Fish Food When Away

[doshka]

Can anyone help please?
How do you guys feed your fish when on hols. Has anyone used the slowly dissolving ones and if so do they work. I have discus and my mum used to call in to feed them but cannot anymore.
My Webpage

 

[Cheese Specialist]

Usually, I would say to leave your fish to it for up to 10 days but not with discus. Those blocks are bad, BAD, BAD!! Bulked up with plaster and only any good for bottom feeders at a push. Leave well alone.

Maybe invest in an automatic feeder with enough compartments to do you. You could get away with feeding them a little less than normal for when you are away.

 

[MishyTheFishBreeder]

Automatic feeders are your best bet you dont need to worry about a thing.

 

[karlp]

The slowly disolving things are not good. They make a huge mess in the tank and aren't great for water quality. I tried them once and wouldn't use them again.

The auto-feeders are fine. I always use them now. Although I do find that the food can get a bit soggy after a few days, so use pellet foods instead of flake in there and attach an air stone to it (I've got the one that looks like a flat disk with lots of little perspex compartments on top for food.

 

[paulthegreat]

The timer is the way to go. I recommend using granules or tablet types of food and make sure there is a fresh battery! I put in a weak one once and the fish did not get more then two meals before it cut out. I was only away fo a week though so they were hungry but all survived. )

 

[Joeyg2100]

I would go with the automatic feeder. I have one that is digital and I can set up to 4 timers on it. I use one timer for the morning while I am gone. It also has an attachment on it to hook up a air pump to, to keep the flakes from getting damp. I have not had a pump hooked up to it and I haven't had a problem yet. I put new batteries in it 2 months ago and it is still working great.

 

[wendywc]

I heard those white blocks contain lots of calcium. Tetra came out with "Holiday Sticks" which they advertised as not containing plaster and not affecting PH. I tried them when I had my loach tank and those loaches ate them quickly. Friends of mine tried them; one said his cichlids chomped them down in seconds and another said his snails finished them in a few hours. For smaller fish, I would say they would be great, but nothing beats an automatic feeder.

 

[pica_nuttalli]

have you thought about adding some sort of live food? you could quarantine some neons (pricey but natural victims) or possibly add a small ton of ghost shrimp (provided you can get the non-brackish variety).

 

[Dwarfs]

I put food in little baggies and label them for which day they are to be fed to the fish. IME this works great. The fish always get the right amount of food, because the only thing you have to trust the person feeding them with is opening the bag and emptying it into the tank.

But if you can't get anyone to feed them, either fasting the fish or getting an automatic feeder would be best

 

[doshka]

Thanks for all the great advice. Looking into the automatic feeders. Cheers everyone

My Webpage