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Conference 7.286::fish

Title:	Fish as Pets Conference
Notice:	For Sale, Seek, and Swap use note 23
Moderator:	FUNYET::ANDERSON

Created:	Sat Feb 15 1986
Last Modified:	Mon Jun 02 1997
Last Successful Update:	Fri Jun 06 1997
Number of topics:	1696
Total number of notes:	11157

1695.0. "Going Away - Lighting Problem" by WOTVAX::dhcp61.olo.dec.com::FORSTERG (My Reply.....) Tue May 13 1997 08:44

We are planning a holiday for October and this may be for 14-days and 
I have a query with regards to the lighting in one of my tanks.

I have 2 tanks (1x10 & 1x20 Gallons).  The 10 gallon tank (Hagen 
Tropiquarium) just has the one wire running to the mains electric which
is for the light, filter & heater my husband has taken the cover off and 
checked the circuit but he can not isolate the light circuit to enable 
us to use a timer, and if we are away for 14 days do I leave the fish
in the dark? surely this is better than to leave the light on for 14 days,
has anyone come across this problem before?

The fish in their are 2xBig Angel  2xSunset Platties  2xCat Fish  3xSmall
Black/Orange sharks  1xSilver Shark.

The 20 gallon tank is not a problem, as this has a separate wire for 
each element (filter/light/heater) so we can put a timer on the light 
plug.

I also plan to use food releasers - are they a good idea? We don't have
anyone who lives locally who can look after them so any advice please?

Best regards,
Gillian Forster - CCS UK 851-1996

T.R	Title	User	Personal Name	Date	Lines
1695.1	darkness	EVMS::MARION	So many fish ...	`Tue May 13 1997 17:15`	11
	Certainly leaving the lights off for 2 weeks is better then leaving them on all that time. Is there a window in the room so they get some sense of day and night? As for the time release food, I haven't been completely happy with results from them. Some books say they're fine, some that they're not. All I know is that the two times I used them (only for a long weekend) I had some trouble with my fish afterwards. Good luck, Karen.
1695.2	Automatic Feeder?	OHFSS1::LITZENBERG		`Wed May 14 1997 17:16`	9
	Hi. If by Food Releasers you mean Automatic Feeders, I have used them before and they work quite well. The one I had would drop an allocated amount of food in the tank at specified intervals, like once a day. I would use the food very sparingly, since you won't be there to monitor how much is getting eaten. It's better to underfeed them than to overfeed and foul the tank. Good Luck, Jim
1695.3	food	EVMS::MARION	So many fish ...	`Wed May 14 1997 17:59`	10
	Yes, I agree with .2 that food dispensers can work ok. I've never used them myself, but as long as the food doesn't get wet (and therefore stick to the unit) you should do fine. I thought you were referring to the blocks of food that you drop in the tank and that self-release. I've heard some nasty stories about them and what's actually in them, and some of my fish weren't doing well when I got home after using one. Good luck, Karen.
1695.4	My vacation experience	ICS::MANDEVILLE		`Wed May 14 1997 18:04`	18
	Can't solve your lighting problem, but can comment on your automatic feeder. We tested a couple before we went on a 16 day vacation. We found that the flake food would not work. It seemed not heavy enough to fill the tube as the barrel rotated. We then tried small pellets and that worked fine. Our fish were use to getting sinking shrimp pellets (which we were afraid would get stuck as they were rather long) and flakes which were too lightweight. They didn't much like the floating round pellets, but they were all alive when we returned and there wasn't any junk left floating or on the bottom of the tank. We have two tanks, only one is planted, the other has plastic stuff in it. We only put the planted tank on the timer. The other one is in the kitchen and we just left the blinds partly open and assumed they would get enough daylight not to mind. We left their light off. Again, no fatalities. Elaine (CCS too! but USA)
1695.5	Thanks For The Info...	WOTVAX::dhcp61.olo.dec.com::FORSTERG	My Reply.....	`Thu May 15 1997 09:18`	15
	Hello Everyone, Many thanks for your responses, the tanks are situated so that they will get enough light (but not direct sunlight) so they should know day/night, and I'll leave the light off the small tank. With regards to food releasers, I knew you could purchase them but had not really thought about which type to buy (block/timer release) but at least I have now got a pretty good idea what to look for. Well that's the fish sorted....just got to convince Katie-the-Cat now that she really does need a holiday at the local cattery! Best regards, Gillian Forster CCS @Warrington, UK
1695.6	Filter Sponge Cloggs Quickly	WOTVAX::dhcp65.olo.dec.com::FORSTERG	My Reply.....	`Tue May 27 1997 10:27`	18
	Hello me again... I have another problem. We've sorted the feeding problem (Mum & brother-in-law have agreed to take weekly turns at feeding once a day) but we have noticed that the filter sponge (Fluval 2) appears to get rather clogged quite quickly. We are now feeding once-a-day (not over feeding like when we first took up the hobby) we changed the filter sponge about 4 weeks ago but notice that we need to clean the sponge twice-weekly. We can't ask anyone to do this whilst we are away, so my guess is that we'll return from hols with a tank of fish - if not gasping for an urgent need of air they will be dead due to the filter sponge clogged. Wish me luck! Gill Forster CCS UK @olo