Holiday planning

[sinfulhorse]

I have a 27 gallon tank with 2 bristlenose, 7 zebras and 6 green tiger barbs

I will be going away for two weeks from this weekend and cannot make reliable feeding arrangements

Over the last two weeks I have brought them down to one feed a day and plan to drop this to one every two days this week

Prior to depoarture I will do a 50% water change then I will leave them without food for two weeks. On return I will do a 50% water change and start feeding them daily from the second day back

Alternatively, I have a disolving block of food (1 week supply) that I can leave in the tank on departure but I am concerned this may overfeed them in the first week

Any feedback on my plans appreciated

Thank you

 

[Bloo]

Quite a lot of people going on summer holiday I see as there are lots of current threads that should answer your questions:

This being one of them.
http/www.fishforums.net/index.php?showtopic=94788

and here's another
http/www.fishforums.net/index.php?showtopic=94797

 

[morgan]

I have just bought an automatic fish feeder for when I go away, haven't tried it out yet. I will try it before I go just in case. I bought it on e-bay. I have a timer for the lights so hopefully all will be well. My friend uses those food blocks but she does not have a filter, just an airline.

 

[Cheese Specialist]

I have just bought an automatic fish feeder for when I go away, haven't tried it out yet. I will try it before I go just in case. I bought it on e-bay. I have a timer for the lights so hopefully all will be well. My friend uses those food blocks but she does not have a filter, just an airline.

Blocks = devil's work.

Made up of ash and plaster with no nutritional value and only accessable to bottom feeders. As your mate has no filter it's especially important these are not used.

I just leave my fish without food. It doesn't harm them.

auto feeders can get damp and the flakes go mushy and not come out.

 

[morgan]

Thanks, what about pellets? They wouldn't get damp would they?I normally put a few flakes for the top feeders, wait 10 mins then put pellets for the bottom feeders, then last of all an algae flake for the Pleco. The top feeders are Mollies and they are so greedy! If I don't wait 10 mins they ignore the flakes and pig out on the pellets. They could all manage on pellets if they had to plus I have lots of plants which they could eat if they needed to.

 

[Bloo]

It really just depends on the auto-feeder you have. I had one years ago and it worked fine for a 2 week period. Best to try it out and see how it works before you go on holiday. Just some pellets will be absolutely fine though

 

[dwarfgourami]

I bought the cheepo HAgen 2 x automatic feeder, but when I tried it out the week before it turned out that the flakes got damp and clogged so it only worked for 2 days.

Used it for catfish pellets instead and this worked- only it then turned out those wretched cats didn't like the pellets! (they usually have tablets). Still, it worked.

For my guppies (felt guppies should not really go long without food) I bought tetrasticks, which contain a lot less ash than pyramid blocks- when I got back after a week tank stats were fine and the tank looked ok, only a bit more brown algae. The catfish tank was slightly messier as they had clearly been eating the bare minimum.

But I did worry too much- next time I will get a fish sitter!

 

[rdd1952]

Here's a good post from another forum about extended vacations. Hopefully, it will help some. He used an automatic feeder.

Edit: I tried to get the poster to join this forum and post that here but he never did.

 

[Bloo]

That's a great link rdd1952, but I do not think it's allowed to direct-link to other forums

 

[rdd1952]

That's a great link rdd1952, but I do not think it's allowed to direct-link to other forums

I looked at the rules under "General Rules" at the top of the page and only saw that you aren't supposed to promote other forums which I'm not doing. It seems that I had read somewhere in a thread that you weren't supposed to link to other forums but I haven't been able to find it again. Hopefully, if a mod sees it and it is against the rules, they won't boot me from the forum as I'm just trying to offer useful information. That forum isn't very good as there aren't enough people posting. It takes forever to get the answer to a question. I have considered copying that thread and posting it here with credit to the author. I think it really is good info for those who plan to be gone for extended periods.