Going On Holiday And A Question About Lighting

[highfire]

Hello folks
New here - I have introduced myself in the Newbie forum, so I shan't repeat it all here.
I have a couple of questions that I hope someone can answer for me:

(1) I usually feed my fish twice a day, at about 8.30am and about 6.00pm, a small meal each time. In a couple of weeks I am going on holiday for a two weeks, and my neighbour is kindly coming in to feed my fish each day. However, he will only be able to come in once a day. Would my fish mind going down to one meal a day while I'm away? I should point out that I shall be leaving the food out in little pots, one for each day for my neighbour to put into the tank, so I know the meal sizes will be the correct amount.

(2) I have live plants in my tank. Am I right in thinking that for the plants the lights should be on for about 10-12 hours a day? Is this length of time also acceptable for the fish?

Many thanks for any help - and sorry if my questions are a bit obvious to some of you!

 

[dwarfgourami]

1) Cutting down the meals to half the number is a good idea as you won't be around to do water changes. Don't be tempted to make individual meals bigger than you would ordinarily serve at one meal, either. In fact, I've got a neighbour coming in only once every three days when I go on holiday, and my fish are still fine. Short rations means less waste and the fish are fine with this for a limited period.

2) 10-12 hours is fine. This also means a nice division between daytime and sleeptime for your fish. Or between daytime and active time if they are nocturnal. I've bought cheap timers from the hardware store so my lights come on and go off whether I am there or not.

 

[highfire]

Many many thanks indeed for your very prompt and helpful answer, dwarfgourami.
It is much appreciated, and I feel a bit happier now about leaving my fish for a couple of weeks. I shall miss them though!

 

[Scotty_uk]

Correct me if I am wrong, but my local LFS man said I would be ok going away for 5 days, feeding fish before I go and then leaving them. They find leftovers from pervious feeds to get by on, and I have aplanted tank, so they pick at these too. The light is on a timer so that is not affected.

When I got back the fish seemed fine, water tests ok etc. I would not recommend leaving it longer than this, but like mentioned earlier, less food = less waste.

 

[jayjay]

Fish can go weeks without food, the reccommend is 2 weeks even though they can go further. Also depends on what fish they are.

Timer on the lights and neighbour feeding once a day sounds like not more you can do.

Just do a water change before you leave.

 

[timmystood]

Yup! Feeding once a day will be fine. Also, like dwarfgourami said - don't be tempted to make the meals bigger than normal.

As for lighting, 10-12 is perfect. If your neighbour can't turn the lights on/off then get a timer from a hardware store.

Have fun!

 

[Qays]

I reccomend feeding once daily all year around.

 

[currans]

I reccomend feeding once daily all year around.

I second that, my fish only ever get fed once a day, Sometimes I even miss out a day.

 

[highfire]

I have just returned to my topic and found all these very helpful comments from everyone. Many thanks.
Yesterday I went out and bought a mechanical timer for the lights - I opted for a mechanical rather than a digital after reading various posts on here about digital ones tripping out when the lights come on. I have flourescant lights, so thought a mechanical one would be the safest bet.
I shall most definately do a water change the day before I go, make sure the filters are fine, and just keep my fingers crossed. I'm sure when I get back everything will be just as I left it - hopefully!