please advise..going on vacation

[cleenw]

I have a 46 gallon bowfront with 5 discus.....4-6". Also a dwarf BN, 3 cardinals, and 2 corys. The tank is fairly new, since February. All fish seem very happy.. In fact my 2 red turquoise spawned for the first time last week (all eggs were eaten).

My problem is that I will be going away for 13 days. I am trying to figure out the best way to care for them.. I do have a friend who can come 2 or 3 times to do WCs. Should I feed them heavily and then doing a major cleaning prior to leaving?

Then I was thinking no feeding on days 1,2,3,then feed on 4th day, do WC on 5th....No feeding days 6,7,8..Feed day 9, WC day 10....no feeding days 11,12,and I will be home on day 13.

What should they be fed on those days? Their normal diet consists of Hikari FBW, frozen mysis shrimp, Wattleys discus formula ( gel cubes) and bits (reluctantly).

Any advise would be greatly appreciated.

[korbi_doc]

:D Hi Cleenw, & welcome to SD, enjoy the ride!...you will get many different opinions on this one....1st, adult fish will do well with no feed, therefore no poop to messup the tank....
Yes, before leaving, do feed heavily & do a large W/C before leaving..then, what I have done is use an auto feeder set for once or twice/day...(be sure to set & use before you leave to assure correct drop).....or/&... HBWs come in frozen cubes, so I leave lg fluorescent notes on each tank with how many cubes to drop in each day, or as in your case, whenever your helper is in; there is never much debris left over from FBWs....this works for me, no way to mistake.....
You are so lucky to have someone to do the W/Cs...this also will help to keep track of what's goin' on....be sure to check all heaters/filters before you leave & leave explicit instructions for any problems, along with your cell# if possible, for peace of mind....
This just works for me, good luck, good trip.....JMO

Dottie ;)

[GrillMaster]

Good advice Dottie! :thumbsup:

Have a great trip!! :)

[alpine]

The advise you got is very Good...the one thing I worry about is that I think there is a Big load in that small of a tank ...not for an everyday well maintained tank but for a tank to be left unattended while in vacation for days... jmo.
Roberto.

[target]

Would the instructions given work for juvenile discus as well? I have the same tank with only 5 discus from 2.5 - 3.5" and will be going away for only a week in July. was thinking that I would feed heavily the day before and do a huge WC then leave them for the week. any advice?

[korbi_doc]

Hey Daniel, when you are talking juvies, you need be more concerned 'bout growth, & in this case think it's more important to set up a feeding schedule before you leave....I had 20 to 25 juvies in a 65g hex tank & left'm for 5 days....had an Eheim feeder set for 2x/day with probably more feed than they needed, which resulted in some mulm...they did fine & I had to do a lg W/C as soon as I got home, which was the next day, since I had to heat the water....was afraid to leave the heater on while I was away, but preparations ahead of time do pay off..they actually did show growth in that short time; if you have anyone to help, the cube FBWs help, but a week should not be a problem...most here on SD will say to not feed at all & for adults, that's fine, JMO,

Dottie;)

[Palue]

May I ask a question here??

I am not picking on the person who posted this first of all so please do not take it that way. I am just trying to understand where the Discus folks come up with the amount of fish per gal of water.

This post states they have 46 gal tank with 5 4-6" fish that equals 9.2 gal per fish.

Now when I post about having 3 fish in a 30 gal tank that equals 10 gal per fish I get jumped on.

Both of the cenerios equal to the same amount of fish per gal one tank is 30 the other 46 but it all works out the same.

Really confused as to "rule of thumb here"

As for vacation, I have my two sons feed our two tanks. When I use dry food I have found that those empty camera film containers work wonders. You put in the amount of food you would feed and all they have to do is open lid and dump. No chance for ever feeding here.

For frozen foods, I love the worm holders. There again they would put in the amount of frozen foods you use in each holder. I use brine, mysis, bloodworms in these holders and they work great. Make sure you have at least 3 for the 5 fish you have.

:angel:

[korbi_doc]

Palue, I'm so sorry you got "jumped on"....the rule of thumb has been 1 fish per 10g....this is an arbitrary number.....kinda so set to give each fish the best advantage for good health....many experienced fish keepers have a higher number of fish than this, but do much larger & more frequent W/Cs to offset the problems.....I've not seen your thread, but maybe the reason you got "jumped on" was the small tank & the small # of fish.....discus do better in larger #s, & most ppl will say to start with a minimum of 6 fish for better acclimation, less territorial aggression & "comfort" in larger #s......
It sure sounds like your "vacations" will be well handled with having great sons like that to care for your fish....good for you!!
Please don't feel like ppl are being nasty to you, they just get a lil' bit over anxious about the treatment of their "kings".......JMO,

Dottie

[Palue]

I realize that completely. We all bend the rules at one time or another. I have been in the FW hobby for over 20 years and always put the interest of the fish first. I guess it is just frusterating sometimes when you read the replies.

Discus are truly beautiful and amazing fish no doubt about that. When they are hard to get and very dear in price one grabs what you can at that moment. So this is why I have just the one, but I do have another one coming my way this Thursday as a friend whom is taking down her just has the one. Free Discus oh ya I won't turn that down at anytime.

I don't know how this is going to work but my plans are to completley move everything around including taking out the one discus I have and putting them both in at the same time, hopefully this will not cause any problems that way.

I did not mean for it to sound like I am being picked on but it just seemed so weird that it was okay for one to have 1 fish per 10 gal and not another.

:angel: