Hi all,
I've been to the Bavarian Alps for 3 weeks, this was a house swap, so why we were in Bavaria a German family were out our home in Wiltshire.
I've only got 2 x 2' and a 21 litre nano tank at home, all heavily planted and low-tech. Usually when I'm away I ask house-sitters not too feed the fish, unless I know that they are fish keepers, I've done this loads of times or (my builder neighbour has fed the fish without any problem) when I've been away for longer periods. For a number of reasons I had more fish than I normally do at home (I've got an aquarium set-up in the lab. again but it wasn't fully established and I've had very un-balanced sex ratios in my Apistogramma cacatuoides colony, so I had 4 "spare" sub-adult males), and a lot of smallish Apistogramma fry (some still with the females)). Because of this I left instructions and a measured amount of food for the tanks whilst we were away (measurement written and appropriate sized scoop left, but not measured out as portions).
To cut to the chase, whilst I was away all 6 of my adult/sub-adult male Apistogrammas died. The 4 sub-adult males and all the larger, but unsexable, fry in a tank on their own with large amount of cherry shrimps and 2 very old Tetras (also all deceased). The devastation was so bad in this 2' tank that even some of the MTS were dead. Following the deaths the tank was emptied of water, leaving only about 6" to cover the plants. All the plants have survived, with the exception of the ferns/moss above the water line, a group of Cryptocoryne balansae (from a UKAPS member) and a large Anubias "nana", both of these, even though in the water, had totally disintegrated, with the entire rhizome gone (the leaves themselves looked OK). Cryptocoryne x willisii (also from a UKAPS member) survived un-damaged. These fish only lasted about a week after I'd left (we had a distraught phone call at 2AM from our German house swap, whilst in Germany).
In the other tank, the 2 adult male Apistogrammas have died (about a week after the first deaths), but the 2 females with fry, 6 small Hypancistrus deblittera, 4 Otocinclus spp. and 3 male Threadfin Rainbows (bought as 1m, 2f, but obviously male when they arrived, and waiting to be collected) all survived. The entire tank surface was covered with Limnobium, with leaves at least twice as large as normal, and all the plants looked much larger and lusher than normal, with the exception of 2 large Anubias "nana", which had totally melted.
The nano was also fairly intact, agasn with very lush plant growth, but no obvious fish (just a few more juvenile Apistogramma) or plant deaths, with the exception of a large Anubias (species unknown) which again had totally melted. None of the tanks had noticeably more algae than when I left.
A bit of investigation found that:
1. Our Germans didn't speak much English (although enough to get by with whilst in England, and definitely a lot more than I can speak German )
2. One of our house swap had a severe dust mite allergy.
3. Our extremely pleasant, but very elderly neighbours (our builder neighbour was also away), had "house sat" for a couple of days immediately prior to the deaths whilst our visitors were in Cornwall.
4. There was a tray with a number of different fertilisers on the work top, including some that might conceivably look like fish food to the uninitiated.
I realise it could have been worse, but I'm still at a loss as to quite what happened? and any suggestions? are welcomed
cheers Darrel
I've been to the Bavarian Alps for 3 weeks, this was a house swap, so why we were in Bavaria a German family were out our home in Wiltshire.
I've only got 2 x 2' and a 21 litre nano tank at home, all heavily planted and low-tech. Usually when I'm away I ask house-sitters not too feed the fish, unless I know that they are fish keepers, I've done this loads of times or (my builder neighbour has fed the fish without any problem) when I've been away for longer periods. For a number of reasons I had more fish than I normally do at home (I've got an aquarium set-up in the lab. again but it wasn't fully established and I've had very un-balanced sex ratios in my Apistogramma cacatuoides colony, so I had 4 "spare" sub-adult males), and a lot of smallish Apistogramma fry (some still with the females)). Because of this I left instructions and a measured amount of food for the tanks whilst we were away (measurement written and appropriate sized scoop left, but not measured out as portions).
To cut to the chase, whilst I was away all 6 of my adult/sub-adult male Apistogrammas died. The 4 sub-adult males and all the larger, but unsexable, fry in a tank on their own with large amount of cherry shrimps and 2 very old Tetras (also all deceased). The devastation was so bad in this 2' tank that even some of the MTS were dead. Following the deaths the tank was emptied of water, leaving only about 6" to cover the plants. All the plants have survived, with the exception of the ferns/moss above the water line, a group of Cryptocoryne balansae (from a UKAPS member) and a large Anubias "nana", both of these, even though in the water, had totally disintegrated, with the entire rhizome gone (the leaves themselves looked OK). Cryptocoryne x willisii (also from a UKAPS member) survived un-damaged. These fish only lasted about a week after I'd left (we had a distraught phone call at 2AM from our German house swap, whilst in Germany).
In the other tank, the 2 adult male Apistogrammas have died (about a week after the first deaths), but the 2 females with fry, 6 small Hypancistrus deblittera, 4 Otocinclus spp. and 3 male Threadfin Rainbows (bought as 1m, 2f, but obviously male when they arrived, and waiting to be collected) all survived. The entire tank surface was covered with Limnobium, with leaves at least twice as large as normal, and all the plants looked much larger and lusher than normal, with the exception of 2 large Anubias "nana", which had totally melted.
The nano was also fairly intact, agasn with very lush plant growth, but no obvious fish (just a few more juvenile Apistogramma) or plant deaths, with the exception of a large Anubias (species unknown) which again had totally melted. None of the tanks had noticeably more algae than when I left.
A bit of investigation found that:
1. Our Germans didn't speak much English (although enough to get by with whilst in England, and definitely a lot more than I can speak German )
2. One of our house swap had a severe dust mite allergy.
3. Our extremely pleasant, but very elderly neighbours (our builder neighbour was also away), had "house sat" for a couple of days immediately prior to the deaths whilst our visitors were in Cornwall.
4. There was a tray with a number of different fertilisers on the work top, including some that might conceivably look like fish food to the uninitiated.
I realise it could have been worse, but I'm still at a loss as to quite what happened? and any suggestions? are welcomed
cheers Darrel
