Going On Hoiday

[Shifty1303]

Hey all!

I have now moved out of my family home and am moving my fish too. Consequently I can no longer rely on my family to feed my fish while I'm away.

So... Without having a reliable friend or neighbour what do you guys do about feeding and caring for your fish if you go away? I'm talking anything from a weekend to two week vacations here. Any tips?

Cheers!

 

[Zante]

Don't feed them.
 
If your fish are well fed they'll be fine fasting.
I regularly leave mine without food, and once did for 12 days. No worries.

 

[ciderhoover]

You can also buy those weekend feeding tablets. I have also seen weekly ones. Ive never used them but probably will when I go away. But yeah i have heard that they can fast for a few days.

 

[San O Fisher]

I would advise against the weekend feeding tablets. If you are gone less than 7-10 days you will be fine and your water quality will be better. As for 2 weeks or longer you might need to train someone to help.

 

[fluttermoth]

You can also buy those weekend feeding tablets. I have also seen weekly ones. Ive never used them but probably will when I go away. But yeah i have heard that they can fast for a few days.

 
Don't use those. They can pollute the water really badly, just when you're not there to deal with it.
 
Nearly all adult fish can easily go without food for two weeks, especially if you have live plants. Fry and some of the tiny 'nano fish' do need more frequent feeding, but even then, you're better off buying a load of extra plants and some live food, like daphnia, rather than feeding blocks.

 

[StevenF]

Get a automatic fish feeder:http/www.amazon.com/Eheim-Ehm-Feeder-3581090-Evdayfeeder/dp/B00BS998ZK/ref=sr_1_sc_3?s=pet-supplies&ie=UTF8&qid=1459147852&sr=1-3-spell&keywords=Eheim+fish+feader
 
There are many different ones out there.  I have the one above and it can go months on a set of batteries.   I have gone on 2 week vacations without any problems.  however before you go on vacation set up your fish feeder at least a week before you go to make sure it will run problem free.  So of the problems that can occur are incorrect timer setup,  Food clogging up in the feeding hole, and general hardware failures.  I have had fish flakes clog up the feeder and solved that by grinding up the bigger flakes or you can switch to pellet food.  Other times the timer was not set correctly (fortunately I wasn't gone long).  In one case water evaporated and dropped below the level of my filter pump on my new filter. The new filter had the pump up high while the old one it was down low.   When I got home the motor in the filter pump had failed (it had melted and had to be replaced).  My plants fortunately kept the water safe for the fish.