Two Figure 8 Q's.

[ben3486]

Firstly where do you guys get your cockles or mussles ??? I cant find them any where?!

And secondly.....its coming up to christmas and im going to be away from my home for two and a bit weeks..... whatshould i do with my fish? re home for the time im away? or try get a nice friend to pop in every 3-4 days?

 

[nmonks]

Both mussels and cockles can be bought from the fish counters of the better supermarkets, e.g., Waitrose. Of the two, mussels are usually cheaper, but because they contain thiaminase they're best used sparingly. Cockles cost 2-3 times as much, but they contain no thiaminase, and that makes them an excellent staple food.

If you're away for 2-3 weeks, you can either not feed at all, or, as I do, put 3-4 portions of frozen food in freezer bags and leave them in the freezer. Have your neighbour use those and HIDE ALL THE OTHER FOOD! I tend to put a mix of stuff in each freezer bag: some meaty food for any predators, some floating pellets for surface feeders, a carrot top or some peas for the catfish, and so on.

But yes, you can leave fish without food for 2-3 weeks without any problems at all. Indeed, if you have snails and algae in your aquarium, you'll probably find both much diminished by the end of the vacation!

Cheers, Neale

 

[eel]

Firstly where do you guys get your cockles or mussles ??? I cant find them any where?!

And secondly.....its coming up to christmas and im going to be away from my home for two and a bit weeks..... whatshould i do with my fish? re home for the time im away? or try get a nice friend to pop in every 3-4 days?

You can buy cockles and mussels in the supermarket in the freezer section and if you can get a friend to pop in I think it would be less stressful than re homing your fish

 

[ben3486]

didnt realsise icould leave them that long....thought a few days would be too long as the figure 8s belly looks so so empty after like 4 days

 

[nmonks]

I should have been clearer. A well fed fish can go several weeks without food. But if the fish is new and obviously half-starved, then you have to be much more careful. Bear in mind fish have rather poor digestive systems, so just because you give them one or two big meals it doesn't mean they'll put on much weight. Fattening up fish takes a good couple of weeks, and several small meals per day are MUCH better than daily big meals. It's even better if you can provide them with a food source they can graze on, such as algae wafers or vegetables, but that isn't really an option with puffers (though they do eat some green foods, including peas).

Cheers, Neale

didnt realsise icould leave them that long....thought a few days would be too ,ong as the figure 8s belly looks so so empty

 

[ben3486]

ah i see ...... so if i want to leave them for a few weeks i really ought to start feeding them up now every day.

 

[iliveinazoo]

Most of my local LFS's have them in their freezer

 

[myenigmaself]

Agreed; I have to travel one week a month for work, and my wife often forgets to feed the fish the entire time I'm gone (both our brackish carnivores and the fish out in the pond). When I get home they've all still got plump bellies, so while they're probably not happy about it, it doesn't seem to effect their health at all. I will say that after one trip I came home and found a figure 8 puffer swimming around with a bumble bee goby's head in its mouth. I haven't had any other "incidents," but one could make the argument that being hungry might increase aggression.