Cover Evening Feeding Where the Fish Actually Eat
Cover feeding at the bottom and in the evening, because a corydoras holiday plan built around daytime surface feeding starves the fish it is meant to protect. List each day's sinking portion in its own container, the evening visiting time, and the spots where food should land so the whole shoal reaches it. State that the sitter watches long enough to see the group settle onto the food, and that leftovers are lifted the next morning rather than left to rot into the sand. If other fish share the tank, note the distraction feeding order you use, so the corydoras portion is not intercepted at the surface before it sinks.
Cover the Shoal Count and the Resting Place
Cover counting as a named task with a named place, because corydoras rest together and a sitter who knows the shoal's number and its favourite patch of sand can spot a loss on day one. Write the group size into the plan, mark the resting spot, and describe what the group looks like at rest: loosely bunched, barbels forward, rising together when food lands. Define the reportable changes in this species' terms: one fish sitting apart visit after visit, a catfish at the surface gulping repeatedly, or a member of the shoal that cannot be found at the evening feed. Vague instructions to 'check the fish' produce vague updates, and bottom fish need better than that.
Cover Substrate Protection and Barbel Health
Cover what does not happen to the bottom of the tank, because corydoras barbels wear down on rough handling and dirty substrate, and a holiday deep-clean is a classic way to cause both. The plan should rule out gravel digging, plant uprooting, and rearrangement, allowing only a gentle siphon of visible surface debris on stated days. Note the soft substrate as deliberate, so no sitter helpfully adds or replaces anything. Add the hands rule: washed, rinsed, and free of soap or spray before anything touches tank water, since these scaleless-bottom fish sit in whatever settles.
Cover Water Tests, Top-Ups, and Filter Checks
Cover the water routine with your own baseline written in, because a corydoras sitter cannot interpret a test result in a vacuum. Record your normal readings, the test days, and the range that should trigger a call to you or your named backup. Leave prepared top-up water ready and mark the normal level on the glass, since evaporation concentrates waste at exactly the level where these fish live. Include the filter check as a look-and-listen task: flow present, no new rattle, intake clear of debris, reported rather than dismantled if anything seems wrong.
Cover Updates Written From the Bottom Up
Cover reporting in the order the fish live, because a useful corydoras update starts at the substrate, not the surface. Agree the format: shoal counted at the resting spot, food taken or left, any fish apart from the group, test results on test days, and water level topped up or not. Ask for the update after every visit, and name the point at which the sitter phones instead of writing: untouched food two evenings running, a fish breathing fast at the surface, or a dead fish found, which should be removed, photographed, and reported the same visit. Name your aquatic shop in the plan as the advice contact behind you.
Cover Your Return Check of the Whole Shoal
Cover the homecoming inspection as the plan's final step, because corydoras condition tells you how the holiday actually went. Watch one full evening feed and confirm every member of the shoal comes down to eat together, barbels intact, bellies rounded rather than hollow. Test the water before the next feed and read the sitter's log alongside the used food containers. Note any instruction the sitter had to guess at and rewrite it while the memory is fresh. With the check complete, KinsLe Care Pass withdraws your sitter's temporary access to this catfish's routine and files the proven plan away for the next holiday.