# vacation feeder?



## Deino0oZ (Oct 25, 2009)

ok so im going on vacation to california on wednesday the 16th and i wont be back till monday the 28th..i have no one to come and feed my fish
soo...im thinking about buying a tetra gel feeder block thats susposed to last 14 days.has anyone used this vacation feeder? if so, does it work?.should i use it or is there a better feeder that doesnt cost much?
heres a pic of what im talking about...


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## Momo (Jul 28, 2009)

Not sure about near you, but at my local Wal-mart there is a battery operated feeder that feeds twice a day. You can adjust the amount it feeds, and it can hold about 4 weeks of food. All you do is fill up the reservoir with flakes, and it dumps them right into the tank. If I remember right, it was like $13. Just a suggestion..


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## ~*Bella*~ (May 25, 2010)

When I went on vacation I used the Top Fin Vacation feeder (http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_fVFIhtcUi...-fin-slow-release-vacation-feeding-blocks.jpg) and I didn't like it. When I got back after a week of being away and cleaned the tank and vacuumed the gravel there was sooo much debris from the feeder it grossed me out. If you can find an automatic feeder as mentioned by Momo I would go with that...


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## Momo (Jul 28, 2009)

yeah I don't like using blocks because they seem to cloud the water and deteriorate more than they feed the fish. Don't even consider them if you have a pleco 
Edit: Here's a link to the feeder I have. http://www.arcatapet.com/item.cfm?cat=457


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## Corwin (May 23, 2010)

that sounds very cool I may pick one up just incase I ever have to go away somewhere, (the feeder not the cube)


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## Corwin (May 23, 2010)

is it a fixed amount of feedings or can you change it? as my ghost shrimp are only fed every other day (otherwise the tank developes overfeeding issues)


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## Momo (Jul 28, 2009)

It feeds 2x a day, which IMO is a lot. I wish it could be changed. Maybe you could just set the amount it feeds very very low or something.


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## Deino0oZ (Oct 25, 2009)

okay..i guess ill try what momo suggested.Thanks!


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## snyderguy (Feb 9, 2010)

I really don't like those blocks. I experienced that the 14 day ones only last for like 6 days


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## Mikaila31 (Nov 29, 2009)

Don't feed IMO. Blocks will crap up the water. Those auto feeders are very unreliable. A healthy fish will have no problem going for 7 days or more without food. The issue with feeders is that the humidity will quickly clump up the food inside them. This effects how much it feeds and the dampened food can spoil. They often tend to over feed. Overfeeding will quickly reduce your water quality. This is why it is best to just not feed during a vacation, then to risk causing a water quality problem. Your fish will not starve in this time frame, poor water quality can harm them much more then the lack of food. 

I would not feed before I ever used an auto feeder or those crappy feeder blocks, which are really just chunks of plaster with a tiny bit of food in them. BTW that plaster will send your water hardness sky high. 

Since there are other pets in this house. Someone stops by every 2 or 3 days to take care of things when I go on vacation. I use those weekly pill containers to avoid any over feeding. I simply put the food in the days the fish are going to be fed on then hide the rest. All the person has to do is open that chamber and dump the food in on that day. Stick only to prepared foods unless absolutely necessary. Once I told a caretaker they could feed some frozen bloodworms and I come back and find drowned mealworms in the tank.... keep it really simple and feed less then you normally would.


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## Corwin (May 23, 2010)

hmm thats too bad that they are so unreliable


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## Deino0oZ (Oct 25, 2009)

okay so the blocks and automatic feeders are out of the question...
how long can mollies go without feeding?
and should i feed them more than usual before i leave?


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## Mikaila31 (Nov 29, 2009)

They will be fine for the 12 days you are gone. Do a water change the day before you leave and check over all equipment. Feed them right before you walk out the door, just feed them however much you normally would. Mollies are algae eaters. They will find some food in your tank, so they won't go completely hungry. They would rather eat the tasty prepared food over algae, but once they get hungry they won't care. If you have ever watched videos of mollys/swordtails/platies in the wild these fish constantly peck at rocks and anything else and there is not a lot of vegetation. A healthy fish should have no problem going 2 weeks without having food given to it.


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## Obsidian (May 20, 2007)

Okay there are 2 things that need to be recognized here if the signature is correct. She has one 5 gallon tank with 3 molly fry. The biggest reason I would not use the blocks is because of tank size. It can easily cause big problems fast. 

The other problem is that they are fry. Most normal fish would be totally fine with that but fry may not. Were it me I would get something that floats on the top of the water that food can be put in and kind of suspended there. (plant like, even if it is a few plastic ornaments that you don't sink. You can tie them away from the filter so the least amount of water disruption happens) Flakes won't work. Use a small small small pellet of some kind. As the pellet disintegrates the fish will have something they can munch on that will fit in their mouths. You may not get a full 7 days worth of feeding out of this but I think that it's your best chance with fry. It's the best I can think of anyway.


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## Deino0oZ (Oct 25, 2009)

so what about a algae wafer? -Obsidian
And is there any plants that i can put in my tank that they will feed on?
Also the fry are about 7-8 months old..


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## Obsidian (May 20, 2007)

Well they are fairly good sized then. I wouldn't use an algae wafer as that will disintegrate and fall apart really pretty fast. It would even be better to use something like a shrimp pellet that will fall apart but the pieces will either stay up or go to the bottom. I have a bag of Aqueon "Bottom feeder pellets" These are really pretty hard and when they break up it is in pieces so that would be good. You want something that is as hard as possible (therefore harder to soak up and break apart in 5 minutes). And at that age they will probably be okay with just that. I would guess they are really pretty close to full grown. The Aqueon pellets are big but they will break up into small pieces when it soaks.

Putting one of that kind of deal into a floating plant that the pieces can stick to would be great. You will want to do a larger water change as soon as you get back, and don't put in too much of the food. 40% WC would be good. I would do about a 30% before you leave so the tank is pretty clean when you do this.


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## Deino0oZ (Oct 25, 2009)

okay so before i leave i plan on.. 
-Siphoning
-30 % WC
-And at the last second dropping a pellet in
(How many should i drop in??)


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