Preparation for Holiday

One of the benefits of having pet fish is the flexibility to go away on holiday. Thanks to their independent nature, feeding blocks and helpful friends or neighbours, providing holiday care whilst you are away is relatively stress free for all involved including your fish! This article runs through a few considerations that need to be made prior to departure that will help ensure your fish stay happy and healthy whilst you are away.

Water Quality
The most important factor to consider when going on holiday is the stability of water chemistry whilst you are away. This includes temperature, aeration (oxygenation) and most importantly waste products such as ammonia, nitrite and nitrate. Whilst on holiday your usual tank or pond maintenance programme will be on pause, so toxic waste products can start to creep up. Prolonged exposure to high levels of ammonia and nitrite are directly toxic to your fish and will reduce their immunity, opening them up to disease.

Irrelevant of whether you feed your fish whilst you are away or not, your fish will continue to produce waste (in the form of ammonia) through the gills and faeces. If your filter is established and functioning well then the biofilter will continue to process toxic ammonia as it always has and you shouldn’t have any issues with waste products whilst you are away.

Problems tend to arise when excess waste is produced for some reason whilst you are away. Common causes of excess waste production include inappropriate sized feeding blocks and over-zealous friends and neighbours overfeeding your fish. Combining these causes with the added factors such as the lack of routine water changes or water quality monitoring, waste products can start to build up and harm your fish. Thankfully there are several ways to avoid this from happening which are detailed below.

Feeding

There are several options for feeding fish whilst you are away on holiday. For tanks and aquariums, one option is to use a feeding block which once dropped into the tank will release small pieces of food periodically to keep your fish satiated. Feeding blocks are available in a variety of sizes capable of feeding a solitary goldfish for a weekend up to feeding a bustling community tank for up to two weeks. Make sure to select an appropriate sized feeding block for the duration of your holiday and the number of fish in the tank or pond. Oversized blocks will overfeed your fish which could lead to an ammonia spike. If unsure, it is advisable to under feed rather than over feed. A few days without food will not be detrimental to your fish but a significant ammonia spike will be. For this reason, for short weekends away, not offering any food at all is acceptable.

For ponds (and also tanks) another option includes the use of automatic feeders which spurt out a set amount of food at programmed times. These units often sit next to a pond or can be attached to the side of your tank. Automatic feeders are a popular option with koi keepers, especially those feeding 5-6 times a day for maximal growth rates. Be mindful that these gadgets can block or be knocked over by the wind or other animals. I’ve also heard of cases where automatic feeder units have malfunctioned and emptied the entire food contents into to pond in go which for obvious water quality reasons, needs to be avoided!

A simple remedy to the above (one that might require a bit of negotiating and encouragement) is to ask a kind friend, family member or neighbour to feed the fish for you. Avoid the risk of over feeding by physically showing your friend/neighbour/family member how much you feed in one sitting.
“I feed them a pinch” is quite subjective and will be vary considerably person to person.

Miscellaneous

Set your aquarium lights on a timer to maintain daily cyclical patterns. If this is not possible, turn the aquarium lights off for the duration of your holiday and use ambient room lighting as the source of light whilst you are away. This will mean keeping blinds up or curtains open to allow daylight in.
Do not be tempted to leave your aquarium lights on for the entirety of your trip as this will be very stressful to your fish and could result in disease.

If travelling away during hot weather it is very important to ensure you leave air stones running for water movement and aeration. This is especially important for young growing fish, large fish and reproductively active female fish. All of which have greater oxygen demands.

For ponds visited regularly by local predators, ensure all protection devices are in place and working well prior to your departure.

Return Home

On your return home start by visually assessing your fish, checking all fish are present and correct. Remove any undissolved feeding block and turn off any automated feeders. Perform a standard water change (should be no more that 20-30%) and check water quality is as normal. If necessary, start a series of daily water changes if any elevations in waste products are identified. To review what to do in the event of waste product spike click here for tanks and click here for ponds.

and finally… happy holidays!