Leaving for a Month, Need Help!!!

[xlt_66]

Hey guys, I am a college student and I have a month break between semesters. I'm going to be away from my aquarium for almost a whole month. So far, the thing really just takes care of itself. It has been VERY low care so far and I figure if I give it a real good cleaning before I leave and change the filters it should be okay. I figure the water level will get a little low but other than that, it should be good.

My question is, is there an automatic fish feeder that can hold enough food for about 3 weeks of feeding?

I have a 55 gallon tank with an Emperor filter on it. The kind with two filters and two bio-wheels.

I have 4 tetras, 3 tiger barbs, a dinosaur eel, 1 large pleco, 1 albino red-tipped shark, and 3 mollies.

I usually feed them a good serving once a day, is there any hope?

[liv2padl]

a real good cleaning before I leave and change the filters i think i'd NOT do that. i don't know what you mean by real good cleaning, but you certainly don't wan't to lose or diminish your biofilter and then be gone for a month. moreover, 'changing' the filter(s) will also serve to diminish your biocolony at a bad time. i WOULD however, do a large water change before you go.

as to feeding, do you have a friend that can come in and feed your fish every other day (this may mitigate overfeeding)? i think this might be a better option than an automatic feeder which might go bad while you're gone.

[SnowHeart]

Wow. That's a nice tank. You don't have any neighbors or something that can take care of them? Even with automatic feeding, I'd be reluctant to leave that tank unattended for so long in case something happened to a filter, a fish got sick, whatever.

I know of feeding mechanisms that last up to two weeks... but not 3 much less 4. Maybe you could try using a pyramid feeding tablet, and maybe then put the auto-feeder on some sort of timer so it wouldn't activate until after a week or so???

I know someone who is a grad student, and is leaving his cat basically alone for a month. He found a "cat lady" in his building who is going to visit every day, feed the cat, play with her, etc. If you really don't know anyone, try posting something on a bulliten board on campus or something. Pay someone $25 a week or something -- always college students desperate to work for money. And it'll probably be cheaper than if your fish die on you. ;)

[carttman]

I have read a lot of post on here about automatic feeders and I have not read one that has talked good about them. I would recommend doing what SnowHeart said about finding someone to feed them. There is usually always someone around the campus that gets bored so you may want to look for that person and teach them how to take care of your tank. Just a thought though.