MousePotato

I am going on a business trip next week and I don't trust my neighbors to feed my fish without overfeeding them. I was looking at some of those "weekend feeders" and the instructions say they will feed X number of "average sized fish" for X number of days. What does that mean? My fish range in size from three inches to eight and that's just the length. What do the manufacturers consider "average sized?"

dinatwin

great question! I don't know the answer though. I will be looking out for the answer as well.

Blub

Holiday feeder blocks are a bad idea, as they pollute the water.

sirdarksol

I would presume they are talking about the more typical aquarium fish, like barbs and the smaller tetras. The really small tetras, like neons, would count for less than an "average" fish, while much bigger ones, like angels, would count for more than one.

Edit: Sorry, I was thinking about the automatic feeders.
If you're getting one of the block feeders, get the gel ones, not the calcium ones. We had a member a year or so ago who had a molly that died because it ate too much from one of the calcium blocks. When the food expanded, it bound the poor fish up.
The gel blocks also pollute less, and they definitely pollute less than an inexperienced person feeding the fish. (I gave my brother in law very specific instructions, and when I got back, he said "It looked like so little food that I fed them more.")

MousePotato

Thanks for your opinion, HatchetHaven. I actually do not intend to use them as I need to feed two fish and these are designed for more, but I found the wording curious and was wondering if anyone had an answer to my question.

MousePotato

Thanks, SDS. I'm going to chalk this up to "poorly worded." I should be gone about five days. Maybe I will just try to educate the neighbors. I already intend to portion out the food for the big tank into separate containers. I'm just not sure if they will be able to grasp how very little my dwarf mbuna need each day.

Edit: Gel blocks, got it. I will look for them. Thanks.

sirdarksol

If you portion things out, show them exactly how much to use, and explain that the fish do not need more than that (explain that, as cold-blooded animals, fish use less calories, if you think it will help), and it will probably be okay, especially if they only come over once or twice during that time. A day or two of fasting is usually good for the fish, anyway.

jdhef

Fish can go a pretty long time with out eating, since they are cold blooded and don't burn calories to keep up their body temperature.

So what you could probably get away with doing is have a neighbor feed the fish every other day. This way even if they over feed a little, it won't do to much harm.

Dino

Even just feeding them once while you were gone would be fine.

MousePotato

All good ideas, gentlemen. My only fear if they don't get fed is that the cichlids will get very cranky! They bicker enough on full bellies!

I got the gel feeders for the small tank. I was planning to put the required amount for the big tank in separate containers (film cannisters, perhaps) and instruct the neighbors to dump one of them into the tank, once a day, no more.

SDS got me thinking about those holiday feeders that disintegrate... I wonder if it would be a good idea to put them in a new tank I'm trying to cycle. Would that be a good, steady source of ammonia while I'm gone?

Blub

I have left my fish for over a week without food with no consequences, to be honest. They can go for about 2 weeks without food.

A raw piece of shrimp would be a good ammonia source. I know some members who use it.

Why not lock up the food cans, just in case?

FishnFry

If it makes you feel better knowing they're not being overfed, you can get those little "pill containers" cheap and they are labelled Sun-Sat. Then you just put the food yourself in those scheduled days and you hide the rest of the food. Your neighbor will surely know how much to feed them each day.

MousePotato

I was considering that, actually. Good idea.

Shawnie

that is a super idea! how are all the fishies and tanks doing btw?

MousePotato

Aside from a particularly stubborn mouth fungus on my yellow labs, they are doing great, thanks. No hurricane casualties. I'm sorry to hear about your boy.

Shawnie

ty very much...he was a character for sure...as much as I loved him, I hope I NEVER have one that did his stunts again im so glad things went well...

MousePotato

I have read about this, and it's a great idea, but bear in mind I just had to throw out the entire contents of my fridge and freezer, due to the five day power outage. I am NOT about to go to Kroger and buy ONE shrimp!

Blub

Yikes! Back to the drawing board then. What about an automatic feeder?

Chief_waterchanger

I think if our resident MousePotato did a study for us as to whether or not the dissolving food blocks were a good source of ammonia for a cycle to be formed, it would help our site's knowledge base.... or something.

I say trial and error is the best method. Just hope for less of the latter.

MousePotato

Wow, I can't believe I didn't see that coming! <laugh>

If I can find the time, I will set up the tank and toss in some weekend feeders before I leave tomorrow. No promises, though. I have a very busy Saturday planned. As soon as I'm done with breakfast, I'm booked til late this evening!

MousePotato

I did not have the time to set this up today. We had a wedding to go to tonight (first weddings are so romantic, don't you think?) and we just got home not too long ago. I have a 7-8 hour drive tomorrow, so I think this will have to wait until I come back home.

However, when I return, I will have my seeded filter media to add to the tank and I will try the "weekend feeders" as an ammonia source and post my results. Stay tuned!

Blub

I was going to say - if you don't manage to get te experiment up, I may be able to.

MousePotato

Feel free to give it a go. It sounds less stinky than raw shrimp.