Feeding on Vacation

[railer20]

Hey all,
I will be gone on vacation for 6 days towards the end of July. What do you all do while away? I don’t trust anyone around me to come into my house and feed, I don’t know if I trust auto feeders, I do have some zoo med feeding blocks but have read mixed things on them, and have had people tell me feed heavy for a few days before and they will be fine for 6 days.

 

[fishorama]

For only 6 days, I just let the fish go without feeding. It's really not as harsh as that sounds. If you can change water a day or 2 before you leave that'd be good. But no food in, no waste to remove...up to 2 weeks or so...

My husband feels differently, so if we're gone for more than a week we have the guy next door come over to lightly feed a few times. He's an experienced fish keeper/friend & can fix/clean a filter or do a water change IF needed. I don't think he's ever had to go there, but he could.

I don't like vacation feeder blocks, too much food in "plaster"; both can lead to water quality issues & a mess when you get home. An inexperienced fish sitter can cause overfeeding or water quality problems. IF you really feel the need to have someone come in while you're gone, put a smaller than normal amount of food in containers for every other day feeding. DO NOT just leave a jar of fish food available to them & tell them a "small pinch"...this will end very badly I can almost guarantee it!

Better fish to be a little hungry than in an ammonia & waste filled swill. 2 of our 3 worst tank disasters ever were from well meaning "sitters".

Go on vacation & don't sweat it too much, they'll be fine! & plan on a water change very soon after you get home.

 

[dougall]

What sort of fish?

I wouldn't use the standard vacation feeders, because they are white due to being made from gypsum.. I would not personally put a piece of drywall in my aquarium to slowly erode.

Gel based foods, repashy for example, can be used easily and should not foul the water in 6 days.

But things like fry will need more frequent and specialized

 

[railer20]

What sort of fish?

I wouldn't use the standard vacation feeders, because they are white due to being made from gypsum.. I would not personally put a piece of drywall in my aquarium to slowly erode.

Gel based foods, repashy for example, can be used easily and should not foul the water in 6 days.

But things like fry will need more frequent and specialized

3 Pearl guoramis, 3 angelfish, 5 harlequin rasboras, 5 sterbai cories, 2 BN plecos. No fry

 

[dougall]

I expect you will be fine without feeding for 6 days

 

[Wyomingite]

I expect you will be fine without feeding for 6 days

+1. I used to regularly leave my fish for 10-14 days without feeding or tank maintenance when I'd have to go out of town on business trips. I'd do a good water change before I left and make sure that everyone was healthy and the timers for the lights were set right. I didn't trust anyone with feeding, too easy to overfeed and with me gone, no one to understand what was happening or to take corrective measures if they even did realize something was wrong.

My youngest daughter took a friend downstairs and turned on all the lights one time, negating the timer settings on the lights. Since most of my tanks are cichlid breeding set-ups it wasn't really a big deal. I had a bit of extra algae to scrape and vacuum when I got home. However, it destroyed my one planted tank. I had dosed ferts right before leaving and it had CO2 injection. 24/7 lighting caused massive algae growth, pretty much turned my delicate plants to mush and killed most of the fish. It wasn't pretty.

WYite

 

[railer20]

Thanks for the feedback!

 

[fishorama]

Let us know how your vacation went. I think you & your fish will be fine...but we'd like to see!

 

[TwoTankAmin]

If you have somebody you trust to come into your home, then you can prepare a food packet using dry foods (flake, bits, wafers etc,). Whatever you want the person to feed can be put into a piece of aluminum foil and folded up and left on top of the tank. All the person has to do is open the foil and dump the contents into the tank.

As noted above a week without food will not harm the fish on your list. Dong the above is optional not required. I typically go away for long weekends and have many fry which need to be fed daily. I use the above method of making food packets for my brother to put into the tanks.