What do you do for vacay?

[captmicha]

What do you do with your cichlids (and other aggressive fish) when you go away for a few days?

Don't want to come back to find they've gotten pissy when hungry and killed each other.

I've got most of my cichlids in big tanks with cover but that seems to have made them even more conspecific aggressive.

Is getting a person to come by and feed the only way if you have a lot of tanks and auto feeders isn't a suitable option? Any luck with those vacation feeder blocks?

Or do you just never travel and stay home and watch your fish (doesn't sound half bad!).

 

[chriscoli]

I've left my fishroom on "coast" while out of town for two weeks at a time, and through several surgeries where I couldn't tend to it for 3 to 4 weeks.

When I was out of town, I put automatic feeders on only the fry. I like this one.
I do huge waterchanges before, clean the filters, make sure all sponges/mattenfilters are flowing well. Adult fish do ok on their own for a while and since you're not feeding them, the water quality stays high. I also let my fishroom stay on the cool side when I'm not there.

If I've been gone a while, when I get back I start by feeding everyone very lightly with a veggie diet for a few days. It may be my own superstition, but I feel that it gives the fish and the filter bacteria time to ease back into things.

If I'm away for more than 2 weeks, I try to have someone check on things.

 

[FishEggs]

I just went away for a week a few weeks ago. I cleaned the filters per schedule. No special cleanings for the others that werent scheduled. It was only gonna be a week away and without feeding for the week water wont get any worse.

Only other thing i did was added a bunch of stem plants to float around from an over grown tank into the one tank i have that have plant nibblers so they wouldnt mow down all the plants i have growing in their tank because they are hungrier. And i did put a couple vacation tabs in my fry/grow out tank but they are older/bigger juvenile now so not too susceptible to die from a week without food. There is also an established shrimp colony in that tank too.

All was well when i got home without feeding them for a week and i continued on my schedule. I fed a little more when i got home to see if it would trigger any spawning. Didnt notice any.

 

[mchambers]

I agree with Christine and Matt. I’m finishing a two week vacation today. All I did before I left was water changes and regular feedings. I’ve done this several times without problems. I actually think it’s good for my fish (mostly South and Central Americans), most of which experience dry seasons in the wild. (Ian Fuller mentioned using simulated dry seasons to get Corydoras to spawn.). I don’t know if African lake cichlids benefit from this.

In fact, I’m coming home only for two days, then going away for three more. I’ll do water changes and feed them for two days, but then my fish will have another fast.

 

[finzz]

I do about the same as most of you: just make sure the tanks aren't (too) overcrowded before I leave and let them be. If there are any fry at critical periods in their development, I try and make sure they're in a well established tank with lots of surface area and no predators.

 

[mchambers]

I returned last night from a two week trip, and all my tanks seem fine. No dead fish to be seen. I fed everyone and will do water changes today or tomorrow, and feed them again today and tomorrow, then go out of town for three more days. I'll probably end the simulated dry season on Sunday and do some big water changes and feed heavily next week. Maybe I'll get some spawning from fish that are hard to spawn.

 

[rsanz]

I do a large-ish water change (50-60%) with a good gravel/sand bed vacuuming. I don't change feeding habits before the "last supper". This past trip I was away for 11 days. Everyone did fine and I had no losses, even my 2 L333 juveniles which I was most worried about. That's the way I've always done it (I did it this way once a few years back for 17 days, admittedly pushing it) and everything went fine.

I agree with Christine that maybe for juvies or fry you might consider an auto feeder, but sub-adults and adults should be fine to fast for 7 or 10 days.

 

[mchambers]

It makes complete sense that juveniles or fry would have a greater need for food than adult fish. Having said that, a few years ago we went on a two-week vacation and I carefully set auto feeders on all of my tanks, including one 10 gallon tank that had a bunch of various types of fry in it. When we got home, I discovered that the auto feeder on that tank had malfunctioned and not dispensed any food, but all the fish were fine! The tank had a lot of moss and other plants in it, so it may have harbored a lot of live food for the fry.

That trip was when I learned that fish can be just fine without food for two weeks.

 

[chriscoli]

It makes complete sense that juveniles or fry would have a greater need for food than adult fish. Having said that, a few years ago we went on a two-week vacation and I carefully set auto feeders on all of my tanks, including one 10 gallon tank that had a bunch of various types of fry in it. When we got home, I discovered that the auto feeder on that tank had malfunctioned and not dispensed any food, but all the fish were fine! The tank had a lot of moss and other plants in it, so it may have harbored a lot of live food for the fry.

That trip was when I learned that fish can be just fine without food for two weeks.

I totally agree. If there's a lot of moss or places where they can pick at microfauna, the fry will be fine. Driftwood/leaves can provide this, a well-used foam or mattenfilter can provide this too.

 

[DiscusnAfricans]

Great information! I think under feeding is better than over feeding in most cases.

On the flip side of Matt's story, I heard someone went on a vacation one time and set auto feeders on their tanks. On at least one, the feeder malfunctioned and dumped too much food into the tank. All of the fish in that tank died because the water became too fouled up without being cleaned.

 

[chriscoli]

Great information! I think under feeding is better than over feeding in most cases.

On the flip side of Matt's story, I heard someone went on a vacation one time and set auto feeders on their tanks. On at least one, the feeder malfunctioned and dumped too much food into the tank. All of the fish in that tank died because the water became too fouled up without being cleaned.

Automatic feeders are tricky for this exact reason. That's why I like a specific brand in the link above. I know the maximum amount of food that will be dispensed each day. worst case, it doesn't dispense any. And I can mix/alternate food types or skip specific days.