Leaving Fish For 3 Days

[cuttlefishspike]

Hi - I'm a complete newbie and am looking for some urgent advice. I have had my 35 litre tank for two weeks and put my first fish four days ago (4 platys, 3 of which are about an inch long, and one is about half an inch). I have fed them every day and they all seem really happy and healthy. However I have to go away for three days and need to know if it is ok to leave them without food for this time. I went to a local pet shop and they sold me a 'Three Day Pyramid Fish Feeder' which they said would be fine. But the instructions say that the feeder is suitable for sustaining 15/20 fish for three days. I'm worried about the pyramid overfeeding them (the people in the shop seemed a bit braindead to be honest).

Thanks in advance.

 

[morgan]

Hi, you can leave your fish for 3 days with no food. Do you have real plants? They can munch on those if they are desperate! I used a pyramid feeding block when I went away for 2 weeks and I had trouble with water quality which took about 3 months to correct. Most experienced fishkeepers (which I am not very!) would say don't use it.

 

[freddyk]

Yup, fish can go 3 days no problem unless they're babies, and adults can go weeks.

 

[blackguppy]

The only variable in this equation is that the fish are still new from the store. They're really not well fed at the moment probably, they have few built up reserves is what I mean. Even still, you're better off leaving them unfed, than relying on someone unfamiliar with them to do the job, or using the feeder. There are automatic feeders available, which mount on top of the tank, and will dispense food which you load into small sections, at intervals that you set.

 

[rdd1952]

Since cuttlefishspike posted this on the 24th, it may be too late to reply but anyway. Since the fish have only been in the tank for 4 days AND the tank is only 2 weeks old, I would bet that the tank is uncycled. If that is the case, adding one of the feeder blocks would probably be the worst thing to do as that would be a large amount of food to start breaking down and creating ammonia. The fish going without food shouldn't be a problem and will also keep the amount of waste they produce down to a minimum so there won't be a huge ammonia spike.

 

[Fish_n_Frys]

Hey,

They should be fine for 3 days.

But in furture if you go away for a longer period of time say 1 week you can buy blocks of food which the fish will eat at slowly... If you go away for over 2 weeks without feedinf fish they can develop eating problems.. like we would.

Missy

 

[andywg]

Hey,

They should be fine for 3 days.

But in furture if you go away for a longer period of time say 1 week you can buy blocks of food which the fish will eat at slowly... If you go away for over 2 weeks without feedinf fish they can develop eating problems.. like we would.

Missy

That's not actually true. It's perfectly possible to leave your fish 2 weeks without feeding. In the wild they scavenge and eat when possible. We feed them more than enough to build up reserves. Hell, my fish are only fed twice a week anyway, so two weeks will only mean three or four feeds missed, and most could survive a fast like that without any problem.

You can't really compare the physiobiology of fish and humans so directly. For a start we need a constant supply of food to give us energy to regulate our body temperature (being warm blooded); the fish's body temperature is governed by its surroundings (cold blooded) so it does not need the constant supply we do.

I would never put the feeder blocks in as they are mostly full of ash and other nasty ingredients that do little except foul up the water. Last thing you want is the chemistry of the water going pear-shaped when you aren't there to watch it.

 

[cuttlefishspike]

Hi all

Thanks so much for the replies. The good news is that I took your advice and left the fish without food for the three days and now they actually seem happier than before I went away! I'm really glad that I did not use the pryamid feeder that the shop recommended. From what I've now read on here, they seem truly evil!

Another quick question - the man in the shop said that after one week I could add another four fish. This seems a bit soon, given that I'm still cycling. Are they talking rubbish or is it ok to add more?

Thanks again and a very happy christmas to you.

cfs

 

[Animation]

Don't panic mate, no need for the pyramid they are going to be fine :

 

[rdd1952]

Glad to hear things went well on your trip. I have left mine for 3 days on several occasions without any problems.

Another quick question - the man in the shop said that after one week I could add another four fish. This seems a bit soon, given that I'm still cycling. Are they talking rubbish or is it ok to add more?

When cycling with fish, after you add fish, you should be testing the ammonia and nitrite daily. You will have a spike on both. Once they have both gone back to 0 and stayed there for a full week, you can add more fish. The second time you add fish, the ammonia and nitrite should spike lower and end quicker since you already have bacteria present but that is really dependent on how many fish you add in relation to what you already have. If you have 4 fish and add 4 fish, you have doubled the stock. If you have 12 fish and add 4, you have only raised the stock by 33% so the spike should be very small.

 

[Fish_n_Frys]

Hi again,

I no they can survive in 2 weeks, but it would be nice to keep your fish in top condition, so just buy little blocks of food which float to the bottom.. thats all i was saying

Missy

 

[andywg]

But those bits of food will rot and/or leach contaminants into the water. That's what we were saying.

 

[rdd1952]

I've never used those things but from what I have read, they are mainly just and very little food. If you were to leave for an extended timeframe, an automatic feeder would be better. Or better yet, get someone to come over and feed them for you. Just measure out the amount of food you generally give them and put it in small cups, one for each feeding. Then the person feeding them for you doesn't have to do anything except pour it in the tank. I did this when we were gone for a week earlier this year. My son came over and fed them. He actually has had tanks longer than I have and knows as much or more about fish than I do but he still prefered that I have it measured so they got the right amount. He only fed them every other day though instead of every day.