5wks holiday - what maintenance?
Hello team,
I'm going on a 8-9wk work assignment overseas later this year and only have 3-4weeks' cover where a pal could come in and feed / maintain the tank. What do yous think, if I hire a pet sitter to come in, how often would they need to feed the tank? Currently the tank has very low maintenance requirements (minimal water changes, see below), so I'm wondering if I can leave it for 5wks until my pal is available to do one.
The tank shown here after a very aggressive trim, 10mo old 125l / 27gal with 7 chilies (~1yo, waiting for more in LFS) plus ~16 (& happily multiplying, ~5mo) pygmy corys, 6 amanos and 2 nerite. strong cycle with an oversized sponge filter and a small internal filter for circulation. I have some persistent low-level algae problems (various types) that's probably due to my haphazard water change & fertilisation schedule. the tank is very understocked as I'm away a lot and have really been taking my time adding fish. the cycle has been very stable (liquid test kit verified) and I only change 10-20% water every now and again. the stem plants and moss grow like crazy, but the slow growth ones struggle due to said algae & low water change problem, but that's a question for another day.
Current feeding very sparingly every other day with a rotation of powder, crushed micro granules, sinking algae wafers, frozen daphnia & white mosquito, and occasional vinegar eel & BBS cultures.
What does the hive mind suggest? Some people say "just leave it for 5wks unfed it will be fine" but that sounds cruel to such small, fast metabolism fish (plus I also don't want to crash my cycle). Thoughts?