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Aquarium guides/Going on vacation

Going on vacation: fish care while you are away

Healthy adult fish in an established tank can usually go a few days without food; fry cannot. Before you leave, do a water change, check the heater and filter, and put the lights on a timer. For longer trips, ask someone to feed small, pre-measured portions, or use an automatic feeder you have run for a few days while you are home.

A small planted tank
Shown: a small planted tank. Photo: Sergej Schink, CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons

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Before you leave

  1. Change water and clean the filter a few days before, not on the day, so any problem shows while you are home.
  2. Check the heater and thermometer.
  3. Put the light on a timer so day length stays steady.
  4. Do not add new fish in the week before you go.

Food while you are away

Skip vacation feeder blocks: they often foul the water. For trips longer than a few days, pre-portion food into a pill organizer and ask the sitter to give one compartment per feeding and nothing more. Fry and very small fish need daily feeding.

If the power fails

A battery air pump keeps oxygen moving during an outage. Power outage plan.

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