Going on holiday and don’t know what to do about the fish pond.

A common fish pond problem is what to do when you go on holiday. You are presented with two potential problems.

1: Feeding
2: Something happens to the pond.

Holiday fish feeding,

If you are about to go on holiday and you own a fish pond you will probably have come up with one of three solutions,

1, My neighbour/friend will feed them while I am away.
2, I have an automatic fish feeder that will do the job just fine.
3, I won’t feed them, I am sure they will be fine.

Lets start with the friend/neighbour option. This sounds like the best option but I have found that most holiday fish losses can be attributed to this. The reason is that when someone else looks after your pond they more than often over feed them either by putting in a weeks worth of food all at once or just giving the fish way to much food everyday. This can cause the water quality to poison the fish or it just blocks the pump and then you loose fish due to lack of oxygen. The most successful way to do this without problems is to put a days worth of food into an envelope for each feeding day that you are away and always use less than you usually do.

Automatic fish feeders are a great way to make sure your fish get just what they need. Although I would suggest that you get a good quality one and dry test it for at least two weeks prior to your holiday as they are not foolproof.

The option I favour the most is to not feed the fish at all.(NOTE This does not include koi or heavily stocked fish ponds) This might sound harsh but I find people that do not feed have by far less problems than those who do. The fish do not starve as some might think. Fish ponds are full of larvae, worms and vegetation so I would be very surprised to hear your fish have starved.

What if something goes wrong with my pond?

There are a few things that you can do to make sure your pond stays the way you left it.

1,Clean pond pump filter and waterfall the day before you go and also raise the pond pump to the middle section of the pond so if it does cause a problem it can only empty half the pond.
2,Place a cover net or other form of protection over the pond.
Check water quality.
3,Add any extra pumps or air pumps that you might have as back up.
4,It is worth having the number of a local pond specialist preferably one that knows your pond who can be contacted in case of an emergency.

Happy holidays!

By Neil Murkitt

  1. This has been a very useful article. I now intend leaving the right amount of food for each day while I am away.

  2. Very useful article on holidays. I am going to do my daily packs up individually