Trouble what to do? if i'm vacation

[Sjsteveo]

umm so apprantly my mom planned me this trip to go to europe for 2 weeks in december with my sister

uhhhhhhhhhh


HOW ARE MY DWARF PUFFERS GOING TO SURVIVE?

and it gets pretty cold here in dec, should i get a better heater?
who's going to turn off the light?

oh gosh i hope my mom will feed them and turn off the light for me

but as for water changes and the other stuff
UHHHH WHAT SHOULD I DO?

has anyone had this problem before?

[Phaedrus]

Get someone to feed them for you and do water changes

if you have a heater already it should be able to maintain a decent temp

you can get a timer to turn the light on and off automatically

everyone has gone away fr some reason. You jsut have to find someone that you trust to take care of them when you're gone, just like you would for a dog or cat

[kass]

For the light you should get a timer, even for when your are at home, its a lot easier and gives the fish a constant light cycle. A good heater is always good to have. I went away a couple weeks ago for a week and I instructed my mom how to feed my fish and she did a pretty good job.. none were dead and they had fat bellys when I returned. I'm sure she could manage doing a water change also.

[Sjsteveo]

ohh okay well what i was more concerned about is the Water Change

i'm sure my mom can feed them no problem and do the light thing

but she refuses to touch the water, cause she thinks it's too dirty

and i doubt she'll allow my friends in my house cause there's stuff she thinks people are going to steal

SOOOO

i was wondering if i could go 2 weeks without changing the water

[Phaedrus]

You probably could if you did a large water change before and after and instructed whoever was doing the feeding to take it easy and not to over feed.

[Myaj]

Yes, just like Phaedrus said, do a nice big change before you leave and make sure the people feeding don't overfeed, if anything, make sure they underfeed. Less food, less waste, cleaner water.

[Hilly]

To prevent anyone from overfeeding, try and prepare as many portions as possible and label them for what days to feed. Your idea of a portion of food for your fish and someone elses could be very different.

[Pufferpunk]

Dole out daily feedings into small cups. Freeze-dried plankton works well for that. Write days of the week on each. Don't leave anything to chance... ummm... Mom!

[Sjsteveo]

ya mom's pretty crazy about over feeding, even with us the dog so oh gosh my fish would probably be like 20 pounds when i come back, LOL but thanks for the suggestions guys i was worrid i coudln't go cause i had to take care of the fish

[Pufferpunk]

See, no worries!

[saraybe]

when i go out of town i have a good friend take care of the critters, that includes the fish. what i do about feeding habits is kinda strange...i get a pill box from the drug store ( a new one that has large compartments )and clean it well and place the food in there and seal the whole thing up in ziplock bags. then i put them in the fridge or freezer, what is proper. i also type a note of instructions and leave it near the tanks for help if she needs it.

[Myaj]

Saraybe, that's what I do too. Those little weekly pill cases really come in handy and its pretty hard for someone to overfeed since you already have it measured out.

[reginator]

Stick some good quality active carbon in the filter, do a change before you go and everything should be cool. My tanks have a 20% change once every 2 weeks, I have active carbon in my filters and in 10 years of keeping fish I have never had water problems in my established tanks. In fact, when I hear about all these 50% weekly water changes it makes me shudder, how on earth you establish and maintain the micro-fauna/flora in your tanks is a mystery to me

[Myaj]

Well, when you consider nature is constantly "changing" water, and doesn't come anywhere near the stocking levels we do in our tanks, its not such a big surprise that we think constantly providing the fish with "clean" water is a good thing. I see a definately improvement in my fish when they get larger water changes vs smaller, less frequent ones, so that's enough of a reason for me to do it (and I'm notorious for understocking).

I mean, its not like we are breaking down the tanks and scrubbing, just changing some water, vaccuuming the gravel.. and in the process reducing toxins and replenishing nutrients.

[Sjsteveo]

mucho gracias people