To do list -

[Nepen]

Hi all,

I'll be going away for about 3 weeks in November-December and I need to have a detail list for my husband to take care of my pond and my fish tank while I'm gone. My husband doesnt know anything about the pond so I need to list everything. I intend to make this very minimum effort for him.

I know November is a cold month, but in NC, it's not that cold and I intend to just leave the pump going. I also need a before trip to-do list. Suggestions welcome!!

To-do list - before I leave

Outside pond:
- clean all filters
- clean the bottom of the pond
- make sure the water test ok
- take out all water lettuce
- clean all the leaves out

Inside tank:
- clean filter / water change / clean the bottom
- clean the glass
- what else?

The frog tank
- buy crickets
(then I'll have to buy crickets food too)

To-do list for husband

Outside pond
- observe if the waterfull is working properly each day
- do not feed the fish
- observe if the fish seems ok

Inside tank:
- feed fish (guppies) once a day
- see if filter is working
- check water temperature to make sure it stays around 75
- turn off the light every night

The frog tank
- feed my frog once a day 2-3 crickets a day.

And I'm hoping I dont need lists about taking care of our dog and cat too :faint:

That's all I can think of, any more suggestions?

 

[JohnHuff]

How long is the to do list for inside the house?

 

[Nepen]

that wouldn't be necessary He will be home alone so he does what ever he wants. Just as long as he doesnt kill my animals and plants :nono:

 

[dieselplower]

I would like to suggest a timer for the fish tank light. Impossible to forget to turn on and off and gives fish a nice routine. Believe it or not my pleco stays in his cave all day but comes out about 10 minutes before the timer shuts the light off, every day.

 

[JohnHuff]

Your list sounds about right. That's the beauty of fish, you don't need to walk them or empty their doo-doo's everyday.

 

[JohnHuff]

Forgot the most important piece of advice. Ask him to come here if he has any problems!

 

[Nepen]

Thanks dieselpower and John. Where would I get the timer for the hood light? I'll have to do some research

Yes John, will have to tell him about here, thanks for the suggestion!

At least I'll be gone during winter where there's not much to worry about at the big pond

 

[dieselplower]

You can get a timer lots of places. Target, Walmart, home depot, Lowe's, amazon, eBay etc..... probably range from five to ten bucks.

 

[dieselplower]

Out of curiosity, what kind of fish are in the inside tank? How many? How many gallons is the tank? Generally I change about 80% of the water in my goldfish every week. Depending on what you have in the tank, how big they are, and how big the tank is, 3 weeks might be a long time to go without a water change.

 

[capewind]

Several years ago, we took off for a month in the middle of the summer .... the dogs were easy, as they went to pet sitters we knew ... I had a friend come to the house every day on her way to and from work to take care of the fish and plants and put post it notes on everything. Hubby made sure all the POND lines were either inside the pond itself, or on the liner someplace, so IF something came lose, water would at least stay in the pond ... my biggest concern was our reef tank, and even being a pet less person, did a great job feeding the corals and anemones. The only thing I can think of right now is telling him HOW to add water if it goes low ...

 

[Nepen]

dieselplower

they are 6 guppies and one adult molly (re-homed the female and a male and a couple of the babies mollies already) and about 15 - 1 week old tiny guppies and mollies baby. It's 12 gallon tank, not big. I'm planning on giving away the babies pretty soon.

I have lots of hornworth in the tank and several other plants too. Lots of snails

I'm thinking of adding shrimps to eat the left overs, is that a good idea?

Do you think 3 weeks is too long?

 

[Nepen]

thanks capewind, yes, that's a great suggestion!!

 

[JohnHuff]

3 weeks is not too long, if you have good filtration, what do you have?
We have a lot of plants in our tanks too and they keep the water pretty clean.
Shrimps are great!
We have ghost shrimp, hard to see. And seem to have a death wish by getting close to the siphon when we clean.
Cherry shrimp. Small but nice color.
Amano shrimp. Big and sturdy. But we don't keep the ghost shrimp and amano together as theamano seem to eat the ghost shrimp.

dieselplower

they are 6 guppies and one adult molly (re-homed the female and a male and a couple of the babies mollies already) and about 15 - 1 week old tiny guppies and mollies baby. It's 12 gallon tank, not big. I'm planning on giving away the babies pretty soon.

I have lots of hornworth in the tank and several other plants too. Lots of snails

I'm thinking of adding shrimps to eat the left overs, is that a good idea?

Do you think 3 weeks is too long?

 

[Nepen]

Do you think 2 shrimps will be enough? I've never seen shrimps in the petsmart (or I didnt look for it!) where do you buy it? They help clean the tank (un eaten food), right? What other benefit the shrimp has?

The filter.... I bought this second hand, have no idea, just little thing attached to the side. I put biomedias from the pond in there (loaded all that tiny little space with it) and a piece of quiltbatting, and a small (half a pingpong ball size) activated carbon.

 

[JohnHuff]

Ya, 2 for that small tank will be enough. I bought my ghost shrimp and amano shrimp at the big box stores. The ghosts are about 50 cents each. The amanos were a few bucks. They also sell bamboo shrimp, also big. I got my cherries at the LFS, they also had some other ones. To get more exotic shrimp, you will have to buy online.

Check some out here:
http://www.liveaquaria.com/product/aquarium-fish-supplies.cfm?c=1075

Ya, the shrimp are supposed to eat the detritus on the bottom, but I always feed them more. What else are they good for? To look good in my tank!