# feeding fish while on vacation?



## bryangeles (Jun 5, 2006)

hey guys im gonna be on vacation for a couple of days and i was wondering if my fish can live a couple of days without food? my new apisto pair are on a strictly live bloodworm diet at the moment because they're new and that's all they eat. i dont have anyone i can trust around the neighborhood to come in and feed them. what should i do


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## Guest (Jul 17, 2006)

They should be fine for a couple of days, left mine for 3 days one time and they were fine.


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## Puffer Pita (Jun 16, 2006)

Its actually a good idea to fast them once in awhile to help clear out their system. They can actually do fine for up to 2 weeks without food.


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## harif87 (Jun 5, 2006)

I agree with boxermom, its healthy once in a while. But if you dont want to starve them, then try an automatic feeder.. If you dont have one, do what i do, i drop a bunch of half cherry tomatoes and let them munch on them over the weekend


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## Guest (Jul 17, 2006)

If its just a couple days, they will be fine. I'd feed them the day before you leave and then when you get back. I went on vacation a few weeks ago for 4 days. I fed the fish the day I left and the day I returned and they only went without food for 2 days. I agree...even if you were leaving for around a week, they'd be fine without food.


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## judya (Jan 23, 2005)

Leave them. They will be perfectly fine for several days. The only exception I might make would be baby fish. You usually have more problems when you ask a neighbor to feed, and they give them so much it just rots, especially live food.


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## msdolittle (Mar 4, 2006)

Okay, I'm going to jump on here rather than start a new thread. I'm going to be gone for about 8-10 days...... I do have fry in a small tank.

Should I trust my neighbor to come feed them? Or, should I give them a veggie (they usually last 2 days before its all gone). I don't have lights on a timer either so I will just leave them off...... I don't want to risk someone forgetting to turn them off at night.


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## msdolittle (Mar 4, 2006)

Okay, I'm going to jump on here rather than start a new thread. I'm going to be gone for about 8-10 days...... I do have fry in a small tank. But they're with the big snail........and I've read they can live off snail poo. No?

Should I trust my neighbor to come feed them? Or, should I give them a veggie (they usually last 2 days before its all gone). I don't have lights on a timer either so I will just leave them off...... I don't want to risk someone forgetting to turn them off at night.


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## Guest (Jul 31, 2006)

You should be able to trust them, what I'd recommend doing is bring the neighbor over like a week before you leave and show him/her how to do it the first couple of times then for the rest of the week let him/her do it him/her self but watch them while they do it and correct them if they don't put enough or to much. Also take like a disposable plastic spoon (like you get from mcdonalds when you get a frostie or something) and scoop out how much food you want her to feed the fish each day and he/she can compare how much they took out to how much you set out as an example.

But make sure you can trust your neighbor because one time when we went out of town for a week, so we hired my mom's friend to come over daily and feed the fish and my land hermit crabs. But as soon as we get where we were going we get a call saying he "lost" the keys, so we had to come home early. And it took him two weeks after we got back to "find" the keys. So now we are thinking about changing at least one of our locks to make sure he didn't make copys of the keys when he "lost" the keys.


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## harif87 (Jun 5, 2006)

I say drop in the veggies and tell your neighbor to come for the last 5 or 6 days. Make sure they know what will happen if they feed them too much and what will happen if they dont feed them at all. Make sure its a person with at least half a brain so you dont have to worry so much  have fun on your trip


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## msdolittle (Mar 4, 2006)

Okay, yeah, my neighbor isn't an idiot so he can probably handle it. I HOPE. I've never asked him for a favor like this before but I'm afraid I don't have any other options.......

Thanks guys!


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## super7 (Jul 24, 2006)

at UBC fish can go with out food for a while and i have left my tank for 4 days without anything but plants for them to nibble on


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## robyn (May 29, 2006)

im going away for 2weeks in november, and while this post is up,i figured ill post here instead of making new thread. my family will be home but im worried they mite 4get about my fish and i was thinking of putting in a big feeding block? are they any good, or should i rather get get sum1 in my family 2 feed them their reg diet?


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## Andy_Dufresne (Mar 19, 2006)

I personally have never used any feeding blocks, but i have always heard people saying to stay away from them. Something along the lines the fish wont really eat all the food and it will just make a mess of the tank.

Nick


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## Guest (Aug 16, 2006)

I used to use them but they dirtyed up the water and my common pleco would usually eat 75% of it because he would cover it and not let anyone else have a go at it. 

How could they forget about your pets if you tell them to feed them for you?


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## Dr_House (Aug 15, 2006)

Yeah, I've heard bad things about the feeding blocks, too. Can you get something you can put the appropriate amount of food in (plastic spoons with saran wrap rubber-banded on maybe?) and leave them somewhere that your family will see them? Maybe even date them to be sure. Just a suggestion.


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## Ron the handyman (Jan 18, 2005)

msdolittle said:


> Okay, I'm going to jump on here rather than start a new thread. I'm going to be gone for about 8-10 days...... I do have fry in a small tank.
> 
> Should I trust my neighbor to come feed them? Or, should I give them a veggie (they usually last 2 days before its all gone). I don't have lights on a timer either so I will just leave them off...... I don't want to risk someone forgetting to turn them off at night.


You can go two weeks and no affects, fry included. R.


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## Vermifugert (Jun 15, 2006)

A word on automatic feeders.

I recently went out of town for 10 days. This was a big deal to me because up until recently I had a lot of pet rats. Yes rats. I decided to try an automatic feeder. So I purchased a 2x and filled it. I tested it out for a few days before I left. I was happy with it’s operation. 

So I cleaned the filter and tank real good. Did a good sized water change the day before I hit the road and set up the automatic feeder. I figured there was enough food to last 7 of the 10 days. But I tossed in a weekly feeder for good measure. 

Well I returned to find my fish happy and healthy. And with the exception for a little discolored water everything seemed to be in order. Boy was I wrong. There were little flies in my house. I didn’t think anything of it until I removed the automatic feeder.

Sure enough it was infested. No I’m a pretty clean person. Keep the trash out and counters clean. So these guys came made a home in the feeder! I ended up throwing the automatic feeder away. It’ was disgusting and I surly would never use it again.

Before I felt my LFS said… Just feed them real good before you leave. They should last the trip no problem. Well I wish I listened to them. (swats at little fly) ‘casue I sure never want this to happen again.


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## Puffer Pita (Jun 16, 2006)

Before you felt your LFS? EWWWW


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## Vermifugert (Jun 15, 2006)

Boxermom said:


> Before you felt your LFS? EWWWW


edited...... brat!


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## bpswim90 (Oct 30, 2005)

If you get someone to feed your fish, make sure it's somebody responsible. I left my tank for two weeks thinking I could trust my 28-year-old sister to look after it. Sure enough when I came back one of my fish was dead, the tank was open, and the aquarium light wasn't on.

sigh...


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## Vermifugert (Jun 15, 2006)

bpswim90 said:


> If you get someone to feed your fish, make sure it's somebody responsible. I left my tank for two weeks thinking I could trust my 28-year-old sister to look after it. Sure enough when I came back one of my fish was dead, the tank was open, and the aquarium light wasn't on.
> 
> sigh...


Yup some times its better to do things on your own. Plus…. 

BTW. You should get a timer for your light


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## Guest (Aug 16, 2006)

I don't think a timer is nesscary unless you got live plants as it won't hurt the fish if the light is off for a few days or a couple of weeks.


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## Vermifugert (Jun 15, 2006)

Durbkat said:


> I don't think a timer is nesscary unless you got live plants as it won't hurt the fish if the light is off for a few days or a couple of weeks.



Typically lighting and clear water if for the hobbyist enjoyment and not necessarily the fish. It is pretty much unwarranted if the tank has access to some natural lighting. However it is good to have the lighting on a steady cycle if only to simulate or more natural environment.


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## SvenRhapsody (Feb 3, 2006)

*pre measure the food and make good instructions*

When we went away for 16 days last year I had my mother (who lives with us) feed all of my tanks. I did a few things which I think helped ensure my success. First I wrote out very explicit directions for her about what food to put in what tanks at what times. Then I labeled the tanks. Finally I premeasured each feeding for each tank. I also instructed her to feed them every other day or every three days. That way even if something went wild it would happen infrequently. I think you can trust pretty much anyone who isn't malicious or completelyu useless to handle feeding for you with those precautions in place.

Sven


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## robyn (May 29, 2006)

k, well then ill scrap the feeding blocks and put my trust in my mom. its just my tanks in my room so while im away, no1 will be in my room. u know wat they say, out of sight out of mind. mayb ill stick orange and green post-its all ova - that should do the trick! lmao


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## Gourami Swami (Jul 4, 2006)

When I go away, I have my neighbor feed my pets, but when it comes to my birds and fish, she feels "overwhelmed. The birds she got over, but what I do with the fish is go to CVS, buy some of those 7-day pill containers, load each pocket up with the correct amount of food, and just tell her "one pocket in the morning, one at night" and it works.

They look like this...









or this...


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## harif87 (Jun 5, 2006)

Vermifugert said:


> A word on automatic feeders.
> 
> I recently went out of town for 10 days. This was a big deal to me because up until recently I had a lot of pet rats. Yes rats. I decided to try an automatic feeder. So I purchased a 2x and filled it. I tested it out for a few days before I left. I was happy with it’s operation.
> 
> ...


I have an automatic feeder on one of my tanks (a $10 2x feeder, bought from walmart) that has been there for about a month now and i havent had a problem with it, only that it doesnt let out as much as i wish it did for my fish. Other than that, no flies, no other problems. And truth be told the problem i have with it isnt a big enough one not to trust it. It runs smooth and like i said, i never had any other probs.


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## harif87 (Jun 5, 2006)

Vermifugert said:


> BTW. You should get a timer for your light


I would kill myself if i had to shut off and turn on the lights on my tanks everyday lol i dont know how people do it :angel:


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## Vermifugert (Jun 15, 2006)

harif87 said:


> I would kill myself if i had to shut off and turn on the lights on my tanks everyday lol i dont know how people do it :angel:


I got one of the powerstrips with TWO timers on on each side. it was only like $35 bucks. 

I don't know if a lot of people think about this but be sure and hang the power strip on the wall out of the way of the tank. The last thing you want is your powerstrip to splashed on.


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