will my discus survive my long vacation?

[rytis]

ok.... ive been doing research on this board extensively.... im somewhat of an expert in planted and tropical fish in general and i read most of the details, but want some thoughts from people who have kept discus longer then me (4 months)
these fish are so beautiful...........

i'm going on 4 months vacation to philippines nov1-march10, so my tank will stay in philadelphia USA... i got a friend, who will do the weekly water changes and feeding. he's not too smart, but the only one wiling to do it. and he's been practicing for over a month now...

tank is 265g (details in my sig) 1/4 water change weekly is what i plan.... not over feed of course, better underfeed is my understanding, so im fattening them now instead.....

i got 3 plecos in that tank for main purpose of cleaning leftovers: 2 of them are ~5", and one ~10".... i keep wondering if i need a big one?

about a month ago i bought 7 neon tetras for purpose of eating smal crumbs, but they all died within a few days while discus were fine, saw one discus aggressively chasing them, maybe they killed it.... so no tetras to eat up small particles, they will have to sink to bottom and be eaten by plecos....

should i keep large 3rd pleco or take it out?
should i tell my friend that 2 times a week water changes will be necessary? or will 1 be enough?
what other advices could i get?
how optimistic could i be? what are the chances of them surviving?

filter will be changed once a week also, he will be vaccuming gravel upon water changes, but some areas are impossible to get to coz of the plans/heavy decor...

[sammigold]

Does your local aquarium have a fish minding service... you may want to look into that... otherwise the best you can do is try and make sure that your friend is able to contact you or someone else ie. Local fish shop if he is worried about anything so that he has some sort of support if he is worried about anything... you could also tell him about the forum so that he can ask any questions if he's worried.. (someone may be able to help)
Other than that I cant really suggest anything. Maybe get your friend to start looking after them a few weeks before you leave so that you can see that he does everything the way you want... make sure that you dont touch the tank at all unless you think there is a major problem.. that way you will see how he goes whilst your "not there". HTH

[Merrilyn]

You've made some good points Sammi. Especially the one about the fish minding service run by some local aquarium stores. That would be really worth looking into.

The other thing you can do Rytis, is as well as the suggestions Sammi made, is ask your friend to take a photo once a week, and email it to you. You may be able to pick up some problem that he can't see. It's also good for him to see the fish frequently before you leave, so he has an idea of what normal behaviour looks like. He'll then have a better idea of 'abnormal' behaviour.

[Merrilyn]

Another thing I would do is have spares of your heating and filtering equipment handy where possible.

You don't want to have him trying to buy a new heater in the middle of the night, because your old one has suddenly decided to die.

If you can encourage him to read a basic book on fishkeeping, that would be a great help too. And of course, he's always welcome to post any of his concerns on the forum here, and there will always be someone who can give him some answers.

A checklist written on the front of the tank is a good idea too. With things like, count the fish, check the temperature, check the filter in running, feed the fish, watch for a few minutes to see they are all eating, and then another one for a weekly checklist.

Hope those suggestions help.

[rytis]

The other thing you can do Rytis, is as well as the suggestions Sammi made, is ask your friend to take a photo once a week, and email it to you.
that will be done, i thought of that. bought extra camera just for that few days ago...
also, i think he will be doing water changes 2xweek not 1...

[rytis]

i guess this question is for you LR, and it may be a more important decision then i may realise.... this third pleco i bought a few weeks ago originaly for my oscar tank, but was afraid oscar may still kill it although its huge, so i let it into my discus tank instead....

should i take large pleco out and put it w oscar? (i dont think oscar would kill it, plus i made a hiding tube for it)

good part is that this large pleco can realy sweep up larger chunks of uncut beefheart leftovers fast.
bad part is that it usualy chases off feeding discus, its bigger then biggest discus. plus it probably causes some extra polution....

so im trying to weigh in on weather to keep it here or put it w oscar instead b4 going on my vacation... what do you think?

[Merrilyn]

Plecos are pretty tough and can look after themselves, so I don't think it would be a problem if you put him in with the Oscar.

It will definately cut down on the polution in your discus tank if you move him, and the other thing is, that plecos grow pretty fast, and this guy in another four months is going to be huge. Better if you move him now, and you can see how he gets on with the oscar.

[rytis]

ok. and now on with my mission of catching that beast. ... ive been trying for a couple of hours now, because i realised today that this guy is just too aggressive - he guards the bottom middle of the tank as if its his own, no discus can eat at peace anymore.... so yea, as soon as i catch him, hes out... will try to make a trap of some sort....

[Merrilyn]

Try using two nets. One to drive him and another to catch him.

Plecos are pretty smart, but they're not as smart as us yet :wink:

[rytis]

Try using two nets. One to drive him and another to catch him.

Plecos are pretty smart, but they're not as smart as us yet :wink:
i think chances are better of me falling in and drowning then catching that pleco w a net. discus are easy to catch, this guy is not. i will buy a 3liter soda, and make a trap, that should work....