We all know the concerns of going away and leaving our fish: what if some emergency happens while I’m gone? Will they be all right without being fed?
Most experts agree that adult fish can manage quite well for up to several weeks without being fed, as long as their water and temperature conditions remain within acceptable ranges. But what about fry?
“Unles your tanks are completely sterile, they’re full of living creatures that the fish can graze on,” says Oleg Kiselev. “Java moss is a veritable treasure trove of rotifers, protozoans, infusoria, and so on. Fish can live like this for quite a while.”
Lee Harper has found an alternative that works well for him. “For smaller containers (shoe box type) which contain fry of various sizes, I do the following,” he says.
1. Before leaving, feed live foods that will continue to live in the water (daphnia, microworms, etc.)
2. Add a piece of lettuce leaf and some pond snails in each container, plus the usual Java moss.
3. Don’t put all your fry (of a species) in the same container; divide them among several. That way, if one container goes bad, you won’t lose them all.
“The lettuce leaf procedure works so well that I keep reminding myself that I should do it when I’m not away, as an alternative to daily feedings and semi-daily water changes,” says Lee.
Wright Huntley offers some additional tricks for leaving a few babies for a couple of weeks. Float a few mosquito egg rafts on the water. Or put the fry in an oversized tank with lots of Java moss and a strong culture of daphnia, infusoria, etc. A few small snails will help keep the culture going. But “moving the babies to plastic shoe- or sweater boxes and leaving them with an experienced auqarist who is routinely feeding baby brine shrimp is the best way.”
– G.C.K.A. Newsletter, February 1999