I have an empty, small aquarium that I want to put into use again.?

Question

The problem is that I'm at college so whenever I go on breaks for a long period of time (Thanksgiving and Christmas) I would not be around to clean/feed anything alive, like fish, reptiles, or small mammals. Plus, when I graduate in 9 months I'd have to safely transport whatever is in the tank across the country.

My mom suggested a terrarium, but I already have a bunch of potted plants so I don't really need or want more.

My sisters suggested a diorama of sorts, but I can't think of anything worth spending money on to set up - if I'm going to spend money it better be worth the investment!!

Does anyone have any suggestions keeping those few issues in mind?

Answer 1

My suggestion for something small would be a 5 gallon tank with heater and filter (you can buy that in a kit), and a live plant
Buy yourself a male or a female betta and about 3-4 zebra danios OR 3-4 neons and a few ghostshrimp
That way when you graduate in 9 months you take out about 75% of the water and leave the fish in there and can transport them that way, because usually these small tanks are not out of glass

Do weekly partial waterchanges of 25% with a gravel siphon

Feed your fish twice a day, as much as they will eat in a period of 3-5 min

Leave the light on for 10-12 hours during the day and turn it off for 12-14 hours at night (a timer is very helpful)

Before you go on vacation, do a regular waterchange and feed your fish just as normal, they will be absolutely fine for 10 days without food
But please don't buy these vacation feeders, they do more harm then good and will only pollute your tank


any more question feel free to email me


Hope that helps
good luck


EB

If you want live help, follow the link in my profile

Answer 2

I've been in this same boat before, but luckily i could ask the help of one of my roommates to watch and feed the fish. I'd say if you're gone for more than a week, you should bring your fish with you. It's probably better that you have two tanks set up then. One at home and one on campus. If you're bringing them home..you can carry them in those leak proof zip lock bags, but make sure to blow some air into it. there needs to be some sort of oxygen exchange between water and air.

If you're not gone for longer than a week then you could always invest in an automatic feeder. I've seen them at petsmart and they last for up to a month. the only problem is that you need to do a lot of water changes/cleaning if you invest in a smaller tank. I'd say anywhere from 10% to 25% water change every week. This is to help keep the ammonia levels down (which will kill your fish).

How big is your tank? If you want really hardy fishes, you could always go with paradise fish (instead of a betta) i think they're more interesting. Plus they have the ability to breathe air as well. If you're tank is really that small, you could try a guppy and a snail or ghost shrimp.

Good luck!

Answer 3

If you like reptiles you get always get a snake; maybe one that stays small like a sand boa or a hognose. You would only need a 10 gallon tank, plus, they can easily go a week or two without any attention. Just feed them before you leave and make sure it has a large enough bowl of water to drink from. You could probably set it up for less than $90.

Answer 4

A pet rock.

Heh, joking.

You could do a hermit crab or a betta fish. They sell vacation feeders to place in the tanks when you are gone 1-2 weeks. They should survive that long without a cleaning.

A snail might even be interesting. They eat plants, so just leave enough plants in it for them to eat when you are gone.

They can be transported the same way they are when they go across country to the pet stores.

Answer 5

To be immediately up and honest with you, in case you do in contrast to changing water, a saltwater aquarium calls for assorted that with the intention to maintain all residing issues healthful. purely considering which you haven't any longer have been given fish in a saltwater aquarium that does no longer advise you will do much less water ameliorations. as long as you have some thing residing interior any aquarium, you would be required to alter water, much extra so on a saltwater aquarium. stay corals, stay rocks, stay anemones, and so on. all of them require a definite salinity point, water does evaporate, and whilst water does, the salinity of the water is going up, and whilst its very extreme, it could additionally kill your stay rock, stay coral, stay anemone and so on. yet another component too, the corals, rocks, anemones, does produce ammonia and nitrates. in case you do no longer do commonplace water ameliorations, it won't seem as advantageous and at last through fact each little thing dies off, the scent of your tank could be extremely undesirable. you will need filtration for the tank, alongside with a floor skimmer to change a protein skimmer it somewhat is a necessity for saltwater aquariums. So my advice to you is, until eventually now you intend on having a nano reef aquarium set up, do your study through fact it is actual extra durable than what human beings think of. thank you for asking...........

Answer 6

get a ball python its not a big investment and you don't have to feed it every day and they are friendly animals