Aquarium for 10 months a year?

Question

I have a huge dilemna. I have gotten WAY into aquariums since about December '07. Like enough that I could tell you like everythign about every commonly found domestic fish. I currently have one 10g tank and one 5g tank, and I am planning to get a 46g tank to put in my room at home.

My problem is, I spend two months a year at my cottage, which is about 7 hours away from home in the car, so I have to leave my aquariums with my friend over the summer. (fyi, i trust him with my fish, he did a great job taking care of them this summer. he has his own 55g tank with semi-aggressive fish, and he knows about as much as i do about fish.) So he kept my tanks for the months of June and july this year.

Now, I have finally gotten my parents to agree to buy me a 46g aquarium, but it won't fit in my car, so I can't bring it to my friend's house over the summer. I'm planning to have a planted tank with just livebearers in the 46g, so I think that over the summer i can sell all of my fish except for my favorite 10" of fish, which i would give to my friend in my 10g tank.

Since plants are expensive (ish), I don't want to have to buy new ones every summer, but can i leave them in my 46g tank without fish? I can't leave any electronics running while I am gone, so what would happen if i left my plants and water in the 46g tank for two months? (the lights would be on a timer, so they'd only be on for 11 hours a day)

What should i do with the 46g tank over the summer?

Answer 1

Ha - welcome to the addiction!!!  {;-)

The plants should do well. Most livebearers are at least partly vegetarian and can do quite well munching on the plants, especially if the tank is running for ten months before you leave it. Take out most of the fish and just leave in a few. Mollies are mostly vegetarian and platies eat anything including plants. The platies will keep giving birth every month and if any of the adults get hungry they will dine off some of the fry. Most of the fry will escape and hide in the plants. this should work even without a filter running provided you only leave a few pairs of fish in there. The plants will be fertilized by the fish waste and help keep the water healthy for the fish. I know this works because I have tried it. The only thing you have to do is make sure that you have plenty of plants including floating bunch plants and only a few fish.

If you turn off the filter, make sure that you clean it out before starting it up again because its contents will have become quite toxic.

You may come back to find a real multiplication of your plants and it could look quite messy, but it should be pretty healthy with light, lots of plants and only a few fish.

Have fun!