Keep a Fish from Dying While You Are on Holiday
When you go away on vacation, your fish still need to be cared for. There are various things you can do to ensure that they stay happy and healthy while you're gone, depending on the amount of time you're going to be away.
Contents
Steps
Preparing for leaving
- Plan for the length of your absence. If you are gone a couple of days, most fish should be fine without food. If you are on a month long trip, your fish will require food.
- Understand the risks. Whenever you leave your fish to travel, there will always be risks. If you have rare and expensive fish, always make sure that you have the proper care plan laid out, and make sure it is as foolproof a plan as possible.
- Plan according to the type of fish you have. Different fish have different dietary needs. Be sure to know exactly what kinds of fish you have.
- Carnivores require live food and/or carnivore pellets.
- Omnivores: A large amount of fish fall into this category. Most fish in this group could be fed a food block(bought from a local fish store). Feeder blocks work by encasing food in a block of minerals that dissolves gradually in water over several days. For omnivores with a stricter diet of pellets and dried foods, use the automatic vacation feeder as described in the carnivore section.
- Herbivores: These are fish with a vegetable and plant diet. If you can feed them dried seaweed or vegetables, then use the vacation feeder. If they must get fresh vegetables than it would be best to get someone to come over and feed your fish.
Choosing the care arrangements
- Know your options. There are several methods of feeding fish during your absence. The length of your vacation will impact your choice but it is always a good idea to have someone check now and then, especially if the electricity goes off in your area (which only a neighbor will know about).
- Get a vacation feeder and fill the compartments with the correct food for your fish. The feeder will automatically release food into the water according to a schedule that you program into it. This method is only suitable for fish that take pellet and flake like foods, as it will not hold bloodworms and other live foods. Freeze-dried bloodworms are available.
- Put feeder fish of varied sizes in the tank. It is key to put different sized feeder fish into the tank as the predator will eat some first, and some later, according to size. Do not put live worms into the tank as they will foul up your water.
- Use a feeder block. Go to your local pet store and buy a suitable feeder block for your fish. It's best to experiment with a few before you go away, as some fish will reject certain feeder blocks. Place the block into the bottom of the fish tank on the day you go away. If you are going away for a long time, organize for someone to come replace the feeder block every 5 to 7 days.
- Have someone come over and feed your fish. This is the best method, especially if your fish are picky eaters, but make sure that they have enough time to feed your fish, and know how, when and what to feed them.
- Provide live plants or vegetables. With some fish you could place a large clump of vegetables in the tank with a weight, and they would eat it over time. Even if you don't like zucchini, it's possible your fish will.
- Combine these methods to care for a variety of fish. It is possible to satisfy two of the groups, as omnivores can eat carnivore and herbivore's food.
- Still, if you have different groups of fish diets in your tank, all with their own special food, it would be best to get someone who can spend enough time to make sure each group is satisfied.
- Cover your tank securely. Fish like Bichirs and spiny eels tend to crawl out of holes in your tank, so make sure there are no escape points where the fish could get out. If you have a pond and need to prepare it for the winter, now would not be the time to leave.
Having someone attend to your fish
- Get somebody to take care of your fish. Ask around. Sometimes pet shops have services where you pay them to come over and feed your fish.
- Unknown people have full access to your house. This makes it important that the person you choose is properly vetted or is known to you. If you do not feel comfortable with strangers in your house, ask a family member or a friend. Alternatively, a pet sitting service whose clients have been police verified can be an alternative, although more costly.
- Talk to your fish-sitter about your fish before you leave. Tell them everything they need to know, especially about how much to feed, and also leave a written instruction sheet for their reference. If you can't find anyone at all to take care of your fish, it would be best not to leave. If you do, you are taking extreme risks, and it is likely your fish won't survive.
Ensuring water health
- Keep the fish tank clean. You really don't need to worry about this too much. Before you go on vacation, do a water change within the week before you leave. Make sure that if you have someone coming over to feed your fish they know how much to feed, and won't pollute your water. Clean your tank again soon after you return.
- Test your water when you come back. Hopefully, nothing went wrong while you were gone, but check for any spikes in ammonia, nitrite, or nitrate. You may have to perform large water changes until your water is back to normal.
Tips
- Try vacation feeding methods while you are home to clean up and correct problems. That way, you can leave and be confident that they will still work.
- When you let someone feed your fish, it's a good idea to leave them with a small container with your fishes daily amount of food for each day. That way they won't overfeed them.
- Go by what your fish needs. Some fish are specialists. They require odd food, different care, etc. With these fish it would be best to get someone to take care of your fish.
- If you have ponds make sure they are well guarded. Natural predators and humans will sometimes kill your fish while you are gone.
- Before you even get fish, you should figure out what you are going to do with them on vacation. It is good to plan in advance.
- Get an electric timer and time the light to come on during the day and go off during the night. If your bulbs are old, change them out before you go.
- Ponds also will require you to look up the weather. Depending on your pond and the time of year, you might have to get someone to look after it.
- No matter how good your vacation methods are, it is still a good idea to get someone you completely trust to feed and care for your fish.
Warnings
- Remember: The longer your trip, the more dangerous it could be to your fish. Fish-keepers with expensive and picky fish should not leave for more than a week. Two weeks at maximum.
- If you are going to get someone to come over and look after your fish, make sure you trust the 100% before giving them your house keys. A few dead fish is better than a sacked house.
- One feeder block won't feed an entire large tank. For tanks with a lot of fish you should put in more than one.
