Taking Care of Your Guppy Fish When You Travel
Guppy Fish is the most hassle-free aquarium fish that anyone can have as pets. They have different names such as Rainbow fish, million fish, or their Latin name PoeciliaReticulata. These fish are super fun and need very little maintenance to survive. So, Guppy fish is a perfect choice for those who have a busy lifestyle.
And what happens when you travel for work or vacation? How will you take care of your Guppy fish? If your trip is for a few days, you don’t have to worry about your fish. With regular tank maintenance, Guppy fish can survive without food for 2-3 days. But you will need to take some severe steps if you will be away for more than a week.
In this article, Richard Rowlands from Aquarium Fish City is going to take us through tips on how to take care and maintain your Guppy fish while you travel.
Preparation of your Fish Tank
To keep your fish healthy, you need to do maintenance checks of your fish tank regularly. If you are not at home for more than a week, this regular parameter will not be enough.
These are some essential tasks that you need to do for your tank.
Cleaning the filter
Before you leave, you should do some significant filter maintenance to keep your tank clean. First of all, clean the mechanical filter and remove the debris or fish waste that gets accumulated in the filter. Your goal is to remove any residue that can make your tank water dirty.
You don’t have to clean the biological filter, as you need a healthy level of good bacteria. The bacteria will keep away ammonia and other toxins in your absence.
Don’t forget that most of the waste from the biological filter settles down at the bottom of the tank. So, vacuuming your gravel is also a good idea.
Change the water
To give more time to your fish, plan to do a significant water change before you leave. Earlier, if you did 20-30% of water change weekly, try to do 50-70% water change. In this way, you can remove the maximum amount of nitrates from the water.
If you are using tap water, then you need to add a conditioner to your tank water. The conditioner will remove chemicals like chlorine, chloramine, and heavy metals from your tank water.
Keeping your aquarium fresh is especially important for fluval edge fish tanks, as you don’t want to miss out on the extraordinary visual experience for such an expensive aquarium.
Aquarium lights
For your guppy aquarium, you need to have consistent lighting, especially if you have plants. It will not be possible for you to turn on or off the lights every day consistently. Too much light will cause excessive algae to bloom in the tank, which does not look good.
If you have an automatic timer, then you can easily set it up to manage your lights. This will come in handy when you are away from home.
Your fish will need artificial light for a maximum of 8-10 hours a day, after which they can rest.
Remove dead plants and sick fish
Your aquarium needs live, healthy plants, not dead plants. Dying plants produce ammonia, which gets converted into nitrates. So, remove any decomposing plant matter from the tank, which will also encourage new growth.
Before you leave, check your fish correctly. If you see any sick fish that may die when you are away, take them out from the tank. It will be hard to do, but believe me, its for the best. Dead fish will produce ammonia after they decompose, and this is harmful to the healthy ones.
Feeding habits of Guppies
Adult guppies can live without fresh feed for 2-3 weeks as they will survive by eating plants or algae found in the tank.
Overfeeding, as well as not feeding, can be harmful to the health of your guppy fish.
But guppy fry is more sensitive, so they need to be fed every other day.
And when you are traveling, feeding them is something of a big concern.
Let us look at some options that you can try to take care of your guppy fish while you are away.
Tell a friend or family
You can ask a friend or someone from your family to come on alternate days to check your tank and feed your fish.
If that person has experience with handling fish in an aquarium, then that’s well and good. Even without any knowledge, they can keep an eye on your little pets by doing some basic tasks.
Before you leave, write down every instruction so that they don’t forget the details.
You can also keep your Guppy fish food ready in sealed bags to avoid overfeeding.
If you will be away for 2-3 weeks, a water change is also necessary. Ask that person to assist you in a water change before you leave to get a crash course. Explain every step of the process, and to be clear, you can write down the steps and important points.
Hire a Fish sitter
A fish sitter can check up on your fish and tank regularly. If he is an experienced fish sitter, then he can also do aquarium maintenance.
You still need to give him clear instructions about the feeding habits and how to avoid overfeeding. Ask him for regular updates about your fish, probably along with pictures.
The only downside of hiring a fish sitter is that it may not be safe for your house as he may be a stranger. And he may charge you a lot if you have multiple tanks.
Automatic feeder
An automatic feeder is an excellent option if you don’t have anyone to feed your fish regularly. But do a trial of the feeder before you leave to see how it works.
The only problem is that you cannot control the amount of food that needs to be fed. So, the extra Guppy fish food may get accumulated in the tank and pollute the water. If you have an automatic water changer, then it may be okay.
Vacation feeders
Vacation feeders get dissolve in the water and provide food to your fish at a slow rate. It may sound good, but it has its downsides.
Sometimes, your fish may not even eat that food anymore, which will lead to the accumulation of food in the tank. So, it is not a fail-safe idea.
Type of food
Make sure that you decide beforehand what kind of food your Guppy fish needs. Giving them live feed is the best option because it will be eaten up later by your guppy fish.
And if live food is not possible, then other Guppy fish food such as veggie pellets or flake foods are also good.
Choose that food, which will cause minimal water pollution and give clear instructions to that person who will look after the tank.
Conclusion
Guppy fish can tolerate different water parameters and temperature changes. So, they are effortless to maintain and take care of.
If you do the regular maintenance of your aquarium and have taken points from the above checklist, then your Guppy fish will be fine.
Just make sure that you do a check-up on your Guppy fish and aquarium once you return home.
