Travel neglect is a true aphrodisiac

[bekateen]

Hi all,

As has been mentioned in many other posts, ignoring and neglecting your fish while away on vacation can often have really positive effects.

I just returned from a 7-day family visit out of town. While gone, my fish weren't fed at all. But on the day I left town, they all had 90% water changes and a meal of meaty foods. I returned to two spawns of

L397

, one spawn from my

L201

big spot, and a spawn from my

Ancistrus sp`Rio_Ucayali`

. I lost only one common whiptail (still in QT from purchase the week before).

Overall, a pretty good situation to come home to. Anyone else have good return-from-vacation stories?

Cheers,
Eric

[Froeschli]

You do 90% water changes? i've never dared more than 50%, and even that sparingly.

and, um, what's this word, "vacation"?

[TwoTankAmin]

You do not have to go away to neglect your fish.

I have had a few health related issues over the past 6 years during which I could not care for my tanks properly and feeding was somewhat spotty as well. I was rewarded with similar results.

A while back I had some plecos (I thing it was P compta or H. contradens I cannot remember) I could not get to spawn no matter what I tried. So I decided it was time to sell/trade them and try something else. So of course they got wind of this and spawned. So I figured I should keep them, at which point they stopped spawning. Can plecos read minds?

As always I seem to find music that suits the situation.

[bekateen]

You do 90% water changes? i've never dared more than 50%, and even that sparingly.

To be sure, you need to have a good feeling for the consistency of your water source and also the tolerances of your fish. But yes, I routinely change 80%-90% of my water with each water change. The water levels will be so low after I finish draining the old water that tall-finned fishes are either laying sideways or clamping their dorsal & ventral fins until I tail the water.

Cheers, Eric

[bekateen]

@TwoTankAmin, good choice of music.

Cheers, Eric

[kvnbyl]

i too do large water changes, but the water is always the same chemically, the reservoir is over 40 billion gallons so any change is small and over a lot of time
When i needed a new water heater i went for one of the new condensing, it will supply hot water for changes for forever and once i have to nozzle on the hose i just go from tank to tank,
sometimes it's about making things easier on you? (me in this case)

[bekateen]

@kvnbyl, you use heated water for water changes? I know it's very climate dependent. I only use heated water for water changes in late Fall - Winter - early Spring. But starting about April and going until October, I use straight cold water out of my tap for water changes. But even so, water temp rarely drops below 65F out of the tap in Spring - Summer - Fall. After mixing with residual tank water, my hottest tanks drop from about 85F to 68F. Tank activity warms the water back to normal in no more than a few hours. This I do for Panaqolus, Peckoltia and my Hypancistrus.

But if I know I have heat sensitive fish, I am more careful and use warm water for WC all year round.

Cheers, Eric

[YSR50]

Did you have any fry in boxes/traps while you were gone? If so, did you do anything special?

[bekateen]

There must have been one pair of L397 spawning before I left, since the fry had hatched before I returned. But otherwise no, no trapping on the day I left. So the second spawn was new.

That said, the L201 big spots are weird. My males have a habit of trapping a female for days at a time, letting her go, then trapping again for days, then letting her go, then after 2-3 weeks of this they finally spawn. I had witnessed some of that on-and-off trapping before leaving, but on the day I left there was no trapping.

As far as the Ancistrus are concerned, they'll trap and spawn in as short as a couple of hours (so too will my L397).

Cheers, Eric

[YSR50]

Sorry, maybe I used the wrong terminology. Was asking if you had any wrigglers in baskets while you were gone, and if so how did you handle them?

I almost always have something (L333, L201, BNs, Sterbai...) in baskets/boxes/traps. I keep wood, snails, shrimp, floating plants, and catappa leaves in with them, and feed a few times a day. I always wondered what I would do if I needed to go out of town.

[bekateen]

Okay, understood.

If I have very young wigglers, I estimate how long their yolk sacs will last. If they will be used up before I get home, I leave foods for my kids and provide specific instructions.

If I have older fry (already eating for a week or more) in baskets, I release them into their parents' tank, so they can feed on scraps and mulm from their parents.

Cheers, Eric