Vacation advice

[Little Guys]

Later this year I will be spending a month in Europe.  What do you do when you take a vacation.  My tank is pretty eacy keeper and only needs a water change when the filter needs to be cleaned.  I just top it off between those times. 

[mynameisnobody]

1- What do you have? 
2- Do you have an auto feeder? 

[Biotope Biologist]

For a month I recommend having a family friend or hiring a service to do feedings and general maintenance thats a bit too long imo to leave an aquarium unwatched.

[T. Payne]

I agree, a month is a little too long to go without feeding or care. I go on vacations of a week without worry. I would find someone to look over the tank while you are gone.

[Tony s]

I would hire a care service. And I would have very specific directions for your tank laid out. How much of what food, how to add water and dechlorinator. I wouldn’t necessarily have them do water changes per se. But, if they’re feeding minimally, you should be okay if you pull your nitrates way down before you leave. And unfortunately, leave them directions for passed animals. 
 

you could even go so far as to leave preportioned food in pill containers by the day.

 

or if you have a family or a trusted friend, train them really well and still do the detailed instructions.

Edited April 26 by Tony s

[Lennie]

Tight lid to prevent evaporation to a big degree and autofeeder.

 

plus as everyone said, someone watching the tanks at least once a week and renewing the food in the autofeeder etc would be nice.

Speaking of it, someone else who has no idea about fishkeeping may result in horrible scenarios rather than good. Sometimes even those who have an idea of fishkeeping may result horrible scenarios too.

If you will have someone visit and feed your fish manually, definitely get those weekly pill boxes, and fill your own portions into those boxes and tell them to feed only the portion you filled in for that specific day. Overfeeding is a very problematic and common issue even for some experienced aquarists

Something like this for a month

[Little Guys]

All great ideas, thank you.  I think my Niece will help me while I am gone.  I can do a water change before I leave and the only time I change is when the filter needs to be cleaned.  I top off in between cleanings so that is pretty easy.   Can anyone recommend a service they have experience with?

I have Tetras, Cherry Shrimp, Cories and Oto's.  

[Tony s]

care.com offers pet services. I have never used them. I rarely get more than a week off so haven't needed anybody yet. but it's a start, and hopefully they have someone that can be trained easily or hopefully, is already partially trained. 

and it may be helpful to set up a surveillance camera to help them. at least you could keep an eye out and make sure everything is fine.