Julie and I went to Utah this summer. The trip was mainly to attend my family reunion in the Ogden Valley in Utah. We had one less worry this time. Our wonderful dog Kobi passed away a year ago so we didn't need to make arrangements for someone to watch him while we were gone. That left our aquarium. Granted, fish are a bit (a lot) easier to care for and emotion doesn't usually come to play if one dies, but they were a concern none the less, no matter it being small.
In the past we've had a "sitter" stay at the house and one of the duties was to feed the fish each day. This time we had no sitter. Now, I read somewhere that fish don't need to be fed every day to survive. In fact, I read, they could survive two weeks without being fed anything. Hmmmm.... I didn't want to risk it so I went to PetCo and purchased an automatic feeder. It was even digital! It cost $48!
Before we left I set the thing up, filled the "reservoir" and ran it through its paces to make sure it would dispense enough but not too much food. Our fish are pretty big and they would be hungry if they didn't get enough but I didn't want to foul the water by feeding too much. Confident, we left the house and I didn't think about them again for over two weeks. Hey, they're fish!
Incidentally, I still need to blog about our vacation. The part before the drive home. That'll come later, maybe. So, we got home and one of the first things I did was to look at the aquarium. Everything looked good. Fish were swimming all around and all was normal. So. I. Thought.
I checked the automatic feeder........... very little food had been dispensed! VERY little food! The thing was still full! Apparently, the paces it went through before I left didn't work so great after I left. The hole was too small or the food got bunched up plugging it or something, but the fact was that the fish received almost no food for over two weeks! I felt really bad. I fed them. They were hungry. Did that seem to be an understatement? Okay... THEY WERE HUNGRY!
As they ate I searched for each of the fish to see if any were missing. It was kinda hard to count the three Yo-yo loaches. They are about the same size and I had put a lot of vegetation in the tank to afford lots of hiding places. I could never get three in sight at once, two yes, three no. Everybody else was accounted for and none worse for the wear apparently.
About a week later I finally got around to doing a thorough tank cleaning and water change. When I do that everything comes out of the tank except for the gravel, the fish and half of the water. The fish were much easier to count then and sure enough the smallest of the loaches was missing. Sad. I didn't see any parts or pieces so if it was eaten (I wouldn't have blamed anybody, after all they didn't get any food for two weeks) the other fish had licked the platter clean.
The other possibility is that it jumped out of the tank. That would take some talent because most of the tank is covered. I haven't seen any of the fish come close to clearing the water even during their most enthusiastic feeding. For one to jump and then have the unlikely misfortune of jumping high enough in exactly the right place so as to fly out of the tank well, that was asking quite a lot. A quick scan around the front and sides of the tank discovered no fish on the floor. I went to the kitchen to get a flashlight to look in the dark recesses behind the tank. Before I got back Julie yelled out, "There it is!". Further inspection with the light confirmed her proclamation. There was the shriveled, dried up corpse of the third Yo-yo loach. THAT was one talented fish. The mystery was solved and after a quick flush everybody got on with their life. Except.... the..... one..... loach.
You thought the refrigerator story was long! At least that was about a major appliance. Let me wrap this up by letting you know that I really enjoy the aquarium, it has a calming quality about it and is fun to watch. The fish seem to flourish and maintenance isn't overly burdensome. I took a video of the tank a few days after this last cleaning. Maybe you'll like to see it? Behold...
Oh, I returned the automatic feeder to PetCo and got my money back. Piece of junk... :)
By the way, if you click on the four arrows on the bottom right corner the video will enlarge to full screen. The resolution isn't as good but greater detail can be viewed. Didn't know that? Well, now that you do, go back and watch again those two videos of Reine crawling. They don't get much cuter than that and I'm not just saying so because I'm the grandpa!
In the past we've had a "sitter" stay at the house and one of the duties was to feed the fish each day. This time we had no sitter. Now, I read somewhere that fish don't need to be fed every day to survive. In fact, I read, they could survive two weeks without being fed anything. Hmmmm.... I didn't want to risk it so I went to PetCo and purchased an automatic feeder. It was even digital! It cost $48!
Before we left I set the thing up, filled the "reservoir" and ran it through its paces to make sure it would dispense enough but not too much food. Our fish are pretty big and they would be hungry if they didn't get enough but I didn't want to foul the water by feeding too much. Confident, we left the house and I didn't think about them again for over two weeks. Hey, they're fish!
Incidentally, I still need to blog about our vacation. The part before the drive home. That'll come later, maybe. So, we got home and one of the first things I did was to look at the aquarium. Everything looked good. Fish were swimming all around and all was normal. So. I. Thought.
I checked the automatic feeder........... very little food had been dispensed! VERY little food! The thing was still full! Apparently, the paces it went through before I left didn't work so great after I left. The hole was too small or the food got bunched up plugging it or something, but the fact was that the fish received almost no food for over two weeks! I felt really bad. I fed them. They were hungry. Did that seem to be an understatement? Okay... THEY WERE HUNGRY!
As they ate I searched for each of the fish to see if any were missing. It was kinda hard to count the three Yo-yo loaches. They are about the same size and I had put a lot of vegetation in the tank to afford lots of hiding places. I could never get three in sight at once, two yes, three no. Everybody else was accounted for and none worse for the wear apparently.
About a week later I finally got around to doing a thorough tank cleaning and water change. When I do that everything comes out of the tank except for the gravel, the fish and half of the water. The fish were much easier to count then and sure enough the smallest of the loaches was missing. Sad. I didn't see any parts or pieces so if it was eaten (I wouldn't have blamed anybody, after all they didn't get any food for two weeks) the other fish had licked the platter clean.
The other possibility is that it jumped out of the tank. That would take some talent because most of the tank is covered. I haven't seen any of the fish come close to clearing the water even during their most enthusiastic feeding. For one to jump and then have the unlikely misfortune of jumping high enough in exactly the right place so as to fly out of the tank well, that was asking quite a lot. A quick scan around the front and sides of the tank discovered no fish on the floor. I went to the kitchen to get a flashlight to look in the dark recesses behind the tank. Before I got back Julie yelled out, "There it is!". Further inspection with the light confirmed her proclamation. There was the shriveled, dried up corpse of the third Yo-yo loach. THAT was one talented fish. The mystery was solved and after a quick flush everybody got on with their life. Except.... the..... one..... loach.
You thought the refrigerator story was long! At least that was about a major appliance. Let me wrap this up by letting you know that I really enjoy the aquarium, it has a calming quality about it and is fun to watch. The fish seem to flourish and maintenance isn't overly burdensome. I took a video of the tank a few days after this last cleaning. Maybe you'll like to see it? Behold...
Oh, I returned the automatic feeder to PetCo and got my money back. Piece of junk... :)
By the way, if you click on the four arrows on the bottom right corner the video will enlarge to full screen. The resolution isn't as good but greater detail can be viewed. Didn't know that? Well, now that you do, go back and watch again those two videos of Reine crawling. They don't get much cuter than that and I'm not just saying so because I'm the grandpa!
The last few times we've gone on vacation for longer than a few days we've lost fish too. We weren't so lucky to find bodies though. When we went to Mexico we came back to a tank without the pleco. It had been picked clean. We found some bones a few days later. When we went to someplace else this year we came back to one fre Bala shark. Also completely gone. Still haven't seen any bones. So weird! We'll be getting sitters from now on I think. We're running out of fish.
ReplyDeleteHaha, thanks for the jury duty entertainment! That was hilarious! Luckily, i was able to stifle my giggles, so the other prospective jurors probably still think I'm normal. Bwahaha!
ReplyDeleteSad fish! I wonder how long it was waterless before it gave up the ghost, so to speak. Good thing Reine didn't find it and eat it! Ewww!
I shall now go read about your refrigerator. :)
Uhh... That's me. Apparently not signed in. Oh, and me=Lindsay.
ReplyDelete@Ry: Let's see, the next time you vacation your tank will be sitting in new digs right... spacious digs? You may indeed have a few jumpers just to get a feel of the new carpet, or wood, or whatever. I think it is sick how they will eat each other. It's as if they have no meaningful relationships at all!
ReplyDelete@Anonymous: aka Lindsay... right. So you think you had the jurors fooled to begin with? BTW, do you think Reine gets enough protein?
I see why you don't blog much. These posts must take HOURS!
ReplyDelete