tank footprint? prep. for vacation?

[libingboy]

i am making plans of upgrading from my current tank, 4x2x2... if you had to choose, which tank footprint is more ideal for clown loaches?
5x2.5x2 (LxWxH) or
6x2x2...
from what i see, it seems loaches would prefer the increased length over the increased width, although the surface area (and therefore the water volume) of the first tank is larger...

also, i will be going away for around 10 days during christmas. should i
use a food timer? (i got a sera food timer)
or should i just let them be? My concern with the food timer is that i heard some of them dont keep the food fresh, and it is a big concern here in singapore, due to the humidity... Anybody got experiences with the food timer?

[Emma Turner]

If I had to choose between those two tank sizes, I think I'd opt for the 6' x 2' x 2' because mature clowns are capable of incredible bursts of speed along the length of the tank when they choose to. Having said that, mine also benefit from the increased width and height of our aquarium, because of the sheer size of some of them. My advice is - go as big as you absolutely can - they will thank you for it.

With regards to food timers, they can be problematic. Is there any way you could ask someone to pop in a couple of times when you are away to put some food in? When doing this, to avoid any disasters with well-meaning non-fishy folk, put set amounts of the food into small plastic food bags (the amount you would normally give them) and then hide the food containers out-of-sight so that they can't add 'just that little bit more'. Clowns that are currently well fed can actually go for a quite a long time without food as they build up fat reserves on the body, and most tanks would have the odd few plants for them to nibble at anyway.

Emma

[sophie]

re: going away...

I've left my tanks for a couple of weeks at a time with no adverse effects on healthy fish. if the tanks are mature, there shouldn't be a problem - I tend to do several water changes in the days before going away but not clean out any algae for a good few weeks beforehand. I came back from two weeks away this monday just gone and none of the fish looked any skinnier than usual, including the harlequins and white clouds. The loaches were all happy as larry.

[Wendie]

I go away for 7 to 10 days quite often. I do a normal water change and clean the filters with extra care the day before leaving. Each tank is then left with a series of small paper cups with the food already portioned in them. I then schedule feedings around other activities. I leave Sunday morning so I'll feed then with a schedule of Wednesday - trash pickup day, Friday, Sunday... This seems to work several ways. The person doing it doesn't get burned out, the filter load is less, and the fish don't seem to have a problem. I have a series of 5 2.5 gallon betta tanks, 1 5 gallon Q tank, and 4 large tanks.

[libingboy]

thanks for all the replies...
im pretty sure a tank larger than what ive mentioned would earn the ire of the building management... tanks larger than those tend to require the person to engage an engineer to prove it will not be too heavy for the building.

i cant really ask anybody to come into the house for me. (living in a foreign land...) I recall seeing ads for gel-based food blocks that will not affect the KH, but i cant seem to find it in Tetraś website.

[newshound]

I went away for x mas for 10 days. Had one tamk with strata and neons.
get back and over 10 neons vanished!
tasty little buggers