Vacation

[happydiscus]

What do u guy do with our discus wenu go on vacations??

can autofeeders be programed to feed every week????

also r there electical timers for pumps that can be use to change water weekly???

[Merrilyn]

Vacations ??????? what are they. I don't have vacations - I have FISH!

[weird]

Depends ...

1. If you have relatives and friends that don't mind helping and can ""read and follow instructions"", then not too much of a problem ... especially if you tell them to feed 1/2 of what you normally feed ... as they always end up overfeeding and killing your fish.

2. Have a fully automated system like Ryan. Easier said than done.

3. Do a large water change.

3.1 Get a basic automatic feeder , and feed your fish a dry food 2 times every day for a week. Only feed a small amount as uneaten food will build up, and might kill your fish. Do a trial run of this for 1 week, and check ammonia and nitrite levels everyday.

OR

3.2 Don't feed them for 1 week. Big fish like discus, can most likely survive without feeding for 1 week. This solution is ideal for small trips like 3 days.

3.3 Get someone to check in atleast once during the week. More they can check in the better.

4. Find a come to house pet minding service. There are people you can find in the yellow pages and web that will come to your house, charge per visit and follow your instructions. Check their references, and no unfortunately I don't know any.

5. You may find someone in these forums which live close by, and perhaps you can start a reciprocal agreement to look after each others fish when needed.

----------------------------

There may be other options I did not mention. All have there advantages, disadvantages and risk.

[kevkoi]

Merrilyn, what about a vacation to buy more FISH??? :lol: :oops:

[happydiscus]

if u get fish from overseas do customs tell u to quarnteen the fish ??? at a customs place like u do for dogs???

[Merrilyn]

Don't tempt me Kev!

[flukes]

You cant bring them through customs you need an import licence, and you would have to work out with the AQIS to work out with the breeder the details..

Better off asking an importer like Kev/Rod as they would know exactly what you need.

[Mattzilla]

this time in three weeks i'll be on my honeymoon in thailand!!!! cause i'll be away i'm asking my sister and brother in law to house sit for me. he used to keep discus so he knows what he's doing and will hopefully do plenty of w/c for me while i am away. i'll be away for three weeks...my biggest problem is going to be that i will miss all my fishies so much!!!

[kevkoi]

U'd need someone with an import lisence and a lisenced quarantine room to import the fish in for you. Also, to import the fish, u will need a health certificate from the Fisheries department of the country where the fish come from and these fish have to come thru exporters with a lisence to export to Australia.

... in short, heluva lot of red tape to import a few fish. If you want to import fish, u'd need to be a business that turns over a considerable number of fish to make all the fees and red tape worth while.

[flukes]

thats what i was trying too say..... :oops: :wink:

Thanks Kev..

[happydiscus]

any 1 got auto feeders??

[weird]

Eheim autofeeders get good reviews. They are around the $100 mark though (last time I checked), not the cheapest of the lot, but as the most misused reason for buying anything when you keep discus, "it is to protect my investment in these expensive fish."

[Proteus]

The Eheim units are great, I have several running on varied tanks...

I just love it when they know it is about to dispense, they all wait patiently below prior to the "food fight" commencing...

I can get them a lot cheaper than $100 :wink:

I will check if my supplier will honour the same price to members here.

[luvmydiscus]

Hi, I am new here but would like to tell you all what I do. I have to have my mother in law come in to feed the cat so i always want her to check on my fish and feed them too.

I get those empty camera film containers and put the amount of food in them that I want. She opens the lid and dumps one container in the tank everyday. I have been doing this for years now even with my salt water tank.

No chance of over feeding, fouling the water and the fish get fed. Works great! :D

[Bad Inferno]

And who said mother in-laws are not useful !

[jim]

Hi guys...I will be going overseas for 3 weeks...and I will have 3 canister hook up for my 4 ft tank..and I also recently bought a auto feeder..

So my question is...how long discus can servive without water change?? should I make the auto feeder to feed less?? (so no as much poo in tank to pollute water) like only once a day?

Thanks in advance for reply

[DiscusMad]

jim I have recently benn to NZ for 15 days and had a friend come in every 3rd day to feed them small amounts only.

they did great and some even had growth spurts!

It was too late at night when I got home and sleept most of the next day away so they had a 16 without a water change water was still OK before the change.

[jim]

That's great news for me..thanks DiscusMad...
I was so damx worried....now I can really enjoy my trip