Very nerve racking taking vacations having a tank. I had to leave for work for a week and made my mom come and stay at my house to take care of it. I drew a picture of my filtration system and labeled what everything was. This way, if I needed her to check on something or needed to walk her through something over the phone, she would know what I was talking about when I said, "How is the skimmer doing? Are my socks overflowing?" I also wrote down what each fish eats and how/when to feed them. I spent about an hour with her going over how to test the water for me, etc. She did pretty well. If you can find a neighbor or friend you can trust and who is willing to learn how to keep an eye on it for you, hang onto them! The thing that scares me the most about leaving is that unless you are a tank owner, this person helping you cannot recognize if something is wrong with one of your fish. As we all know, time is of the essence when you have a sick fish. Someone with extra time on their hands should start up a fish babysitting business! Someone who knows the ropes, knows how to fresh water dip and treat sick fish. Money making business right there!
