I will need a Fish and Coral Babysitter for a couple weeks in November....

[lisaFL]

WingnutSr,

With ALL due respect - I'd beg to differ.
My parents own 2 dogs that i grew up with, and changes were made to accomadate these pets.

My sister wanted a horse, parents supported the idea to the fullest extend, however after months of discussing, thinking & looking around it was decided that due to the current active lifestyle the family had they'd not be able to care for it, in the horses best interest. It mostly came down to vacationing. Parents like to travel. Dubai, Europe, china, Caribeans, and future plans for africa, australia & india.


I would really like to steer away from comparing fish to dogs, cats, birds, horses or any other common household pet.

Trying to catch a fish, is very different from putting a dog on a leash. A dog does not need to acclimate to the 'air' in the new home. a dog would not try to hide under, or in a boulder to avoid being cought with a net.


I Don't think anybody here is trying to call Seth irresponsible, as much as trying to make him see that maybe right now is not the perfect time to own such a responsibility. It is not quiet his own life yet. He is still under the wings of his parents, living in their house.

I'm sure most of us have been at the point he is at. Stuck between a hard spot & a wall. I can most certainly understand where his parents are coming from about not wanting anybody in their house, HOWEVER this is something they should've thought about before they allowed their son to take this 'project' on.

either way - Best of luck to you seth. Not meaning to turn this into a **** fest. Most of us have been in a simular situation you're in when we lived with parents. Don't give up the hobby. Maybe you can talk to you parents & get them to allow a trusted person in.

This hobby does take alot of dedication, no matter if you have a 10g nano, or a 500g in wall.

 

[loosbrew]

I never insinuated either has any more importance over the other. and youre right, they all have different care requirements and caring for mammals is different than caring for birds or fish or anything else. still doesnt make it a good idea to pass fish around every few weeks.

luis

 

[ben&bobbi]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=10207965#post10207965 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by WingnutSr
I am sure if you asked that to a person who loves and owns horses or dogs, they would emphatically reply yes. And they would probabally ask whats the big deal about a lousy fish also, if they do not own some themselves.

When it comes to the care of any animal, be it fish, mammal or bird, they all need certain levels of care. The age of the person tending them does not matter if that person is capable of doing so in a resposible manner. In my opinion, he is doing just that. Being responsible for the care and well being of his animals.

The help he asking for is no differant than buying a new fish or frag, and bringing it home. Actually, probabally less stressful, as it will go through less handling and shipping.

this is exactly what i was thinking! they make cannels for dog lovers. do they not buy a dog because they might have to run out of town for a funeral? people have lives outside the fish tanks! atleast he is looking for options months instead of hours before the trip - that is what would be irresponsible! (except emergency!)

also i understand why the parents are leary about someone coming into their house. it's not what you would do on purpose, but what about leaving the door unlocked (on accident), they get home and have missed placed something - guess who gets blamed for "stealing" it! But then on the same note - it is good for someone to check on the house, bring in the newspaper, check for broken windows, water lines, heaters - stuff seems to happen when you are out of town! been there!

lastly - loosbrew
RC posting rules are against badgering and attacking people - if you don't have something supporting to post here - move on, your point was stated.

 

[seth16]

You guys are on here hammering me for wanting to move my fish to another tank...if you read my posts clearly, you can see that i really dont want to have to do that, and if ANY of you have ANY ideas regarding something else that i can do instead of that, i wanted to know. In my original post, i stated that I DONT WANT TO HAVE TO DO THIS. SO i am not just doing this because it was the BEST idea that i thought of, but the only. I started caring for aquariums 4 years ago, and have had no problems like this before...i am 5 months away from the time when i woudl ahve to do this, and i dont know why i am being torn up for trying to find a solution 5 MONTHS IN ADVANCE! Yes, i am young, and i do not have my house, and that makes it a challenge for me. But you cant go throught anything in life without finding challenges, it is how you handle them that deems you responsible or not. It would be irresponsible for me to just leave them there to die with a little automatic fish feeder... I really dont care how many people support loosebrews accusation about me being too irresponsible to care for a reef...I have had successful and beautiful reef tanks for years and...well...i think that THAT would mean that i AM able to care for my tank, i am just having some trouble finding out what i am goig to do in a situation 5 months down the line.

 

[Fuzzy]

Hi Seth,

Please ignore the unsolicited opinions and personal attacks.......

In response to your original question -
Have you looked into hiring a professional pet service?
There are companies out there who do this for a living that are licensed, insured, and bonded.
It's not cheap - but could help ease your parents mind a bit.

Good luck,

Nick

 

[seth16]

Yeha, i did look into it, and my parents are stuck on the fact that NOBODY will be coming in the house while we are gone... not even you Dan, SO yeah, but is there some sort of weeder that dispenses both coral food AND meaty foods like shrimp and squid?

 

[loosbrew]

It wasn't my intention to "badger" anyone. I was describing why I think it is a bad idea to move fish about like that and that there are other options. If RC considers this an attack, they really need to read some of the other threads. Last night I read someone wishing lupus on someone else for having tangs in too small of a tank. Dont know how my comments even compare to what happens else where on this board. Again, I wasn't badgering anyone, just explaining why his idea isn't good, with some opinions thrown in (for whatever it's worth), isn't that why we're all here?

oh and seth, just for the record, I never called *you* irresponsible. I just don't think children should have reef takes in their care for the very reasons why you are asking for help.

No matter how many "good intentions" you have, Iit's still not a good idea to move fish around every few weeks. Not to mention the species you are talking about wont fare well in something as small as a 50(ish). It really is in the best interest of the fish to not move them or if you do not take them back. I'm sort of baffled as to why you don't realize that...

anyway, I don't want to get banned for something so silly, I'm just trying to be realistic here.

good luck with whatever you do.

luis.

 

[Fuzzy]

Seth,

I have a automatic dry feeder that you can borrow. But there's now way to feed the meaty stuff, it would spoil.
Maker sure you set up some sort of auto-top off device to allow for evaporation.
And maybe set up a web cam so you can keep an eye on the tank in case of an emergency?

Nick

 

[seth16]

That sounds like a plan. I will talk to my parents more about Dan helping out, if anyone, he would probably be the only one i could get them to trust in the long run.

 

[markandkristen]

what about the freeze dried plankton i think its baby krill. thier pretty small. might not be the lion fishes favorite food but should get him through.

 

[ryanhayes96]

dude i had to look into a aquarium service 6 moths ago for my tank and i thought i wasint going to be able to go to cali. note that im writing this from cali. i found a person that my DAD thought was trustworthy and me asweell. if ur parents dont want me in there i see where theyre coming from. ty to tak to them and see if there is soeone they like. or maye time for a red esa max? lol

 

[lusenut2]

I think this is thread is funny. Man Seth you know how to get in the middle of drama. I have to say I agree with you. At least your tring to figure something out in order to keep your fish alive. Dont listen to anyone that is going to tell you, you have to change your life for a fish tank. You dont have to miss out on any vacations for the fish. If your parents wont let anyone in the house which I cant blame, send them to a fellow reefer to watch them. Yea its not good for them but you have no other choice. Make it your last option, and if you have to you have. They will be fine.

 

[DJChesnutRabbit]

I also have a couple auto feeders laying around here somewhere. Your more than welcome to use them.......

 

[cham]

I would go with an automatic feeder & use the freeze dried msyis and other freeze dried food.

There are numerous ones to choose from at SITC and you have 5 months to dial it in and get it working perfectly.

If you can get an ATO system set up, a Kent float valve sells for $15 and you can just set a large container above the height of the tank to gravity feed. Its the simplest system possible that won't cost too much and has the least potential for failure.


But you need to set these systems in place TODAY and get them running. You have 5 months to work the bugs out. I would do several two week trial runs, see if your system can keep up with feeding and top off with no errors for two weeks.

I would still be very nervous to leave a tank unattended for that long, you still want someone checking in on the tank. You need to try and see if your parents would allow him to maybe come in once or twice a week to make sure everything is cool. If you trust your neighbors, they can keep an eye out if they see Ryan hauling off a dresser or something


I would make sure you do a good waterchange & put in a fresh bag of carbon & fresh bag of GFO before you leave. That will give you a little extra room for error. I would also leave a cell # for neighbors to call you if they notice the power goes out for more than 20 or 30 minutes.

Good luck

 

[dugg]

Seth, i don't know a lot about how established your system is, but other than the lion fish, everything else there would be just fine without supplimental feedings for 2 weeks. If you can figure out something for topoff water the fish will do just fine if you have a healthy pod population. Drop a good size ball of cheato in the display while you are gone for the tangs to feed on. It might not be thier favorite, but they will eat it. By moving the cheato to the display, you will also add tons of pods to the display for everyone else to eat while you are gone. The eel will be fine without food for 2 weeks. They often go a month or more without a meal in the wild. I have 2 skunk clowns, 1 yellow watchman goby, 1 green wrasse (forget the name), and 1 foxface in my tank, and i rarely if ever feed my tank anything except the pods that grow naturaly. I can't speak on the lion, but you could maybe acclimate some black mollies and put in there for him to eat while you are gone. Maybe even do a few for the eel, although he would probly get them all the first day.

 

[seth16]

You see, THIS is what i wanted to get form people by making the thread. Thanks. I will look into an ATO system, and also, does anybody have any Chaeto that i can start out with, i can put it into my sump and let it grow out... Thanks for all fo the help so far guys, i appreciate it

 

[cham]

I have cheato you can have. If I run to SITC anytime in the next couple weekends I will drop some off there.

 

[seth16]

Will you be at the next ORCA meeting, i probably wont be goig to SITC for a while, i work like everyday now at Gatorland...

 

[cham]

Should be there.

 

[seth16]

ok then, i will b eon the lookout thanks