How to care for your aquarium while you’re on vacation

Are you heading out of town for a few days and wondering how to keep your fish healthy and your aquarium clean while you’re gone? If so, here’s how.

Before you leave
Examine your fish to make sure they appear healthy and alert before you leave. If they don’t, contact your local fish store or aquatic veterinarian for advice.

If your fish require special lighting, get a timer to make sure the lights turn on and off at the right times.

The day before you leave, change the water in the tank, check all your equipment and feed the fish.

While you’re gone
If you have friends or family members who live nearby, ask them to pop in every few days to check on the fish and feed them. Be sure to portion out the food, though, because people tend to overfeed fish when they don’t know what they’re doing.

Some adult fish can survive for up to two weeks without eating. So, depending on how long you’ll be gone, you may not need to worry about feeding them at all.

When you get home
Be sure to check that the tank and all its parts are working well, change the water as soon as possible and of course, feed the fish.