For a week I close the blinds and lock the doors.

Great advise Matt! I also use the pill packs method marked with the dates to feed and then there’s no question how much to give each day! Ps I ordered and received my Fish Matt coffee mug here in New Hampshire USA.. I love it!! Have a great vacation! 😊👍🏻

As for leaving care into others, a while ago I saw a video on Project Piaba where she advised to have food stored in pill boxes on which you indicate the day of the week. It's perfect for dry fish food! In the video she explained how she makes these plans ahead for instances where she suddenly can't be home for an extended period of time due to circumstances of her job.

Your videos just keep getting better. Have a great holiday!

Perfect timing Matt, me too. Thanks for the info.

I bought fish food in a bottle, with a dispenser in the lid. One "pump" is enough. I got flakes, bug bites etc and crushed them down, mixing them all together, so i have a mix of food easily dispensed. Also means if i am away, i just need to ask a trusted friend to do one pump twice a day, when they also feed my cat. I have danio, platy, mountain minnow, rainbow shinner and corry, and last night i spotted a couple of babies. Tiny, but actively swimming around. Im a chuffed daddy now 😊

Fish shop Quinn, the only unit of measurement that matters

Depends on how long you're going. If it's only a week or so, no need to feed them at all, they'll be totally fine! Make sure the lights are on timers too. Haha, commenting while watching, I'm terrible at being organised too 😂

I have battery backups (UPS) in all my filters plus automatic feeders for once a day or every 2 days

Id quite like to see a video covering the selling and keeping of monster fish. In my experience, very few people actually house them in sufficiently sized tanks, but instead concentrate on filtration, so much so they will heavily overstock so the fish are literally bumping into each other. There should be more to a fishes existence than simply sitting in a container of 'clean' water.

Matt is a gamer!!!!!

Having someone pop round before hand to go over how the tanks works and show what premade up food pots to feed when, saved my fish. Main filter on River tank died a few hours before had to go get plane, ( thankfully had a little 1 on it too for high oxygen fish) but whilst away we had a power cut and MIL was oooo the fish! Got little 1 chugging along again and it just about survived until I got home and my new filter arrived the next day. 😮 Corys had 11 babies too! 😊

Love those festivums!

Is it Md who is gonna check on your aquariums? haha have a great holiday, well deserved i would say !!

Thanks Matt👍🐠🌿🌾🐟🦐

Have a lovely holiday. Take care, be well

Ive not fed fish for a week while away in the past. I dont recomend it but they all survived

Just came back from 10 days in Crete. As I normally do a 30% water change every 7-10 days, did a water change the morning before I headed to the airport. Cleaned the pre filter (Oase) the day before that. Set up a Eheim everyday fish feeder to deliver one feed (1 rotation) a day. Lights left on manual timer. Everything fine when I got back. If I go away for a weekend, I just leave them.

One thing I had an issue with in the past was the water level dropping from evaporation. The level dropped and I never mentioned to the person taking care of them to add water when needed. I use sponge filters with a discharge tube and in tank filters with discharge tubes as well. The water dropped well below the discharge tubes and made a mess. The fish were okay but it made plants and scape were not as lucky.

Bring on the studio 🙌👍🏻

Liking the how to videos

I wish the auto feeders were able to be set for every second day but I haven’t found one that does yet. Most won’t last you for 3-4 weeks. Hard when you live out in the sticks in Australia and you can’t get anyone to pop round and refill it for you.

Mattt! Show us all your home tanks!!

Do a video of diffrent plants who takes nutriens from water collum and who takes from soil. Would be nice to have for my next re-scape

I just finished a 5 day trip. I have a bunch of fish fry so I needed someone to help out. I put everything they need one small drawer, and took a video of how to do it (feeding a bit less than normal). It worked perfectly and I haven't had a single issue

Good advice Matt

bring all the fish to my house.... easy...to keep ;)

Hi Matt, I just came back from holiday to find my really expensive Sulawesi shrimp dead as my friend accidentally turned the temperature off instead of the light. Also my other tanks had a lot of excess food in them & had to have water changes straight away! I had explained & shown the feeding regime but ….! Anyway have a fun break away. Look forward to another video soon.

Thanks Matt

Great video, we're leaving for 2 weeks so I'll make sure I educate my neighbor properly. Have a great holiday Matt!

You need to do a update on Martian pond set up from the shop that big pond with the window and a tour of the pond stuff at the shop ❤

Hi matt, What a great video about this topic had some nice tips and tricks from your video. Want to wish u a happy holiday!! And hope to see u in november in Holland Have a great weekend 👋👋 With love from the netherlands🤘

I have always fed up my fish the week before I go on holiday and then just leave them, I don't trust non aquarists with feeding, and the lights are on a timer. Holidays can last anything from a weekend to three weeks all through the year and I can't remember ever having a problem in 60+ years :)

I love the 'Fish Mate F14 Aquarium Fish Feeder', 14 slots that can be set for once or more times a day. The slots can hold mix of food shapes (think micro pellets and full size algae wafers at the same time) and as you fill each dose of food you get to work out what mix to use per meal. It also has an airline point to keep the food dry! As for pre-planning - I'm currently trying to teach my african dwarf frogs and pea puffers that they can eat dried food (they are trying Hikari vibrabites), our holiday is Feb, they might have twigged by then!

How to suggestion: add terrestrial plants to your tank. Including tools/diys that help keep them attached.

fantastic! very well done

Great job!

Thanks Matt. Gina

please do a video on oxygen, all my fish were gasping for air this morning. how quick can oxygen be deprived from planted tanks overnight? it was just one night with outflow too low. i have just 1 ram, 7 tetra, amanos, and 5 corydora for a 25 gallon

Could you do a review on USA products? So many of what you use we can't get in the US

Towards these "week feed sticks"; If you got loaches, especially clown loaches... They will finish these sticks in one sitting, no matter how long it takes 😂

Great video Matt!

Can't wait to see the new studio, also enjoy your holiday.

Thanks.

Good stuff

Excellent video as always. Safe travels!

The problem is, many auto feeders tend to gunk up quickly and get sticky and blocked after a few days- happened to me! Have a nice holiday 😎

I got a lot of catching up to do, been away myself x

Great stuff Matt.

Great video! Really enjoying the content - would love a video on how to properly quarantine new fish! Keep up the good work 🤩

Totally unrelated haha but what are you favourite games on the Switch Matt? Enjoy your holiday!

I was wrecking my brain on this last weekend but cancelled my travel so stayed home. What I want to know is how you clean a internal filter like those superfish filters. Without dirtying your water when you pull them out.

your thumbnails always bring a smile

yup, the weekly pill containers work really well if you can get a friend/neighbor to come in to feed your tanks. Especially if you have more than one tank. I also feed slightly less than I normally would. I'm sure my betta doesn't like that but at least I know I will come home to healthy fish.

Nice one… nearly got me and skipped the video along with an explicit verbal slur 🤣 term of endearment though 😊

Great time for the vacation tips! Can't wait to see the studio!

I would leave the algae for the fish to nibble on while I was gone. 🤷

I just did a video about holiday cover as well 😅

😻

Another great video Matt. All good advice, but setting the auto feeder up well in advance and checking it is doing everything properly is a must, if only for confidence and assurance whilst you are away.

one of the things i appreciate about your videos is that you don't edit out the ADHD moments

👍🏻👍🏻

Great video as always Matt... Always look forward to your content... Cheers 🍻 👏

Hi Matt, no question just thought i'd say cheers for the content. I only started watching for research on aquatic plants/tanks for terrariums but you're slowly making me want to raise the water level 😅 Me, my wife and son love watching. Looking forward to the garage aquaroom!

16:52 controlling ph in a tank pls

I only plan anything if I know I’ll be gone more than a week. If it’s a week I let her be. What are you opinion on those “slow release vacation foods”

When I am going to be away and I'm having friends feed my fish I like to use pillboxes for each tank I feel each Day slot with the amount I normally feed. That way my friends know exactly how much to feed and there's no overfeeding.

I once had a tera & angels tank. went away for 2 days came back to an angel tank

Going away in April next year for three weeks. Already planning. 🥴😵‍💫

To be honest I have a 30g packed with plants,barely to be honest I have a 30g packed with plants, barely ever do water changes, not even before holiday and it’s always fine! (I do test my water though)

Great video! Any plans for a kribensis fish files after the holiday?

When I went away for a couple of weeks I bought a daily vitamin container with each day marked so my father in law knew which one to feed

Maybe install a sponge filter dosed with a bacteria starter about a week before connected to an internal emergency battery backup air pump (some come with two air ports giving the ability to supply air to two tanks) so if power goes out the battery runs on air and when the power comes back on the sponge filter pump goes back to electric power recharging the battery. As some filters lose their prime and stop working but with a sponge filter with electric/battery backup air pump the circulation of the water goes on. That my biggest fear if power goes out while I am gone. That is why I always liked underground filters in conjunctionwith a HOB filter. And the are small battery pack external power backups like for a computer is always a option.

Thanks again, Matt. Beautiful fish in the big tank, looking like a stretched angelfish. Or like a hybrid between angelfish and sparkling gurami. Going to look them up.

Plastic weekly pill box .put only the right amount in each one.

We have fairly dry weather here, even in winter I get a LOT of water evaporation from my open top tanks (actually I get less evap in summer because our evaporative aircon pumps a lot of water into the house atmosphere and theres less temp difference between the water and air). In a week I can get 1-1.5inches water loss which matters for the pickup on one tank. Last year when I went away I put in feeder blocks so the friend looking after my bird wouldn't have to worry about the tanks, and I cling/ plastic wrapped my two open top tanks after topping them up (ones an aquarium, ones a paludarium) leaving just small sections for air flow. After a week away both tanks were still at good water levels and the paludarium plants were all fine as were the fish. Another note with the feeder blocks- often they are carbonate based to be slow release. This means your pH will go up- more noticeable in small tanks which is what I have. If you want a acidic to neutral tank, not so good- I keep tetra and guppies. So test the water before you leave, and when you get back. If the pH has gone up too much then water change. If still having issues getting it to balance out you can use indian almond leaves (which is good for your fish and shrimp anyway) coz the tannins will help bring the pH back down- obviously don't dump a tonne into a tank that isn't used to it coz you don't want to yoyo the tank conditions on your poor fish! I'm not sure I'll use the feeder blocks this time I go away since one tank pH went right up. My fish were fine, but I still had to do water changes etc to get it back down. Noting that, my tanks with livestock are heavily planted with low to medium stocking levels and shrimp and snails in all of them. They are all well established and dont get lots of water changes because they don't need it (yes I test). My fish also don't get fed every single day (unless I've got lots of baby guppies in that tank, then they get daily feeding to help raise the young ones) so sporadic feeds while I'm away isn't going to be out of the ordinary for them.

When I went away for 10 days, I left my dad a 7 - day pill box with food in each day to feed. It meant the fish werent being fed for the first 2 days of my holiday, but my dad knew what to give for the next 7, then the fish fasted for another day before i returned. Works a treat :)

How do you go about putting bloodworm in an automatic feeder? Seems like they're all made for dry food. How long could fish eg rope/ reed fish last without food?

❓ about Cory eggs on a heater, should I run the heater or turn it off until the eggs hatch? I had it off when she laid the eggs. I normally run a heater then turn it off to simulate a cold water change to spark breeding then turn it back on once done but this time she's put the eggs on it so I don't know what to do.. Thanks 👍

Lots of people want to ask questions but can't/don't for whatever reason so these videos are brilliant ✌️ You could of hidden that PlayStation controller at the start tho 🤮 Great vid as always ✌️💜

Please do you have any advice / suggestions of great tanks the clear ones you have

Hellow Hellow

Loving your content Matt. More informative than 90% of content producers but keeping it entertaining as well. I do have a question regarding plants specifically Anubias and anubias melt. I've recently lost three plants to it. How do you over come this? Cheers Eddy

What are your procedures for putting new fish in your established tanks. I'm in two minds about a quarantine tank, as it's 2 changes instead of 1. If the lfs is reputable, the fish have been in the store for a few weeks, and you watch the fish for a good time checking for any issues before purchasing I'd have thought the risk would be minimal and would negate the need for a quarantine tank - what are your thoughts?

What's the species in the tank with a stripe and similar to a gourami?

Will you be doing more fish files as well?

Hey Matt so what about touching on the subject of unwanted fry? My local Maidenhead sold me 3 “ female platy “ turns out 1 of them was just in drag that day and wasn’t actually a female 😂 do Maidenhead accept these fish or shall I look for someone online tbag may want them? Cheers mate love the content

Hi Matt if you normally fertilise your plants on a daily basis would you fertilise a weeks worth before you go away or not bother until you return, thanks in advance 👍🏻

Hey Matt thanks for a great video. Do you have Siamese Algae Eaters in your open top tank? Just bought some today for my own and got a bit worried when I read online that they are jumpers 🙈

Question: I have a beta who’s pretty old and spends his time laying at the bottom. He still does continue to eat. Do I let him live out his life or should I euthanize him. If so, how? I’m just not sure if he’s still having a happy fish life or is miserable. I just don’t know. What advice do u have? Thx Matt :)

Where is your fish shop

Only been following you and MD for a week or so, love the vids. Saw a vid of you without the beard, look tons better. Good job its not a male grooming channel lol Keep them coming, you passion for the hobby is infectious

I went away and begged my mother to not feed my tank... She did feed them anyway came back to a huge mess

Take them with you?