Going on vacation... Don't want dead fish...

What kind of fish do you have ? Tropical or Goldies ?

if you go with a kid or neighbour i suggest getting enough envelopes to put a day food in each so that overfeeding is not an issue.

dont know about the other options
this is just how my mum does it.

HTH

If you have a friend you can trust in your house, have them come in every third day until you get back and have preset envelopes or small plastic containers. They will be fine for 3 or 4 days in a row easy without food. PS, don't give extra food because it will only go to waste as they eat only so much at a time anyway.

lanoit said:

2. Buy a flake dispenser. I've never used one of these, I don't know how well they work. Plus I don't know if they'll last 10 days.

Click to expand...

I would not do this. When I was younger (in High School,9 or so years ago) and had my first aquarium (I am resetting up my aquarium I been out of the hobby for about a 1 and a half) I tried this one summer when we went on a 2 week vacation, and when we got home I found that it did not work, I don't know how long it did not work for, but I lost 4 fish, and I think the other fish only survived by eating the dead ones, so I would not use a flake dispenser, I would go with the slow release ones.

A suggestion I read someplace else...

If you have someone else feeding your fish, buy one of those plastic pill holder from the drugstore that has the days of the week on it (buy two if you're going to be gone more than a week), and put the proper amount of food in each day's section. That way, it's very clear how much food should be put into the tank daily.

Good luck, and enjoy your vacation!

Amy

Those slow release things are basically plaster which would dissolve in your tank. And I get the impression that there's just one big pocket of food in the middle that gets released all at once. IMHO they're not a great option.

The automated feeders I think are a better idea. I'd test it while I was there for regularity of portion and timing, but in theory it automates what you normally do in a way that the slow release stuff doesn't and it won't affect your tank chemistry (I think the plaster would impact your hardness).

Friends and neighbors should get prearranged portions in envelopes, in Dixie cups, in a pillbox, whatever.

Or you could just not worry about it. Fish don't really need or expect to eat every day. In nature their food supply varies drastically throughout the year. I've left my fellers alone for up to a week without casualties a number of times. That's the option I'd go with.

edit: just cleaning up a messy sentence.