Vacation food

[longhorn]

I will be taking a vacation for about 10 days. Need to buy some vacatoin foods so my fishes will not starve. Any suggestions on the best way to take care of your fish while you are away. I bought some Wardley vacatoin shells. It says it will feed 15 average sized fish for 14 days. But what is average size? I have three 5" angles, two 4" silver dollars, and couple of other 4" fishes. Don't know if there is anything out there that can feed them.

Thanks for the help!

F.Z.

[Dabbler II]

You might want to look at one of the auto feeders. they should hold enuf food for 10-14 days. I had one when I was 12 (1983) and it worked ok, they have since changed the design and seem to work better.

[ewok]

how long will you be gone?

i think i would shy away from "vacation feeders" i have heard some strange comments on them like they might contain plaster or something.........

post back how long and maybe someone can come up with something better.


edit: oops, 10 days..... i would wonder if that's too long to not feed them...... i think i would try feeding them heavy going into it and then maybe do without or have someone stop over once or twice and feed them something i put in a baggie........

[longhorn]

The Vacation Shells do look like plaster, but I am not sure whether that is the case or not. Anyone knows? Is plaster harmful to fish at all?

[JSchmidt]

Unless you have fry or very young fish, they will get along fine for 10 days without food. You will return to happy fish and sparkling clean water...

On the other hand, the stories of people using feeder blocks and returning to fouled water and/or dead fish are legion. Don't resort to them!

If you really, absolutely must have your fish fed while you're away, either get a friend to do it (premeasure food into envelopes and hide the rest to prevent overfeeding) or get an automatic feeder (the mechanical kind). I've used both the Eheim feeder and Hagen's Nutramatic. Both work well and reliably. If you do get one of these contraptions, be sure to test it out several day before you leave to be sure it's not overfeeding.

Personally, I let the fish go without food for up to 2 weeks. No problems doing that...

Jim

[Ronne]

I am in the same situation, going away for the holidays. I have heard bad things about the vacation feeder blocks as well, they even say right on the package that you should do a large water change immediately when you get back from vacation. If they come right out and tell you that then they can't be all that healthy. I'm thinking of going the automatic feeder route, I don't think I would want my fish going with food for 12-14 days.

How have others fish done while being without food for up to 2 weeks?

[Richer]

I was away for 3 weeks during the summer. I used Hagen's Nutramatic for feedings. I had it setup 2 weeks before I left just to make sure it was working fine. What I did was set it to just put a small pinch of food into the tank. Being away for 3 weeks meant I wouldn't be able to do any water changes for awhile, so setting the dispenser to dispense very little food was needed. Before taking off, I did two 60% water changes. After I came back, I did a few 30% water changes over a period of a few days. Then went back to my old routine.

HTH
-Richer

[Bruddah Chrispy]

I used a vacation feeder last summer when I was gone for 10 days. I returned to find a dead pl*co.

I let the team go without any food over Thanksgiving, when I was gone for a week. I returned to find a new platy in the tank.

Now, I realize that correlation does not prove cause and effect but... ya never know.

[NJ Devils Fan]

I went on vacation for about 6 days in the summer(Saturday-Friday at 1 a.m.) and used one of those vacation feeders. It was perfectly fine. Not one problem. When I came home, the thing was gone and all the fish were fine and happy. I guess it depends which one you get.

[Darkangel]

I say to just leave them. I would not use one of those blocks. They are made out of plaster and they release food by dissolving in the water. My understanding is that they raise both ph and hardness. I have 50 tanks and I often go away for 10 to 14 days and leave them alone. So long as they are healthy when you leave they will be fine. If you are really worried about it have someone come over two or three times while you are gone. Leave a few premeasured packets of food out for them to feed to your fish. Being away for 10 days at this time of year you want someone to come over and make sure the furnace is going at the very least. My opinion for what it is worth.

[wetmanNY]

Those blocks are made of calcium sulfate ("plaster-of-Paris") with some cornstarch to speed the dissolving. Unfortunately, you can't simply "frontload" the fish by overfeeding them just before you go.
The CaSO4 doesn't affect the alkalinity ("KH")-- no carbonates-- but it does add to the general hardness or total dissolved solids.

If you leave them hungry instead for ten days, they'll just settle into a quieter mode and pick at the plantings. In nature many species go for many weeks during the dry season with little to eat. You might turn the heat down a notch (within their comfort zone of course) to help them slow their metabolism.

When you see how clear the water is when you come back, you may even rethink your feeding schedule. Giving the fish a "starve day" every week is hard to do, but very responsible....

[pinballqueen]

I agree that fish can go for long periods without food...most fish in the wild don't eat daily. You spoil them by feeding them every day anyhow. Fish can go for up to a month (although that sort of extreme is not something anyone would recommend for a pet fish...) without food and still live just fine. I think that you could leave them with no problem, assuming they are doing okay now. Something that nobody has mentioned: do you have live plants? Your fish will happily munch on them while you're gone if you do.

If it really bugs you to leave your fish completely unattended, do like everyone sez: measure food out and have someone come feed them once or twice. (Be sure to hide the food, though. No fish-sitter ever thinks "geez, that's too much food...", they always think "man, those poor fish are gonna starve! Here, fishy, have a little more"....) :)

[longhorn]

Thanks for the advice guys. I guess I will leave them starve for a while. The vacation food does not work for my fishs anyway. As a test, I left a 14-day shell in the tank, it is gone in less than 24-hours. I have some really smart and big "food diggers" in the tank :D .

F.Z.

[IGKYA!!!]

Does this go for all types of fish? Would you like to leave Oscars w/o food for a week? Wouldn't you worry about the tankmates getting beatin' up?
:confused:

[wetmanNY]

Aggression and hunger aren't connected.

[ewok]

Originally posted by wetmanNY
Aggression and hunger aren't connected.

yes, but with hunger aggression is sometimes more pronounced. a fat fish seems to be a happy fish in my tanks. ;)

[n_crypted]

I'm not an expert by any means, but I used Tetra's Holiday Weekend Sticks on three seperate occasions. Each time I was gone for five to six days.

They don't contain plaster which is a good thing since my tank's pH is around 7.6-7.8.

My fish were fine and in fact I waited until the next day to feed them just to be sure no to overfeed them.

Maybe you could do a test run and use your choice of "vacation feeder" while you are home and for the same amount of time you will be gone. That way you'll really know whether they work or not. And if they don't, you'll be able to find out before its too late.

[Twilight]

My Mother went away for two weeks. She bought those 14 day shell vacation feeders and put two in her 39 gal tank. I went up to her house to check on it four days after she left and they were gone. Her fish ate them all and it must have been constantly. I put more in and when I came back in five days they were gone again. This tells me that those shells are not good to use for long vacations. Even if they say 14 days. Your best bet is have someone feed them for you if you are gone long. Fish also can go a couple days without food and be ok. Though I wouldn't do it.

[wetmanNY]

Hmm... so I checked Tetra Holiday Weekend Sticks, and the makers aver that the Stick "contains no plaster which can detrimentally affect the pH balance of your aquarium while you are away." Don't let Tetra convince you that calcium sulfate can affect the pH of your aquarium-- nevertheless, this is the time-release feeder that isn't cast of plaster-pf-Paris. And it has a mold-inhibitor...

A way to check whether calcium sulfate has an effect on pH is a www.google.com search: " calcium-sulfate gypsum pH " Cut-and-paste it and try it.