Is it possible to take a holiday when you're an aquarium owner? It is if you prepare ahead of time.
Preparation, preparation, preparation. Whether it’s two weeks in the sun, or shivering in the alps, you don't want to be panicking about your aquarium. But simple preparation will put your mind at ease.
Ways to Feed Fish While on Holiday
The thing that aquarium keepers worry about most is how to ensure adequate feeding. You have four options: fasting, holiday foods, automatic holiday aquarium feeders, or a fish sitter. Which of these you choose will largely depend on how long you’re planning on going away for.
1. Fasting
Fasting is the easiest option, but it does depend on what fish you have.
For tiny species (like Boraras) or fish lacking stomachs (like pipefish) you might be able to get away with just a few days. However, it might be a stretch to leave them for even a long weekend.
For large, infrequent eaters like a shovelnose catfish, a long fasting period might already be the norm. Such fish will often go a week or two between meals.
Some fish might even be self-sustaining, to an extent. Algae grazing catfish might find enough nourishment to keep them going growing on rocks, plants and glass.
For a community, around five days without food isn’t going to hurt unless you have undernourished fish. If everything is plump and healthy, five days is safe. Longer than this, and you’ll need to a contingency feeding plan.
What is important is that you avoid the temptation to feed the fish more in the run up to your holiday. Extra food going in means extra waste coming out, and doing so will only increase the pollution risk.
2. Holiday Food
Holiday food varies wildly in quality and capability. They can even behave differently in different aquarium conditions. The white holiday blocks, for example, slowly dissolve and release pellets of food as they do. However, it does appear some of these dissolve rapidly in soft water, and too slowly in extremely hard water.
Try a few different types, many weeks in advance, to see how they behave. If they burn out in a couple of days, they’ll be no good. Likewise, if they are still solid two weeks on and the fish can’t access the food, they’ll not be for you!
More modern holiday food options include gel-based foods like those from Tetra and Dupla. As the fish graze on them, they slowly wear down, meaning their lifespan depends on how greedy your fish are. These foods have a relatively low protein content, so they don't cause excessive pollution in the tank.
3. Automatic Feeders
Automatic feeders are something that many fishkeepers come to love or hate. When they work well, they work extremely well. However, when they work poorly, it can be the case that they don’t work at all.
The idea is that you pre-fill a large chamber (or smaller individual chambers) with fish food. Then set a timer built in to the automatic feeders to feed small amounts every day.
The problem is that once on top of the tank, an automated feeder can be subject to moisture. This can mean the food starts congeals into a solid lump inside within a couple of days. Thus, leaving your fish hungry and your food chamber fetid.
The other issues are that they can sometimes be awkward to install if you have a fitted hood. Plus, they can be restrictive on the types of food you can put in them.
Get to know your automated feeder well in advance. Buy it some months before your holiday and see how it behaves, and what types of food it works best with. Pellet and granule foods are usually much better than fish flakes or crisps for resisting the damp!
4. A fish sitter
A fish sitter is the dream. Someone to come in and care for your tanks in your absence. In an ideal world it’ll be someone who knows about fish.
If you’re relying on a friendly neighbour to come in for you, then show them what to do rather than just tell them. And never leave a non-aquarist with an open tub of food—your fish will be overfed to heaven and back down to hell.
One way to ensure the right amount of food is going in is to measure it out yourself ahead of time. Put each days’ worth of food into a small, sealed bag (like a sandwich bag). That way any overfeed is your fault and not your neighbour’s!
Arrange for your fish sitter to visit every few days (unless you have fish that can’t go without eating for 24 hours). This will avoid an accidental overfeed.
Pre-holiday aquarium cleaning and maintenance
Ensure you are up to speed with your aquarium maintenance ahead of time. That way, when you return from your holiday, the worst that will happen is some excess algae on glass. The aquarium water, fish and plants should all remain healthy.
One thing you shouldn’t do is clean the tank the day before you travel. Firstly, you could break something (like an impeller) and not have time to replace or fix it. Secondly, you also risk disturbing the tank’s ecosystem by over-cleaning the filter, or replacing a filter cartridge.
Instead, carry out a water change of your usual volume a week before you plan to leave. Make sure that any mechanical filters (foams and pads) still have plenty of life in them.
As long as the tank isn’t overfed, or has too many fish, it will cope fine for a fortnight with minimal fish care.
Can I automate my aquarium for my holiday?
If you have an aquascape, or just a tank full of live plants, the problem remains: light on, or lights off? Left on, you run the risk of coming back to nightmare inducing algae growth. While the lights left off may see your weakest plants shrivelling right back or dying off.
If your aquarium lights don’t have built-in controls, the easy fix is to get a plug-in timer. If you don’t have plants at all, then it’s easier just to leave the tank in the dark for your holiday. Your livestock will be more than happy with just ambient light.
Another worry when away is the water quality and chemistry is doing what it should be doing. For peace of mind, you can invest in a real-time monitor like the Seneye. While a Seneye doesn’t cover everything, it does enough to put your mind at ease. They monitor ammonia levels, pH, water temperature, and whether the tank still has water in it!
Should I stock up on aquarium medications for a holiday?
Whether you have a relatively new tank, or a long established one, a good rule is to avoid adding any new fish to your tank in the weeks running up to your holiday. This will reduce the risk of disease while you are away.
However, your tank isn’t immune to problems. Some diseases like finrot or Saprolegnia, could occur if the fish nip each other, or snag themselves on sharp objects.
Consider a good, generic medication that your fish sitter can use in your absence. I’d advise either NT Labs Disease Solve or Interpet Disease Away+. Keep it somewhere accessible with details of exactly how much to dose, how often.
Remember to also note any further information that they may need to treat the fish. Carbon, for example, will need removing from a filter before treating the fish.
If your fish sitter reports a poorly looking fish, ask for a photograph. If you see frayed fins or furry bits, get them to run a course of treatment for you.
Also, if you don’t have some already, purchase a fresh bottle of biological filter supplement like Seachem Stability. If the filter stops for a while, your fish sitter can add some to keep the filter going until you return.
How to care for an aquarium after a holiday
Once you’re back with your beloved fish, you might be tempted to reach straight for the tubs of food, but show some restraint.
Before you do anything else, test for ammonia and nitrite. Either or both of these will test at elevated levels after overfeeding, and will need fixing.
Also, it's worth having a look at the pH and hardness of the water on your return. An overfed and unmaintained aquarium may experience softer and more acidic conditions.
Next, have a good look through your tank, exploring any nooks and crannies. In the first instance, you’re looking for any dead fish. However, if you’ve used a holiday food then you’ll also need to see if there’s any left. After a week or two the holiday food won’t be where you initially placed it!
Another important job is to conduct a partial water change (the amount you’d normally take out will be fine). Also, get your filters clean, paying extra attention to any foam or polishing pads. Even if the filter is flowing, the water could be flowing around blocked pads.
Lastly, if you've used one, make sure to reward your fish sitter generously for looking after your fish. Non-fishkeepers are extremely nervous about messing things up in a tank. If their first fish-sitting experience is stressful, they’re likely to find any excuse not to do it again. A quality fish sitter is a valuable commodity!
Can I hire a professional to look after my tank?
Many aquarium maintenance services are now around the country, who do maintain tanks. Some may offer a short ‘holiday only’ contract, and will come in to look after your tank in your absence. Even those who don’t offer holiday care as standard will usually be happy to negotiate a holiday package.
It’ll certainly cost more than using a neighbour in the short term. However, it could save you hundreds on livestock in the long run if something was to go wrong that a fish sitter didn't understand.
Train your fish sitter how to clean an impeller
One potential disaster in your absence would be a clogged and dirty impeller. I heartily advise you to teach your fish sitter how to access it, remove it, clean it, and replace it.
Take the opportunity at the same time to show your fish sitter how to access any carbon inside the filter. If they do need to treat for something, they can remove this beforehand.
Is a Polyfilter helpful for a holiday?
If you have a fish sitter, consider purchasing an Arcadia Polyfilter for emergencies. With its far-reaching chemical filtration abilities, it is a godsend in the event of an undiagnosable problem. The Polyfilter is a go-to for a range of unusual problems.
Holiday foods: Our recommendation
Our own choice of holiday food are: Tetra TetraMin Holiday, Fluval Bug Bites Holiday Food, and Dupla Gel-O-Drops Holiday. These will comfortably feed a tank for a seven-day period. However, if you’re away for longer, then you’ll need someone to add more.
Automatic feeders: Our recommendation
Our preferred automated feeder remains an old design that still works: The Fish Mate F14. With food in individual ‘pie slots’, I’ve always found that it reliably feeds over a two-week period.