Will They Be Ok..?

[willowstwin]

Hi all

As some of you may know, I had a nightmare of a time with a fishtank at work. It currently has 1 remaining rummy nosed tetra, and my naughty boistrous dwarf gourami.

Now, I wont be at work for 13 days over christmas. Now, I know (unless something majorly bad happens with the filter), that those 2 in a 98 litre tank, arent going to poison themselves with ammonia... I'm just worried about feeding them. A holiday block for only 2 of them is overkill, but I cant leave them for 2 weeks without any food!!

So I was thinking... could they come and lodge in my 48 litre at home? I'll do water changes bi weekly, monitor water chemistry daily, etc, but I'm just worried about cramping etc. I was told to take the DG out of my tank as he was territorial and aggressive towards the guppies, but that 2 weeks should be enough time for him to forget his territory... it's been 2(ish) months since I moved him here, so I'm hoping he'll be ok?

I'm just fretting, but it'll only be for 2 weeks, and like I say, I'll monitor and water change way more than usual. I'm just worried about a) the territorialness, and b) if the rummy will get stressed out due to the smaller space?

I hope my ramblings made sense?
Willow

 

[Inchworm]

Hi willowstwin

If your place of employment will be closed over the holidays, keep in mind that the heat might be turned down and the electric turned off. If this is the case, you will have no choice but to remove the fish.

 

[KittyKat]

[…] but I cant leave them for 2 weeks without any food!! […]

Well actually, if there are no other problems such as the one mentioned above, you can. Assuming the fish are healthy, they should be fine without food for at least two weeks, or even longer if the tank is well planted.

 

[CezzaXV]

You can get electronic feeders which will feed your fish for you and are a better idea than a holiday block. The only problem would be if, as willowstwin said, they turn the electricity off.

 

[creeker]

You've had problems with your DG and the guppies before? That situation will likely continue if you put him back in there. I don't see that being an option if he was really a problem. Space wise, I don't see a problem with them being in there short term. I think the Rummy Nose would be fine in the smaller tank, temporarily.

 

[soybean]

Neither situation is ideal so you make a risk assessment. They'd be fine without food two weeks, but like stated the electric might fail, planned or otherwise. At home you can keep an eye on them, but risk bickering. I doubt the gourami can do too much damage with you to watch over him - and you never know, he might be fine with them for a few days at least.

 

[minnnt]

Bring em home!

 

[willowstwin]

unless there's a power outage (which would affect the entire area) the electricity stays on all of the holidays (this is due to us having dedicated servers on site, so IT dictates that the electricity stays on).

I doubt the gourami can do too much damage with you to watch over him

I can't watch over them all the time, and I don't want my guppies having tail splits (the day I moved him out, I saw him nip one of the fancy tails and put a tear in it from tip to base )

I have until tomorrow to decide.... I don't want the DG to hurt my guppies, but I don't want him to die if something goes wrong here

 

[soybean]

PPossibly a daft question but can't you bring their tank home?

Or bring the filter and heater and put them in a plastic storage tub?

 

[This Old Spouse]

PPossibly a daft question but can't you bring their tank home?

Or bring the filter and heater and put them in a plastic storage tub?

Ha! You beat me to it! I was wondering why you couldn't bring the fish and filter home with you, at least. I do think it would be a bit of a pain to lug home a 98l tank, but you're just talking 2 fish here. They don't need that big a tank, at least not for the two week holiday. Could you borrow a small tank from one of these members who has several unused tanks sitting around?

 

[CrazyAirborne]

2 weeks is fine without food. a bit scary the first time, but they will manage if they are good and healthy now. they will find little bits of things to eat around the tank im sure.

 

[sausagewinkle]

2 weeks with out food is fine, ive had a fish go 2 month (not intentionally)

I agree to take them home though, but thats just me a filter and a heater in a storage box will do the trick. they cost coppers from places like wilkinsons, home bargains etc

 

[This Old Spouse]

If you do end up leaving them at the office, don't bother with automatic feeders or the "vacation" blocks of food, which can actually rot in the tank. And don't feed them "extra" before leaving.

Best off putting them in a 5g bucket with their filter and heater and lug 'em home.

 

[willowstwin]

I'm going to bring them home. I'm working on tuesday, so I'll bag em up and bring them home. I have a clean storage box ready, so I'll also need to bag up the filter with some tank water. Going to see if the LFS will take the DG off my hands, as he's a big healthy boy, and would do nicely in a big community tank methinks... the rummy is old, as she's 5 years old that I know of, and she came from another persons tank before that, so she's doing really well, however I don't know how much longer she has left. So if she settles well in my tank, I think she'll be ok to live out the rest of her life there (and then in the bigger tank when I upgrade, hopefully just into the new year - pls pls pls have some sales on mr lfs owner!)