[Date Prev][Date Next][Thread Prev][Thread Next][Date Index][Thread Index]

Vacation Care of Killies

	A while back there was some discussion about how to best provide care for
your killifish while away for extended periods. The two extremes are either
leave them in the care of a friend who will provide the same care that you do,
or at the other extreme, do nothing. Since it is nearly impossible to have
someone available who has either the time or knowledge to provide the same
care that you do one frequently is tempted to have someone just feed the fish
while you are gone. This is likely to be fatal since they will either feed
them too much which is always fatal or feed them the correct amount without
water changes, which is usually fatal. The other extreme, to do nothing, is
closer to what I have done quite successfully. I do nothing for the larger (2
gallon and larger) tanks. Incidentally all my tanks have active growing
plants. For the smaller containers ( !.5 gallon shoe box type) which contain
fry of various sizes including young adults, I do the following:
	1) feed them live foods that will live in the water - daphnia, microworms,
etc before you leave If you must feed brine shrimp make sure you don't feed an
excess.
	2) provide a piece of lettuce leaf and some pond snails in each container
plus the usual Java moss. this provides for an infusoria culture while you are
gone. I did this last year for 3 weeks and 2 weeks at a time without losss. I
did it again this year for 2 one week absences and just returned after two
weeks. I have lost only one container of newly hatched Notho. vosseleri
(actuallu one-third of the total hatch). They just disappeared. The other two
containers of the same hatch were fine. Another lesson to be learned - don't
put all your eggs in one basket. This was the only loss in over 60 such
containers.
	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. I have not tried it yet.

Lee Harper