Vacation Feedings

[srstickler]

Hello All,

I've owned my tank for about a year and now that I just feel comfortable that I sort of know what I'm doing, I'm taking an 9 day vacation.

Would you all suggest the best way to feed my fish during this period. Slow releasing tablets? Invest in an automatic feeder??

I don't have the luxury of being able to have someone come over and feed them every day......

Thanks,

SRS

[TKOS]

What kind of fish do you have? A lot of fish are able to go that long without eating and are able to survive. Of course some fish might start snacking on each other if that is the only choice.

I personally use an autofeeder when I leave for more than a week at a time. Of course a lot of people hate them as they can lead to over feeding. I just make sure to clean my tank really well when I get back.

Those feeding blocks have never worked for me in the past. The last time I put one in my tank it barely started to disolve a week later, plus it was only covered in snails anyway. I guess it is a great way to feed snails.

[OrionGirl]

What fish do you have in there? Planted tank? Size of tank?

The feeder blocks are not a good idea--I haven't heard a single positive result and many, many bad ones. They do make mechanical timed feeders, and several people have success with them, but they can be costly and require monitoring before trusting them in your absence.

In a planted tank that is not overstocked, 9 days is do-able for most community setups, if the lights are on timers and power outages are not a concern. If someone could stop in on about day 5 and feed, top off, ect, it would be better, but not a requirement. For example, I have a 5 gallon tank with plants and several small fish. I am comfortable leaving them for 5-6 days without food. My planted 40--well, 3-4 days would be the max, since there are some predators in there. The planted 20--3 days tops, longer than that and the frog will find a way to eat a gouramie (but the gouramies would be fine). If you have aggressive or predatory fish, this won't work out.

[srstickler]

Tank is 29 Gallons

4 Whiteclouds
3 Fruit Tetras
1 Black Tetra
2 Serpae Tetras
2 Neon Tetras
1 Algae Eater

[caz]

i used vacation feeders in my planted 55 community tank. seemed to work out ok .

[ChilDawg]

The Algae Eater worries me a little, but the rest could go without food for a short amount of time.

OG, I use the Wardley's tabs for 10g tanks that are more heavily stocked than mine, and they last for 4+ days, even with the Betta chewing on it from the second it enterred the tank...is this not a good practice if I do an H2O change right before going on break???

[caz]

my algae eater sucks the life outta my vacation feeders :)

[elgecko]

What kind of bad things with the feeder blocks? I've used them maybe 3 times in the past. Once when I was gone for 14 days. Never had a problem when I used them.

[OrionGirl]

I've heard of many people coming home to cloudy tanks with sky high ammonia. Guess it depends on the setup. If you don't have a problem, then I won't advise anyone to quit--just saying there are lots of reported problems with them.

For your tank, I would say that you'll be fine if someone could drop by and feed them mid-way through. No predators to worry about, and the algae eater should be able to find enough to keep himself busy.

Even if no one feeds, it's not a bad idea to have someone check your tank mid way through your trip. Just in case, fo rthings like broekn heaters, slipped fittings, power outages, etc.

[wetmanNY]

That's a lot of calcium sulfate to dissolve into the tank water.

My advice is to give them some spinach as you leave. Give them some spinach again as soon as you get back.

You'll come home to a sparkling clear tank, in my experience. Hungry fish slow down, don't expend energy. But they don't "starve" like mammals, because they're not running a metabolic furnace.

Turn the temperature down to 71o or so. The lights are on a timer, yes?

[ChilDawg]

I thank you for answering my end of the query...I guess that I'll follow that advice from now on. (I'm all out of vacation tablets, anyway!)

[Kirin Fang]

I went on a 2 week vacation and threw a Wardley 14 day feeder into my 55 gallon cichlid tank, turned down the temperature, and did a water change before I left and when I came back everything was fine.

If you are willing to spend some extra money for it, I'd suggest getting one of the timed mechanical feeders.

[carpguy]

I took a 7 day vacation in March and, after reading similar threads out here, decided to just water change and go (but they'll get some spinach next time around :D ). 100% survival rate, no one even out of sorts.

No predators, plenty of plants (I figured it they did start to get hungry they could always hit the salad bar). The SAE had at the algae, came home to a cleaner tank.

[Tyler718]

If you decide to use a mechanical feeder, I suggest to start using it a week or so before leaving. That way you can make the required adjustments in amount of food fed and be there in case of a major problem.

Dave

[JSchmidt]

For an absence of less than two weeks, the risks associated with dissolving block feeders is much greater than any imagined risk one can concoct about the fish going without food. A mechanical feeder lowers the risk, but many of these are not foolproof and they simply aren't necessary, unless you have fry or very sensitive fish.

Wetman is right; if you leave your fish without food, the water will be clear and of good quality, and your fish will look healthy and happy.

HTH,
Jim

[ChilDawg]

Flame-worthy question, and hijack: If I have feeder fish in with my Con already, should I remove them before I go on vacation? (This is a hypothetical, but it could be real next year...)

[OrionGirl]

Depends. If the tank has the bio-capacity to the support the feeder and the con, or the waste from the con after the feeder has been processed, you'll be okay. Adding a pile of feeders and walking out the door would be a no-no, since the tank will spike, and there's the risk of a disease being introduced via the feeders.

[ChilDawg]

Of course...I wouldn't add any extra feeders...just wanted to know if I could leave the ones that were already there and untouched! :)

[thom336]

You lot think you have problems? I go away for 3 weeks every summer...

[demon_surfer]

to the best of my understand the disolving feeder blocks are bad because they are made of some kind of plaster with food stuck in them...so as the plaster disolves it can mess up your water. Im sure there are high quality ones that are relativly safe...I just dont feel like trusting something that is going to be releasing *stuff* into my aquarium when im not there to keep an eye on it....hell even when I am there:D

[thom336]

I usually use Hagen (nutrafin range), API or King British food blocks...but I have plans for some automatic feeders.

[wetmanNY]

Vacation feeding issues concern fishkeepers who can't imagine a poikilothermic metabolism. The same mammal-centric thinking that insists a betta wants "some buddies."

Here's something about vacation starving that I'd like to know: the fatty deposits in our fishes' livers that come from the rich constant fare they're getting-- is a fish able to reabsorb these fat globules, if we give it a sufficient time with no fat and protein intake? In starve-season in the tropics, don't fish reabsorb the fat that's been deposited around their organs during feast-season?

Fry and juveniles are a separate story, of course. Fish spawn at the beginning of the plenty season, just so that growing fry never have a "starve day."

It's hard to give them a "starve day." They get so quiet, biding their time, conserving their energy. We like to feed the fishies, because we want more action!

[OrionGirl]

Doesn't it take more than one starve day to slow the fish down? I fed on alternate days, occassionally skipping up to 4 days, and I haven't noticed a decreased activity level in any of my fish--but then, I know they are chubby...

[thom336]

In my tanks skip one meal every week. But instead of decreased activity I seem to find increased activity, especially in my Tiger barbs, in the search of food - the Tiger barbs jump up at the surface in the corner where I feed them trying to get my attention so I will give them some...the bloody pigs...

[TKOS]

My fish get a starve day on cleaning day. But I do use an autofeeder when I go away for more than a long weekend. But I set it to the lowest setting possible, so in essence they actually get less food than when I feed them myself. I guess I just feel more at ease when I am away, knowing that the food is getting to them and they won't hate me when I get back.

[ChilDawg]

Tomorrow's starve day for my tank...the Cories have been overfed since Mo died...I think that I see the same type of behaviour from the Cories after starve day, Thom...I guess that it would be okay to leave them for a while without food, but I'd rather have an auto-feeder on the low setting, like TKOS said.