Holiday Feeding Options

[ennazus]

I have a tank thats approx 4 months old. Its about 40 gallons and has the following inhabitants
5 danios
2 dwarf gourami
2 rainbow sharks ( i know i should only hve one, looking for a home for the other asap)
4 mollies
4 BA tetras
4 serpa tetras
2 crabs
2 african dwarf frogs
1 clown loach
1 zebra loach

Im going on holiday for 2 weeks in June and need a holiday feeding system that will keep them all fed, bearing in mind i have top and bottom feeding fish. I have a friend that can stop by twice a week but this isnt enough to keep them fed and i dont want him to feed them several days worth at a time as this might cause a spike in ammonia without me there to deal with it. He could change the feeding block after a week or so though. So far i havent seen anything that feeds them for longer than a week, but i dont know how many of these i'd need for my tank and amount of fish. Just wondered if anyone can recommend a product that they've had success with, or just ive me any advice in general really. Thanks

 

[ox5477]

they have automated feeders for just such these cases. I don't know how reliable they are, but if your friend can stop over to check on them atleast the two times a week, that would be good.

word of advice too... I know you didnt ask about... but, all loaches prefer to be in shoals so I would recommend getting 4 or 5 more zebra's and ixnaying the clown as it will get far bigger than your tank can handle... just word of warning

EDIT: sorry... just read the original post in it's entirity and you wanted a brand of auto feeder... well I can't really help ya as I've never used them. But if your buddy can fill up the auto-feeder after a week, I'm sure it would be fine And too, fish can go a few days here or there with little to no food. It happens in nature and species of animals don't die out... so they should be fine

 

[three-fingers]

Twice a week would be fine .
I would avoid feeding blocks, they are made out of plaster and raise the pH pretty fast, they also cloud the water.

Fish tend to be way over-fed as it is, you could leave a well fed tetra for a week without being fed and by time you got back it would be skinnier but fine otherwise.
The only issue would be making sure your friend fed the frogs properly, as they can be a little slow



Though on a different subject, some of your tank inhabitants don't sound at all suitable.
What type of crabs do you have and how are you caring for them?

 

[Davo86]

I have always used the Tetra holiday foods when i have gone away and have never had problems with them, They are a meaty (Daphnia if remember correctly) gel block which is ok for upto 14 days

details of the product can be found here

 

[aquanovice]

I have used Tetra feeding blocks aswell with no problem as not everyone has acess to friends who can find the time to feed fish

 

[Miss Wiggle]

Twice a week would be fine .
I would avoid feeding blocks, they are made out of plaster and raise the pH pretty fast, they also cloud the water.

Fish tend to be way over-fed as it is, you could leave a well fed tetra for a week without being fed and by time you got back it would be skinnier but fine otherwise.
The only issue would be making sure your friend fed the frogs properly, as they can be a little slow

totally agree

for 1 week i say leave the fish unfed, for two weeks if you can get someone to pop in every 3/4 days then that's plenty.

word of advice though to avoid overfeeding, measure out the portions of food for your friend, put them in foil or something and say each time you come in, just put 1 of these packages of food in to the tank. Hide the rest of the food. stops them accidentally feeding too much.

 

[ennazus]

they have automated feeders for just such these cases. I don't know how reliable they are, but if your friend can stop over to check on them atleast the two times a week, that would be good.

word of advice too... I know you didnt ask about... but, all loaches prefer to be in shoals so I would recommend getting 4 or 5 more zebra's and ixnaying the clown as it will get far bigger than your tank can handle... just word of warning

EDIT: sorry... just read the original post in it's entirity and you wanted a brand of auto feeder... well I can't really help ya as I've never used them. But if your buddy can fill up the auto-feeder after a week, I'm sure it would be fine And too, fish can go a few days here or there with little to no food. It happens in nature and species of animals don't die out... so they should be fine

Thanks for the advice on the loaches, i should know better than to trust them at the aqutic shop by now. They told me zebras were best kept alone! Im aware the clown loach will really need nothing smaller than a 70 gallon tank once it gets bigger (he's only around 3 inches at present. I just have him cos someone i know needed a good home in a hury for him, but eventually he's of to my brother's house as he has a much bigger tank than me. but thanks again

 

[ennazus]

Twice a week would be fine .
I would avoid feeding blocks, they are made out of plaster and raise the pH pretty fast, they also cloud the water.

Fish tend to be way over-fed as it is, you could leave a well fed tetra for a week without being fed and by time you got back it would be skinnier but fine otherwise.
The only issue would be making sure your friend fed the frogs properly, as they can be a little slow



Though on a different subject, some of your tank inhabitants don't sound at all suitable.
What type of crabs do you have and how are you caring for them?

Thanks for the advice on feeding, was a bit nervous thattwice wouldnt be enough, i know my friend will feel awful if any were to die while he wasfeeding them!

On the subject of my crabs (heehee, sorry), I have red claw crabs, they have lots of hiding places within the tank and a rock pile that extends just above the surface to allow them time out of the water too. I've moved everything away from the edges of the tank to stop them escaping. Foodwise, they really like foraging in the substrate and seem to clean my plants of old growth but dont actually tear them to pieces. I put sinking food into the tank daily as well, with the occasional treat of bloodworm. Let me know if theres anything i've missed, but they seem quite content, they're active, they've grown and they dont show aggression to any of the other inhabitants.

 

[three-fingers]

Lol .

I'm afraid red claw crabs really be kept in brackish water, in freshwater tanks their lifespan is greatly reduced and they are far more likely to have moulting complications .
In the wild they are mainly land crabs, they should really have 2/3 land and that should be something like sand so they can dig in it.

Do a search for them on the invert forum or post there for more info .