going on vacation and need advice on caring for fish

[kelleyincolorad]

Hi! We'll be gone a week and I would like to know the best vacation tactics for our three goldfish and snail.
---is there a good "vacation" food for them?


--What about the light? The room does get indirect sunlight.

any other things I need to know? I do plan on cleaning the tank the day before we leave...

Thanks! Kelley in Colorado

ps- I have tried to find someone who is willing to check on them, but have had no luck

:mad:

[TKOS]

What I would do if it was my tank is to feed them really well leading up to the trip, feed them at the last moment and then not worry about not feeding them for a week. Most goldfish could use a bit of a diet anyway:rolleyes: . I would also do a good water change/tank clean the night before leaving.

Vacation feeding tabs tend to mess up the water and goldfish are not good about leaving some food for later. I guess the best vacation food for a goldfish would be live plants.

Without feeding for a week the goldfish won't produce nearly as much waste and will therefore keep the tank water nicer.

If it were possible can you get someone to drop in 1 time in the middle of the week? Otherwise wouldn't worry. And don't worry about light either, the indirect light will be fine for the fish, just wouldn't be enough for live plants.

[mickey]

Feed your fish just before you leave
and if your sure that you will only
be gone a week then your fish will
cope no problem without being fed.
I have left mine longer.
BTW have you got your lights on a timer
switch, this is very handy when you go on vacation.
Have a nice trip.
Cheers.

[OrionGirl]

Vacation feeders are not a good idea--they release plaster of paris into your water, and can cause cloudy water as well as other bad things. If you can't get a reliable chum to take care of them for you, you are better off reducing the temp a bit and doing a water change before you leave. Healthy fish can live for much longer than one week without food. You will return to sparkling clean water, and hungry fish. This doesn't work for some species--puffers, other predatory fish should be fed regularly. Goldfish and adult community fish will be fine.

You can put some vegetables--zucchini is a good choice-- the day before you leave. Chop it into chunks, and use rocks or clips to secure it somewhere in the tank. The goldfish and the snail will snack on it, and finish it off quickly.

There are also automatic feeders that you can purchase. You set the schedule and fill a trays. The feeder will dump the food in at the scheduled time. These can be a bit pricey, and you'll want to monitor it for a few days to make sure it is feeding appropriately. Flakes and pellets work well with these style feeders.

If it were my tank--I'd just do a water change and go, no worries.

For lights--if you have lights on the tank, pick up a timer and set it to turnt hem on for a few hours each day. Otherwise, leave the lights off. The fish will be fine w/o them, though plants will suffer.

[TKOS]

I have one of those auto feeders and it works great if I go away and want to make sure my tank with fry gets enough food (those crazy platies). But they do tend to feed twice a day so make sure to reduce the amount of food that comes out to a lower setting than you normally would or esle a lot of food will get into the tank.
I managed to get mine for 24$ Canadian.

[anonapersona]

When I leave, someone has to come take care of the cat anyhow, so I make small packets of dry food using wax paper. I tape each tiny packet to the side of the tank. Each one has less than a normal amount of food, but there is a daily amount.

I feel better with someone stopping to look at the tank long enough to see if the filters are running -- short power outages can stop these HOB filters and they may need a nudge to get going.

[val]

Ditto on the advice saying you can easily go a week without feeding. However, if you really want to feed them and don't have the live plants, take a lettuce leaf that's been rinsed and put it in the tank with a clothespin. My GF ignored lettuce (or you can use spinach leaves) for years, until I left them for a 4 day weekend with a lettuce leaf, and now they love it.

Val

[kelleyincolorad]

I want to thank you all for the great advice! I feel okay about leaving our little babies behind now...I am going with the lettuce idea as I cannot bring myself to not feed them for a week...although I am sure you all know what the heck you're talking about and that they would be fine...I would just feel guilty!

I hope to find someone who can check on them to make sure the power is on and all that..but all those people who owe me favors suddenly have too much to do:rolleyes:

I appreciate you all telling me about those vacation plaster of paris things...I had no idea that's what they were made up of! Yuck!!!

We hope to have fun in Phoenix- though it is an in-law visit! My husband is doing a half-Ironman there, too...he's insane...


Thanks again!
Kelley in Colorado