Jynx

And I hate to say this, but I don't trust anyone else to feed my fish for me.* I'll be gone less than a week, like 5 days or so.* What is the best self feeder out there?* I have 1 pleco, 2 guppies, 3 black skirt tetra's, 3 white skirt tetra's and a dwarf gourami in a 55 gal tank.* I want to make sure that they are all good and alive when I get back.

Also, if I don't have a timer for my light on my tank will it hurt it at all to not have lights while we're gone?* I have a few live plants in there, and altho the tank is not in direct sunlight, it does get bright in there, will that be good enough or should I get a timer?

My last question is for anyone who lives where hurricanes are a threat.* What do you do with the fish if the power goes out?* No air stone, no filter, heater... How do you keep them alive* should the lights go out for a few days?

Ok, I think that's all for now.

Thanks!

~Andrea

Edited to add: I also have a dalmation molly... I knew I had 11 fish... shhhh... don't tell her/him!

Gargoyle

I have no good answer for that one...

Everything should be fine without light for a few days...

They make battery powered air pumps that would at least provide aeration. If I was you I would invest in a very good marine battery and keep it charged at all times. Then if you lose power for a few days you could hook a power inverter to the battery and run the essentials for your tank during the time of the outage. May not last forever but if it is a good battery and inverter it should last you a good 3 to 8 days depending on what you run.

COBettaCouple

If a hurricane knocked out the power here, heaters wouldn't be an issue as it is always very hot and muggy following a hurricane.. the type of fish that you have could probably do fine with a good feeding before and after your trip, but tetra makes some feeder sticks for slowly releasing food over time and i'd look for those around your area or at www.drsfosterandsmith.com.

you should have enough light for them for the 5 days you'll be gone. just be sure to do a good water change before heading out and i don't think you'll have anything to worry about.

sgould

Your fish could go 5 days without being fed.* However, if you are just more comfortable with an auto feeder, here is one I have used with good luck: http://www.bigalsonline.com/BigAlsUS...aticfishfeeder

It is by no means "the best feeder out there".* It is a very basic model...you load the food in the hopper, put in a AA battery, attach it to the tank, and you are done.* It will feed 1 type of food twice per day.* You can find much fancier feeders, that would allow multiple foods and so on.* IN MY OPINION, however, you would be spending money unnecessarily for those extra features UNLESS you planned to use it all the time and not just when on vacation.* If you did want to use a feeder all the time, then you would be better off looking into one of the more expensive, but more fully featured models.

I have to bow out on the question of light for the plants as I do not keep live plants.* I would think it would be ok for just a few days, but I just don't have the experience to say for sure.

griffin

regarding the plants, going without the tank light won't kill them (unless they are already sick/damaged/weak). i use a timer normally just because it's one less thing i have to remember, but whether you go that route is up to you

Jynx

Thank you all for your input on things. I think I will try that automatic feeder, my fish normally only get 2 types of food, both flakes, just different, with bloodworms every couple of weeks, and they can do without those (as upset as they may get about it).

~Jynx