Going out of town on vacation

Will be going on vacation for 1 week. My? is what kind of block food should I use.Cant having the baby;'s starving

 

I've used this in the past: Tetra Vacation Tropical Slow Release Feeder or others have used automatic fish feeders

 

or a trusty neighbor

 

A lot of people have also said that you could let your fish go for a 1-2 week period without food. Sometimes it is good for them to let their digestive tract clean out and can simulate like how it is in the wild where they sometimes don't eat for periods.

 

Automatic fish feeding timers.

 

I would say invest in an auto feeder - or if you have a neighbor/family/friend that can help, put the amount of food you want to be fed in one of those daily pill reminder cases that has the entire week, day and night and just put the amount in there. That way your idea of a "pinch" of food is not interpreted as something different to someone else

 

I would recommend against using the blocks of food. They are bad news.

What kind of fish do you have? A lot of fish can go a week without food.

 

I had a feeder malfunction where it overfed and led to a green algae bloomed tank when I returned as well as had a friend whose feeder became blocked and didn't disperse any food because condensation built up in it and clogged it. It was the cheaper one from Walmart though that was battery powered.

 

I would recommend against using the blocks of food. They are bad news.

What kind of fish do you have? A lot of fish can go a week without food.

Why are they bad news? I've used them in the past.

 

They pollute the water and are a low quality food. We've had several discussions about them in the past, you might be able to find old threads with the search tool.

 

good to know, will do.

 

Good afternoon,
to Fish Lore!

The link below is full of good information that you may find useful:


Have fun and a safe time!

Ken

 

WoW Just wanted to say thank all that replyed to my? Learned a bunch.thank you all.

 

OK everyone so I'm going on vacation for a week and I have a family member coming to feed my fish each day. My question is this I'm most likely going to get her to leave the lights off in the tanks just so they won't get left on, should I open the blinds in my room or leave them shut. My blinds let a little light in but not much... What do you guys think? Thanks for the help

 

How about using a timer?

 

Definitely get a timer. Set it for about 10 hours a day. I use mine year round on everything from my fish tanks to the inside house lights.

 

If you do not have plants which require intense lighting, it would be perfectly fine with just some natural sunlight through your window which would be enough for them to cycle day/night. Lights besides for plants photosynthesis, is mostly for our, humans, viewing pleasure.

 

If you haven't already, I would suggest getting one of those cheap week long pill cases. That way you can put the amount of food you want your fish fed every day to be sure there's no overfeeding.

 

If you haven't already, I would suggest getting one of those cheap week long pill cases. That way you can put the amount of food you want your fish fed every day to be sure there's no overfeeding.

Great idea! I did that when I had to be gone for a day and a half. . . just make sure to make a couple extra in case your trip gets lengthened (like mine did). Nothing funnier than trying to explain where to find the food and explain how much to feed (especially flakes) lol.

 

I will be going on vacation for a week and my discus is use to 2 to 3 water changes a week. I won't be able to do one for 7 days. Will my discus be OK?

 

I would recommend trying to find a "fish sitter" to do them for you. Try and get someone who's had experience with water changes. If you can't, get one of your close friends, teach/show them how to do a water change (write down instructions just in case), show the days needed of water changes and you should be set! That's what I always do and now my friend knows how to completely do them!

 

Well got back from my vacation and the tank is good. No fish deaths or anything thank goodness. I had my mom come over once a day to feed them and make sure everything was going ok in the tank.

 

Good to hear. On my vacations I just let them be. Depending on the length of time they go without food. About to head to the beach myself for about 3 days, they won't be getting fed at all except for my younger fish which have an auto feeder that will feed 2 times a day (cut down from 4 when I'm home). Lights will be off the entire trip.

I don't trust ANYONE else to do anything but feed the fish. No one will EVER do my water changes for me unless its another trusted fishkeeper in the family.

 

Yeah I don't let anyone do anything else but feed mine too. Can't trust anyone that don't keep fish themselves.

 

Adult discus can survive few weeks without food no problem.

For young discus you can use auto feeder, but program to feed very little once a day so not to worsen wate quality.

 

Adult discus can survive few weeks without food no problem.

For young discus you can use auto feeder, but program to feed very little once a day so not to worsen wate quality.

A few WEEKS with no food??

 

Adult discus can survive few weeks without food no problem.

*spits tea all over keyboard, monocole pops off*

I beg your pardon, sir?

*Edit* Okay, actually, he's correct XD. Discus can go for a month or more without food. They're... unusual fish. Not a good idea with young fish, of course, they're still growing.

 

A few WEEKS with no food??

Yes this has been well documented. A google search for "how long can discus go without food" will show this. Healthy big adults can go 2-3 weeks without food. Although I wouldn't subject them to few weeks not feeding, 1 week with no food will be ok for adult discus. Usually when adult fish are acclimating, they can refuse food for a week before being comfortable enough in their new environment.

 

Yes this has been well documented. A google search for "how long can discus go without food" will show this. Healthy big adults can go 2-3 weeks without food. Although I wouldn't subject them to few weeks not feeding, 1 week with no food will be ok for adult discus. Usually when adult fish are acclimating, they can refuse food for a week before being comfortable enough in their new environment.

Good catch; I legitimately never knew that. The thought of not feeding a tropical fish for so long scares me @_@.

 

I could probably go a week or ten days without food...but then I would probably die...and I wouldn't be too happy after about day one..

And does google also say they like iodized salt?

Just saying..

 

I could probably go a week or ten days without food...but then I would probably die...and I wouldn't be too happy after about day one..

And does google also say they like iodized salt?

Just saying..

Please refer to:

https://www.diskuszucht-stendker.de/gb/BasicInformation/10.HilfreicheTipps.pdf

Stendker discus breeds very good fish, so they know what they're doing. Check out the section, tips while on holiday, and also the part about non-iodized table salt. I did miss out to write "non-iodized", but the point is that salt is good for some problems.

 

HI all.
So I am going on holdiay to Florida next month. My tank is cycled, but there are no fish. I am keeping the BB alive by putting in goldfish food every day.
I now realise it would be crazy to add fish just now, but I put a lot of time, effort and money into it and I don't want to tear it down.

Could I ask my friend (who knows how much effort I put into this) to dose ferts and fish food every two days? Would this keep the BB and plants alive? The lighting is on a timer so it doesn't need any attention.

Thanks!

 

Food or some source of ammonia needs to be dosed every day in order to keep your cycle. You could invest in an automatic feeder (your plants will probably be fine without ferts for a week) to keep the cycle up. I'm not sure about Scotland, but they're not terribly expensive here in the states.

 

How long are you going away for? I had a thought, that you could add some frozen shrimp to the tank which will decay and produce ammonia - not sure how long this will last for though. Just an idea.

 

Thanks guys. I am going away for 2 weeks. I could ask him to come every day. I'm sure he wouldn't mind getting paid more. Here, feeders are £40 plus. The only ferts I have are root tabs but I wanted to give the plants the nutrients that the fish would have.

 

It may sound gross, but I would put something in there that you know will take more than two weeks to decay like a piece of meat. I'd just do a near 100% water change when you get back.

 

What LetDiceFly said about that 100% water change after meat additives. That jazz smells. When I was cycling my 35g I used a nylon stocking full of hikarI freezedried krill, and it smelled like literal, real poo a few days later. Narstycakes.

 

stocking full? I was thinking more the size a small fish, lol

 

Okay, to clarify... it contained krill. I have these little half-sock sized nylons I used to use as hairnets, shorter than the fullsize ones. I only put in a very small fistfull of the foodstuff. So yeah, about the size of the average small pet fish.

The stink definitely filled the entire socklet though.

 

Sorry to reopen an old thread. I was wondering if I could add a bit of fish food, enough for 2 weeks and then just leave the filter running. Also, My mum wants me to unplug the heater. Would this affect the tropical plants?