advice needed for an absence of 3 weeks

[sophie68]

Hello all!
I am going to Paris then to the south of France to visit my parents and friends form June 13th to early August. I have an 80 gallon tank with 8 discus in it. The largest ones are about 4". The others are about 3". Someone will be there daily to check on the cats:D The only guy who would come for tank maintenance charges 1 dollar per gallon of water changed!!!!!! At 75 bucks (yep, he gave me a discount!) a water change and I know he won't do anything else....., I can only afford one a week!!! I think that price is outrageous...Anyway, what would you do regarding food? I think they should only be fed ONCE a day max so the water stays relatively clean. Would you do frozen bloodworms or beefheart????? My fish are used to one 50 % change every other day (can't do more as I use my tap water). Any recommandation??????
There is also a GN pleco in there, 3 albino BNs, 5 sterbai cories, and 16 cardinals. I am a bit nervous about the whole thing....:confused: :confused:
Just wanted to add the people coming to feed the cats know nothing about fish and are willing to feed them but NOT willing to do anything else, which is fair enough!!!! I have an Eheim PRO II 2028 and a sponge filter.

Thanks!
Sophie

[mmorris]

Hi Sophie,
I was gone for three weeks last winter, like every winter, and I hire the teenager next door. I think I paid her $100 total last winter and I usually have seven tanks running. I paste a number on each tank and leave instructions for each number. I only had one discus tank. I asked her to do water changes every four days on the discus tank and left step-by-step, very detailed, instructions. I left a piece of wax to represent the amount of frozen bloodworms I wanted her to feed each tank daily. I left a saucer with the amount of flake and pellets I wanted her to put in the automatic feeder and detailed instructions on how to do that. No beefheart. I cut the amount of food well back from what I normally give.
Then, I paid her $10 to do a water change with me. I read each step of the instructions and she had to implement them. I could see exactly where I needed to make amendments to the instructions. So far, I come home to clean tanks and happy fish. My discus are used to frequent water changes but once every four days with less food was fine. I also got permission to allow her to write to the forum for help if necessary. I've had adults do it in the past and she does a better job. If you hire a teenager, make sure a parent is on board who will support him/her. This girl lives next door and she said she really enjoys popping over and taking care of them. She really got attached to the discus. I have many fond memories of Paris and of southern France. Have fun. Martha

[fishmama]

Hi Sophie-

I was gone for two weeks and did very much the same as Martha! Cut way, way back on food. I had only adult and sub-adult fish. A neighbor who likes fish and had several tanks in the past came over one afternoon and we went thru "training and note taking" for quite awhile. I only had her come over every other day to feed minimally and make sure heaters and filters working. So..in 15 days they were fed 7 times.

She did not do water changes. I did large changes prior to leaving and slowed down on feeding prior to leaving as well. I have heard fish can go for 2 weeks without food! The less the better I guess.

I sent her and her family a Cookie Bouquet after we got back! Both she, the kids and hubby liked coming over and seeing the fish!

Good luck!
Lisa

[pheonix]

My LFS told me there is these thing call Holiday Food.

It will dissolve or cloud water can last up to 2 weeks I think.

Perhaps check it out.

But dunno what to do about the water changes

[steve.ryall]

Sophie,

I am going to have a similar problem in July too.
I am going to be away for just under 3 weeks, but don't panic just yet. In Andrew Soh's book he gives advice on holidays, I don't have the book with me right now, but it goes something like this, but I have my bit first...

My bit, feed your fish up for at least a month before or start now, this will give them some bulk and they will be able to store some 'fat'

Andrew says: "Stop feeding 2 days before you are due to leave, do a 60% water change. The day you leave do a 100% water change, making sure you get rid of all the faeces and uneaten food. The fish should be ok for 2 weeks".

If going for longer, he recommends a single water change per week, and a small feed of a dried food (tetra bits) as it wont foul the water too much.

I think this is close to what he says, if it is different I will edit later when I get home, unless anyone has the book to hand and can correct me.

Luckily, I am training up my father to do mine for me, one or 2 changes /week, light feeding, I know mine are fat anyway lol, so I am not too worried about them. Your 'changer' chap sound like a bit of a con artist IMO. Anyway, I hot that helps a bit.

Steve

[senso]

From my experience and others, - Do NOT use holiday food or blocks. They will dissolve and cloud the water, polluting the water and affecting the filters.
Cut back on feedings

[Polar_Bear]

I think both Martha's idea and her implimentation of it are pretty much ideal. We will be gone for a couple of weeks in July (going to the ACA convention) but I happen to have many members here in close proximity to me, so Squiggy will be looking after my fish for me. While I am lucky in having someone like him, I think if the my circumstances were different I would do exactly as Martha suggests.

[April]

holiday blocks are for community fish..dont do it. discus cant eat tiny dissolved powdery substance..
id stick to something very clean like hikari bloodworm cubes. one cube every second day at most..and get someone to come in and do a wc once a week or every 4 days. make sure you find a nice teenager..not a partying cool dude..or chick. a nice girl who likes to read..go to your local church and find one if you dont have a neighbour whos a nice kid. make sure if they do wcs..and you have a siphon type draining system...they dont wander off..tell them to stay and watch..while draining and filling. how about a python setup so its easy for them?

[JeffreyRichard]

Hello all!
I am going to Paris then to the south of France to visit my parents and friends form June 13th to early August.

Did you mean July 13 to early August? This is more like 10 weeks ...

First of all, I go away quite a bit ... I have over 20 tanks, turtles, cat ... at one time I did a 3 week x-country trip while my hatchery was up and running (150 tanks). So it can be done with success.

I do think you'll need to be prepared to pay something ... $150 - $200 for 3 weeks of cat and fish sitting is reasonable. But $75 for a water changes is a bit high. You should definately look for a neighbor to help ... train a 14-17 year old; someone you trust. They tend to be diligent; $100 is quite an incentive for a young teen. Make sure you talk to the parents and detail the directions.

Short of a teen ... where do you live? Maybe someone on the board lives near you and might be willing to do something (weekly water changes). How about the local fish club?

Feeding - cut WAY back. Once a day is more than enough ... every other day is OK. This will keep your water cleaner. Don't worry about stunting them; for 3 weeks they'll be no adverse affect on adult fish. Also, NO beefheart. Beefheart will foul your water quickly. Feed frozen bloodworms, frozen mysis shrimp, frozen plankton, frozen daphnia. These foods, based on my experience, produce the least mess and will keep your water cleaner longer.

Consider getting another filter (Aquaclear 300) and putting it on your tank. Throw in one or two Chemipure bags ... Chemipure is a carbon/resin mix that does a great job removing pollutants. This would be a safety net allowing you to get away with less water change. Plus the extra filter provides more biological filtration; and is a backup for your main filter (because if the filter is going to fail, it will of course do so when your away, probably Day 3 ...)

Good luck.

[sophie68]

Hi everybody,:)

Thanks very much for all your great suggestions. I did mean July 13th to early Aug. Just was typing in a rush!!!! ;) Three weeks it is. I also think that this guy is taking advantage of me all the more so since I used to buy angelfish from him....Anyway, I might have to go with him if I can't find anyone else... I live in Elkins Park, outside Philly, and it's mainly older people who live here!!!! No teenagers.....I am kind of stuck.... Food every other day sounds good. I don't like these food blocks either. I have a 75 feet Python as I have to connect it to my basement faucet which is pretty far. I will keep trying to find someone else for my W/C.

Will keep you posted!:)
Sophie

[Elcid]

Hey Sophie:

I haven't read all the replies to your question so forgive me if I'm repeating. I normally do take 3 week vacations every year and have someone with no fish experience take care of my fish. Here's what works for me:

(1) The water is not changed, however I have a 30 gallon drum filled with RO water that is used to top off the tank as required. You will be surprised how much evaporation you get so topping off the tank is important. You could use bucket but I have a pump with a hoze attached so it's pretty easy for the person to keep the tank full.

(2) The fish are fed only 2 times a week with frozen bloodworm cubes. I predetermine how many cubes my fish can eat within 2 or 3 minutes and this is how much is added to each tank. I would rather my fish get no food than have uneaten food sitting in the tank. This is what I advise the person taking care of my fish. Also the method of feeding is to add 2 cubes, if my fish agressively eat it then to add the rest or I have phone # on the Fridge to call me :)

(3) I leave a box of baking soda and ask her to add one teaspoon every week (regardless of tank size). This I believe helps keep the pH stable.

HTH,
Sandeep

[Greg Richardson]

Anyway, I might have to go with him if I can't find anyone else... I live in Elkins Park, outside Philly, and it's mainly older people who live here!!!!

Ask around and see if any of your neighbors use a care giver service. Contact the person and see if they can stop by your place after they take care of their client near you after hours.
This needs to be on their own time not inbetween clients to be fair to the company they work for.
Do a practice wc, feeding, cleaning, before you go.
Place food amounts in pill box containers the kind that are marked for days of the week.

[Kindredspirit]

Sophie,

I am going to have a similar problem in July too.
I am going to be away for just under 3 weeks,Steve


Where ya goin, Steve?:D


Sophie! You have a great time! I used to live in France...a long time ago:p