battery powered feeders that hang on the rim of the tank. It took a few days to adjust the feeder to operate properly. It was dumping on the cover at first and feeding too much food. After making the adjustments it worked fine. I did a water change before leaving. When I returned nearly a month later the fish were fine. I was able to pack them up and take them to my temporary job of ten months.
i would not get anyone to feed the fish while your are away. I lost some nice fish that way in the past. Non fish keepers simply do not know when they are putting too much food in the water. They will likely feed too much and foul the water.
I had plants in my tanks at the time and now, the fish I have do not eat them. Some fish do eat plants so it will depend on what you have.
Later I worked close enough to home to be able to come home on weekends. I continued to use the automatic feeders during this time with good success. They will operate for well over a month (more like 2-3 with good batteries)(they can be loaded with enough food for a month also). I also had to find a mix off dry food that worked properly. One pointer is that the spray from bubblers or other things can cause the food to cake up, so that needs to be looked at. Should you decide to try the auto feeders, be sure to set them up a week or two ahead of time so that the problems can be worked out

 

[skjl47]

Hello; One more thought, my tanks were not stocked real heavy at the time. Not lightly stocked either. As you have untill june to prepare it may be that lighter stocking densities will be a benefit. perhaps you can wait untill after the trip to add more fish?