Feeding Fry While On Holiday?

[LoachLover!]

I am going away twice throughout the year (Once for 7 days and one for 10 days). The problem is, what do I do about feeding fry. I will have some platies that will be around a month and half old and some that will be a couple of weeks old (In theory). What do you do with your fry when you go away? I don't trust anyone else to feed them. Would they be ok without food, or not?

 

[Blitz]

Ummm... I've never raised fry in my life... but if I were you, I would do this:
buy an automatic fry food feeder. They're for baby fish. Not sure if they would sell it at a LFS...
But I've seen them. It's like the automatic vacation feeders for adult fish, but there's one for baby fish. Look carefully at the package, some are only for a couple of days, others are for 7 days or longer.
I hope this helps.

 

[OldMan47]

I am going to suggest that you set up a continuous BBS feeder like this one. It is intended for producing BBS when you are home but it works fine in an "auto" mode for a day or two of feeding.

That BBS breeder will provide BBS about 2 or 3 days after it is set up, maybe half way through your absence. Although it will only provide a single feeding for a couple of days, that should tide over your fry.

Unlike adults, feeding is essential for fry survival. This is the best I can do for your particular predicament.

Have you considered using a person to feed the fish but using a single dose measure of food for them to use in your absence? I use medicine dose minders for my personal chronic health problems but that means I load those dose minders 2 weeks in advance. Each day I simply open a single dose cover and take the medications that are pre-loaded under that cover. If you loaded a similar dosing minder with fish foods, you could actually trust someone to feed the specific contents of such a daily dose minder to your fish. That would mean no gross overfeeding and some assurance that you would return to a healthy tank. Just a suggestion.

 

[LoachLover!]

Ok, thank you!

I will probably be able to find someone, and if necessary they can go to a friend's who has a bunch of platy fry. Would feeding every 2 to 3 days by someone coming in work ok?

 

[OldMan47]

Every 2 or 3 days is far better than no feeding. I would expect most fry to survive in that regimen. It is something you could explore. I have a daughter that keeps her own fish so when I am gone for almost 2 weeks this summer I will ask her to come by my house once or twice during my absence. If she feeds based on her own experience with fish on each of those 1 or 2 days, I expect almost all of my fish to survive. Fish are very adaptable if we don't ask them to starve beyond all reason.