Going Away for 3 Months, Maybe....What to do witih fish and tank?

Hello,

I have a dilemma, or may have one in the next few months I may be selected for a job that requires me to go to the east coast for training ( I live on west coast) for three months, it is a requirement of the job to be able to start working and keep the job. I have a great tank with really hardy, excellent fish that I want to keep, or at the very least don't want to see suffer and put under stress. I was just wondering if anyone out there has some ideas or options I have not thought of?

I have been doing some research and found a bacterial microbe system for sale at chain LFS that boasts no water changes needed for a year while using their system, so that may take care of my water change issues, not really sure if this system is proven, or even a good idea, any thoughts on this?

My other issue is feeding, I know there are auto feeders out there, but are there ones that can last for 3 months without needing a refill? I am among the once a day feeding crowd.

My other thought is to attempt to sell them/ or give them to LFS, so they do not suffer, etc. while I am away.

Aquarium service would be way too expensive, and shipping the fish would be costly and stressful.


The obvious answer would be to have someone take care of the fish for me, but I live in a single bedroom apartment, no roomates, and no neighbors I trust, and no coworkers that live within a commutable distance to my residence. Just moved out here, basically all people I know are back east.

 

Where in California do you live?

 

Welcome to the forum

If you don't have anyone to come feed them, and don't want to pay someone to do it for you, then your best option would be to see if the LFS will hold them for you. You'll probably have to pay for it though. You might find a fishlore member near you that could take them in while you are gone. Otherwise, given the circumstances, I'd say you would have to just give them up.

 

Won't you be coming home at all, during that 3-month period?
Edit: BTW - to fishlore

 

If you can not work out a fish sitter, re-home the fish and break the tank down.

 

I would not break the tank down. If the tank has glass tops the water will not evaporate, and there is a good chance that the bacteria colony will still be alive. Probably not strong enough to immediately restock the tank, but I would expect it to be able to be revived pretty easily, which would prevent them from having to cycle the tank all over again.

 

I would not break the tank down. If the tank has glass tops the water will not evaporate, and there is a good chance that the bacteria colony will still be alive. Probably not strong enough to immediately restock the tank, but I would expect it to be able to be revived pretty easily, which would prevent them from having to cycle the tank all over again.

Good point.

 

Wouldnt the same be true if not more so if he broke it down and sried out the filter. I was under the assumption the bacteria would go dormant and not die doing this.

 

Wouldnt the same be true if not more so if he broke it down and sried out the filter. I was under the assumption the bacteria would go dormant and not die doing this.

 

One option not mentioned, actually a combination of options:

Re-home the fish so you don't have to worry about them if something goes wrong.

Automatic feeder putting just a pinch in the tank per day. This will keep feeding the bacteria for a while anyway.

I know folks say that water doesn't evaporate from a tank with a glass top, my experience over several decades is that it does indeed evaporate. It is very dependent on the moisture in the surrounding air and the temperature difference. My 20 gal, with a glass top, evaporates about an inch per week.

In light of the above, a simple top-off system will work, I used one for my Reef years ago. A simple (inexpensive) float switch in the tank, a Rubbermaid tub with top-off water, and an inexpensive power head (or small pump) will do the trick. With this added peace of mind, your water level will not fall below that required by the filters.

This wouldn't be a perfect, fool-proof system, but I think it would increase your chances of still having a cycled tank when you return.

As an alternative, does anyone know if freezing, or refrigerating the BB (filter media) would be feasible? To me that sounds more fool-proof than drying it. Generally refrigeration/freezing only inhibits the growth of bacteria, doesn't destroy it.

Just some thoughts of what I may try if I were in your shoes.

 

My humidity is very low - currently 33%, and that's in a room with 160 gallons of glass topped aquarium. Air temp is 72 - tanks are about 78. The amount of water I lose week to week is not even measurable. I imagine that after 3 months I might lose an inch


I know freezing TSS (or just letting it get too cold) renders it useless. Not sure if that's true of bacteria on actual media.

 

interesting. I have not done this myself, I instead make sure I have at least one extra sponge filter running always. The only thing I know it has worked with months old dried media is a biowheeel filter. There was also some gravel and a big decoration from an established tank, but I know it cycled within a day or two.

It seemed to me that your experiment was working but then your bb got overwhelmed or something. I don't know. its interesting none the less.

 

The reason I did the experiment was because someone had come to the forum a while back and set up their tank that had been stored for a period of time. They added water and apparently their bacteria came back to life. Since then it was something I had wanted to test.

 

Hello,

No I would be stuck in Maryland doing some training, and wouldnt be able to come back and/or leave the place. It would be for federal job, so they suck about allowing you to leave the training facilities, I went through a similar training about 2 years ago for a diff fed job.

I am not sure if they have given me a final selection yet though for the job. So I was just seeing if there were options I had not thought of.

Elena, I will shoot you a PM if I do in fact get selected, and if your near me, see what can be worked out because I really do like my fish.

Mrs. M, I live in So. Cal.

Thanks forum members for advice, I will start asking LFS things, and if the time does come, now I have some more ideas to research.

I also liked the idea of kee ping my tank running without fish, and having my bacteria filter survive using auto feeder and the top off powerhead system.

 

Send me a pm too - I am in Northern California and travel up and down the bay area 2 times a week as it is

 

Hello,

No I would be stuck in Maryland doing some training, and wouldnt be able to come back and/or leave the place. It would be for federal job, so they suck about allowing you to leave the training facilities, I went through a similar training about 2 years ago for a diff fed job.

I am not sure if they have given me a final selection yet though for the job. So I was just seeing if there were options I had not thought of.

Elena, I will shoot you a PM if I do in fact get selected, and if your near me, see what can be worked out because I really do like my fish.

Mrs. M, I live in So. Cal.

Thanks forum members for advice, I will start asking LFS things, and if the time does come, now I have some more ideas to research.

I also liked the idea of kee ping my tank running without fish, and having my bacteria filter survive using auto feeder and the top off powerhead system.

Okey dokey. I am also a SO Cal resident, so who knows? We may be close.

That's an I in my username, not an L, which will matter if you try to pm me

 

Oh doh! I didn't see the so. Calif part.. sorry

Sent from my Samsung Galaxy S3 using Forum Runner

 

Good morning,

If you want to keep your fish and your tanks running while you are away for 3 months, I would highly recommend that you get to know your neighbors and not depend on people from an open forum that you have never even seen before. You do not know where these people live, you do not know them, you've never even seen them.

As for members offering to help, same goes for you. You do not know this member and going to a strangers house is not something that I would ever even consider especially when the stranger says they aren't going to be home. If you do decide to help this member, then I highly suggest that you NOT go alone.

Please be careful about giving out personal information on the internet!

I think all of you need to think twice before offering your services. Everything may very well be on the up and up, but this forum is open for the world to see and you just never know. Text on a screen is one thing, real life is another.

I'm simply asking that all of you use caution.

Best wishes for your tank and fish. I hope you can work it out.

Ken

 

I left my fish to take a vacation around 1 month, no food, no water change, after I was back, they were still alive there. I guess it all depends how big your tank is and how many fishes, how hardy you fish is and how much food you put on.

My tank is 10 gallon with only one convict.

I guess you can try to get more plant, put lights on, give up some big fishes and use automatic feeder.

If it works, it would be fun.

 

I live in Southern California, but as I've discovered, it's a very big state. I live near Temecula.

 

Hello,

No I would be stuck in Maryland doing some training, and wouldnt be able to come back and/or leave the place.
[...]
I also liked the idea of kee ping my tank running without fish, and having my bacteria filter survive using auto feeder and the top off powerhead system.

Why have your tank running without fish? If you are going to have it running while you are away - I would think your fish would be best off staying in their 'home'.
Without the possibility of coming home during your absence, I'd risk leaving the tank without waterchanges during that period (make a big wc some days before leaving) and get an automatic food dispencer.
Get a timer for your lights.
Get a computer UPS and hook the filter to it. Even if you have a power outtage, for some hours the filter will keep going, the bacteria will be fine and no trouble with priming while you are away...
Set the feeder to dispence the minimum possible amount of food, in the widest intervals - feeding will last longer, maybe the whole three months. Even if it doesn't, your fish won't be without food as long as if you don't get an auto-feeder...

BTW: I second the advice given by Ken.
It's not bad to ask for other forum-member to help, but be wary about what personal info you share in public sites (like this forum). I know, nothing has been shared - yet. Keep it that way. Use PM's. Always!
Also, get acquainted in RL before leaving - and NEVER enter other people's homes alone!