why does a fish ALWAYS die when I holiday?

[Flash Wilson]

Whenever I go away (twice a year for a week usually) one of my
fish is always dead on my return. Usually something inconsequential
like a tiger barb or a cardinal, but always *something*.

My house sitter looks after them well and knows the routines
(he even rang me up to discuss technique for feeding my axolotls,
and I got him his own betta for his flat which is doing well)
but something always pops off... it's as if they miss me or
know something has changed... yet water conditions are always
good, the expected amount of food is still in the containers,
the remaining fish all look happy...

I'm baffled. Anyone else have this problem?

This time it was an elderly tiger barb - only one left now!

--
Flash Wilson
-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-
Bother. Must not drink tequila before midnight on a weeknight.

[Joe Crowder]

"Flash Wilson" > wrote in message
...
> Whenever I go away (twice a year for a week usually) one of my
> fish is always dead on my return. Usually something inconsequential
> like a tiger barb or a cardinal, but always *something*.
>
> My house sitter looks after them well and knows the routines
> (he even rang me up to discuss technique for feeding my axolotls,
> and I got him his own betta for his flat which is doing well)
> but something always pops off... it's as if they miss me or
> know something has changed... yet water conditions are always
> good, the expected amount of food is still in the containers,
> the remaining fish all look happy...
>
> I'm baffled. Anyone else have this problem?
>
> This time it was an elderly tiger barb - only one left now!
>
> --
> Flash Wilson
> -=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-
> Bother. Must not drink tequila before midnight on a weeknight.

Flash,
I've had this problem to. I've been travelling for work a lot lately, and
have lost a fish on almost every trip. My wife now gets more upset about
having to take care of the fish than the fact that I am leaving for a few
days :-( She can't stand to see one of them die. The last trip I was on,
she was almost in tears on the phone because one of her favorites (a
whiptail cat) died.

I can not come up with a reasonable explanation. My wife feeds the fish in
the morning, and I feed them in the evening when I am home. She just takes
over the evening feeding when I am gone. The only thing that changes is the
traffic patterns in my office where the fish are. Who knows?? I'm abou tto
get superstitous about it.

Joe

[PABBY]

"Joe Crowder" > wrote in message
...
>
> "Flash Wilson" > wrote in message
> ...
> > Whenever I go away (twice a year for a week usually) one of my
> > fish is always dead on my return. Usually something inconsequential
> > like a tiger barb or a cardinal, but always *something*.
> >
> > My house sitter looks after them well and knows the routines
> > (he even rang me up to discuss technique for feeding my axolotls,
> > and I got him his own betta for his flat which is doing well)
> > but something always pops off... it's as if they miss me or
> > know something has changed... yet water conditions are always
> > good, the expected amount of food is still in the containers,
> > the remaining fish all look happy...
> >
> > I'm baffled. Anyone else have this problem?
> >
> > This time it was an elderly tiger barb - only one left now!
> >
> > --
> > Flash Wilson
> > -=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-
> > Bother. Must not drink tequila before midnight on a weeknight.
>
> Flash,
> I've had this problem to. I've been travelling for work a lot lately, and
> have lost a fish on almost every trip. My wife now gets more upset about
> having to take care of the fish than the fact that I am leaving for a few
> days :-( She can't stand to see one of them die. The last trip I was on,
> she was almost in tears on the phone because one of her favorites (a
> whiptail cat) died.
>
> I can not come up with a reasonable explanation. My wife feeds the fish
in
> the morning, and I feed them in the evening when I am home. She just
takes
> over the evening feeding when I am gone. The only thing that changes is
the
> traffic patterns in my office where the fish are. Who knows?? I'm abou
tto
> get superstitous about it.
>
> Joe
>
>

Cheers for this topic. I'm off on holiday on Sunday for the first time since
setting up my tank and am now suitably paranoid. ;-)