Archivarium 2004

[Brookie86]

I've seen many posts on this board about people going on vacation but I still have a few more questions. I am going away for a week and have tried to find someone to feed my fish while I was gone but that seems to be impossible. I have a 10 gallon tank with 2 mollies 1 guppy and 2 plattys. I also have a nursing tank that is currently holding 8 or 9 fry (diff species). Don't worry I do not plan on keeping all of the fry I know that if I did my tank would be very overstocked. This nursing tank hangs on the inside of the 10 gal. I've read that people can just leave and their fish are fine when they get back as long as they are not gone too long. I'll only be gone a week but my concern is the fry. would they be able to survive that long? I've put gravel and fake plants in their little nursing tank so theres plenty of spaces and such that food ends up in.

One more question. Does anyone know about how big the fry have to be before you can release them back into the tank? Six of them are about one month old now and two of those are a little over 1/2 an inch. Is that big enough?? My other fish in the tank are no bigger than 2-2 1/2 inches. thanks in advance for your time.

[Honeyrobber]

Your adult fish will be fine. If you have a lot of hiding places for the 1/2 inch fish they should be fine to be released. a lot of LFSs sell a tablet that the fish can feed on. A brand I used was called weekenders as they were to only last about 3 days but that was 12 years or more ago. I left fr 2 weeks and had no problems from adult fish but lost a few fish that were about 1/4 inch when I left and many of these made it.
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Honeyrobber(beekeeper) and Killifish lover and ex livebearer breeder(may or may not get back into them now I am disabled and have to much free time)

[cindywindy]

Brookie,

Do be careful with the tablet fish feeders if you decide to go that route- many of them are enormous tablets that are FAR more than our fish will ever eat and, left to decay in the water, will cause an ammonia and nitrIte spike. I have a friend who came home to some fish losses as a result of those ... but the good news is that Walmart sells some battery-operated automatic feeders for around $10 or so that you connect to the side of your tank, fill with food, and designate how much to feed your fish. This same friend purchased several of these for all his tanks after his last episode and was completely satisfied with the results and with no losses.
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cindywindy
Owner/Administrator
TFH Magazine's Webforum
www.tropicalresources.net

[benedictj]

I second Cindy windy. Also, I would be wary about which auto feeders you purchase.

Initially, I used a pen plax rotating feeder and found that it actually overfed as well, my tank was completely covered with brown algae upon my return home on two occasions. The next time I went out of town I marched out and bought two of the Hagen programable feeders which gave me much, much more control of the amount of food going into the tank. Big drawback- they carry a price tag of $50 a piece.

Also, as to leaving them without food, I wouldn't take that risk for a full week. I have personally done 3 days without feeding, even then my fish looked a little lean when I got home. If you can wrangle somebody to come in once to feed in the middle of your vaca, you should be fine.
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Best,

Jake

[Brookie86]

thank you for all of your responses on the vacation. I think I'll probably get someone who could come once or twice instead of everyday which was a problem.

Honeyrobber:
When you say hiding places does that mean that the fry will still have to hide or will be in danger? Will they ever come out? Sorry I would really like the little guys to survive.

[Honeyrobber]

1/2 inch fry will be shy around the bigger fish. The hiding places are more for their comfort than safety from the other fish but the stress of not having a hiding place at first can kill them. Anytime you add new fish(even though they are in the same tank but seperated) there is a time period inwhich they do not belong. Older fish still need a place to hide for a few days until they can sort out who is the boss and who has what territory. Most livebearer that are well fed will not eat larger fry like 1/2 to 3/4 an inch.
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Honeyrobber(beekeeper) and Killifish lover and ex livebearer breeder(may or may not get back into them now I am disabled and have to much free time)

[fiffy]

[nonamethefish]

I would suggest getting someone to come feed the fish once in the middle of the vacation. Make the portions very small and be sure to make sure they understand this is all they need.

[haname]

To make sure the fish get the right portion, it might be helpful to actually portion out the food for them, seal each portion in a small plastic resealable bag and have your helper just put the portion in the tank. Then they might be less likely to be tempted to add more food.
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Happy fishkeeping!

~Haname

[Susan Wright]