Going out of town on vacation

I would be concerned that the food would decay and be gone before the 2 weeks were up. But this is not based on anything more than my own intuition.

I wouldn't worry about the plants, may not be optimal but they should be ok at any temperature that you are likely to have in your house.

 

Hey guys so I'm going on vacation for 5 days (I know its not that that long) but I don't have anyone to turn on my fishies day light and nightlight so I was wondering what you guys do for your fish when you leave for a few days? Thanks ^^. also food and such advice would be great.

 

I keep my lights plugged into a timer so they automatically get turned on and off every day
If you don't have anyone you trust to go in and feed your fish properly, I would personally just not feed them while you are away. I have heard too many bad experiences with the automatic feeders you can buy *just my personal preference*

 

Well, I recommend doing a water change before you leave, and most fish will be fine without food for 5 days but if you want to feed them find a trusted friend or relative to feed them. DO NOT GET THE FEEDING BLOCKS. For lights if you have plants that need the lighting, you could get a timer. Have fun on your vacation!

 

I use a cheap timer, do a large water change the day before I leave and if I'm going away for less then 2 weeks I don't arrange feeding for them.

 

Hi, thread of interest:

 

If, for any reason, you can't get, or use, a timer, it would be better to leave the tank lights off, and perhaps a room light on.
As healthy adult fish can survive far more than 5 days without food, in addition to a W/C, you might consider not feeding them for a day or two before leaving, and doing the W/C last. This way, the fish will produce less waste while you are away.
You might also reduce the tank temperature to near the low end of the fish having the highest low end temperature to slow their metabolism.
Enjoy your holiday------rick

 

Timers for your tank lights are a really good investment.

 

I absolutely agree with Mamajin, as they take the human error factor out, and I seem particularly prone to human error--it gets downright embarressing at times, as I am the type who apologizes to furniture after tripping over it.
The way I use the timer in my fish room is to have the main, industrial type florescent type on the timer, and the individual tank lights all plugged into the same power bar, which I turn on manually.. This way, I am hoping the reduce any stress on the fish from going from complete darkness to totally lighted.
Sadly, my fish have failed to learn simple semi-fore, despite repeated lessons, so I really don't know if they care.
I would put the power bar on a timer except that when the tank light goes on, they all behave like the starving children seen in Oxfam commercials or something, so I want to be on hand when the tank lights go on, food in hand. They're worse then my dogs.-----rick

 

hI everyone,

so, we are going on vacation next week for two weeks.

i'm having a young girl in the neighbourhood come into our house to feed our cats and fish.

I won't be able to do a water change because I am not trusting her to do it - she's only 11 years old - I'll just have to do it when I get back.

in regards to feeding...I won't be here to supervise the girl feed my fish. should I rely on her to feed the appropriate amount...or should I get one of those feeders that go in the tank and release food over the course of time? not sure what to do. I don't want to risk having a kid drastically overfeed my fish. but I don't know if depending on the automatic release tablets is wise.

 

You know her better than me, but kids aren't morons. Just have her over once to show her how much to feed. I would go with the kid over the auto feeder.

 

Get one of those pill reminder boxes ( you know with the days of the week ) and put the amount for each day.

That's what I did with my pet sitter and it worked perfectly. No mistakes.

Make sure you do a good water change the day before you leave ( or on the day ) and have fun!


PS - I wouldn't waste your $$$ on the feeders. It's not necessary unless you have no one to come over, IMHO.

 

Yeah I agree also. Show the girl how much to feed them and they should be fine. You can leave her some de chlorinated water for her to put in the tank when water evaporates

 

If your vacation isn't that long you don't need to feed fish if your worried.

 

two weeks!

 

Fish can go for two weeks without food as they are cold blooded. It is better for them not to be fed at all than it is for them to be over fed

 

Help I am going out of town for Thanksgiving! The only person that will be home is my 18 year old sister. We are going to be gone for 4 days at my relatives house 7 hours away. I don't know what to do about my african dwarf frog! All of my fish have feeders but I don't think they have a feeder for dwarf frogs. Any ideas?

 

Don't feed it. You will be fine

 

You could take a weekly medicine container and put just the amount of food you want your sister to feed the frogs each day. That way she does not have to guess on the amount. I did that for a friend of mine when my family was away earlier this summer for a few days.

 

You could take a weekly medicine container and put just the amount of food you want your sister to feed the frogs each day. That way she does not have to guess on the amount. I did that for a friend of mine when my family was away earlier this summer for a few days.

dont do this, people who don't keep fish will say the fish are still hungry and find food foe them. Its only less than 7 days you are fine.

 

dont do this, people who don't keep fish will say the fish are still hungry and find food foe them. Its only less than 7 days you are fine.

We many times have had people feed preportioned amount of food to our fish and didn't have a problem. I recommend to preportion daily feedings for those we leave in charge of our fish.

 

They are frozen bloodworms so I am not sure if that will work, maybe I could leave it in the fridge...

 

HI kittykat....quick question..

Will you be gone for a whole four days or
Day 1 leaving
Days 2 and 3 gone all day and night
Day 3 returning?

 

Lucy I will be leaving on Tuesday, gone Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday, and coming back Saturday night.

 

I don't recall if your frogs are by themselves or with fish.

By themselves, they should be fine like Teishokue said. (feed the day you leave then the night you get home)
If with smaller fish they may lunge for anything they perceive to be food.

If your sister would follow your instructions, that's what I would do....

 

Lucy

There are no fish on his side of the divider. I went out a town last summer and my sister fed him. She did an ok job but he did look very skinny when I came back. I think that was because the betta ate all of the food. Now all she has to do is put it on the terracotta plate, which is much more easy than having to hold it infront of his face.

 

That is easier.

Really, it's up to you then,
Either of your choices can work.

 

I'm going on a vacation for 16 days, and I'm trying to figure out how to feed my fish. I have two tanks. One is a five gallon tank with a betta and four minnows. The other is a twenty gallon with a dwarf gourami, 6 tetras and 4 cory cats. I can't afford to buy two automatic feeders, and having someone come over to feed my fish isn't really an option because we have a security system we activate. That leaves me with feeder blocks. I know that they can be bad for water quality, but I think it's the only way I can feed the fish while away. Can anyone please reccoment some good feeder blocks for those fish? Or maybe just another method for feeding the fish. Thanks!

 

Theres nobody in your family or friend circle that you would trust enough with the code?

Not to be rude or anything, but if you can afford a 16 day vacation, why can't you afford a couple auto feeders at less than $20 a piece? (hypothetical question)

Other than those 2 options, I don't think there is anything other than the food blocks but those are typically only good for a few days, not a couple weeks, unless there's some I don't know about.

 

I'm only 16. I'd let my friend come over and do it, but my dad won't allow it, and the system is pretty difficult to disengage without the alarm going off, and it's complex to re-engage.

Fair question. My family is very well off actually (and can afford vacations), but my parents said from the beginning that I have to pay for all fish related expenses from my own pocket. I don't make much from my job, and the cheapest automatic feeder my local stores sell is $37. I won't have time to order one online.

My LFS has 14 day feeder blocks by API, but reviews online say that it ruined their tank chemistry.

If I *somehow* managed to get a friend to come over for one day, would them only coming over once during the halfway point be enough?

 

Okay understood.

I will tell you what I would do in your situation, but I can't guarantee that all your fish will survive.

Most fish can survive a week or two without being fed. So if you can get your friend in once, I would do the following. I would recommend trying to convince your parents to let him in, even if they change the code to a temporary code while you are gone.

Put a weekend block feeder in the day you leave. That will provide food for a few days, but it will also dirty up the tank. Then have your friend come in somewhere around day 9. Have him do a water change on your tanks. If he not familiar with how to do that, I would write it all out for him in step by step directions. Then before he leaves, he should feed your fish some flakes. I would measure out just a little more than normal amount in a baggie or dish of some sort, because they will be hungry but you don't want to over feed and pollute your tank. Then you will be home in 7 days and they hopefully be fine in that time.

If you can't get your friend in, then I think you're only option is to try the big 14 days feeder tablet or move your tank to a friends house, or maybe the garage if that is separate from the house (not on the security system)?

That's about all I can think of, maybe someone else will have an idea for you.

 

Take your cell phone, and find a way to suspend it flat above an opening on your tank (securely) at a slight angle. Right before you leave, feed your fish as normal. Then put some flakes on top of your phone, right on the edge. 7 days later, call your phone (which will be on vibrate mode) and let the flakes sprinkle into the tank.

Do a few test runs to find the exact angle and number of times you will have to call it to shake the food down. Also, factor in any air circulation in the area that could prematurely blow the food off.. It may be possible to close the air vent if its in your room.

You won't have your phone, but you will have some full fish! Just an idea!

Derek

 

https://www.fishlore.com/vacationaquarium.htm

Vacation tip sheet.

 

Take your cell phone, and find a way to suspend it flat above an opening on your tank (securely) at a slight angle. Right before you leave, feed your fish as normal. Then put some flakes on top of your phone, right on the edge. 7 days later, call your phone (which will be on vibrate mode) and let the flakes sprinkle into the tank.

Do a few test runs to find the exact angle and number of times you will have to call it to shake the food down. Also, factor in any air circulation in the area that could prematurely blow the food off.. It may be possible to close the air vent if its in your room.

You won't have your phone, but you will have some full fish! Just an idea!

Derek

As long as your phone doesn't end up in the tank...

Also, in order for this to work you would need the top of the tank removed, which would then present an issue of the fish jumping out..

 

Wouldn't you only need for the fish to be fed once or twice during the time you're gone? I ran into the same problem as you last year, when I was going on vacation and had no one to feed my fish while I was gone. What I did was use a vacation feeder block that was supposed to last 10 days I think and my fish was fine. Granted, I only had one betta in a ten gallon tank at the time. I can't remember exactly how long I was gone for, but I think it was around ten days.

It annoys me too, when people have a hard time believing that I have no one to come over and feed my fish. I just don't.

 

Take your cell phone, and find a way to suspend it flat above an opening on your tank (securely) at a slight angle. Right before you leave, feed your fish as normal. Then put some flakes on top of your phone, right on the edge. 7 days later, call your phone (which will be on vibrate mode) and let the flakes sprinkle into the tank.

Do a few test runs to find the exact angle and number of times you will have to call it to shake the food down. Also, factor in any air circulation in the area that could prematurely blow the food off.. It may be possible to close the air vent if its in your room.

You won't have your phone, but you will have some full fish! Just an idea!

Derek

I don't like this idea. The food would go stale very quickly being out of its container, not to mention the risk of a $600 device falling into the tank.

The fish can go for quite a long time without food. The only time I'd feed them is when I'm going to be gone for more than two weeks. And if that happened, I'd use a top of the line auto feeder. Of course, after I test it for a while to make sure it isn't going to malfunction.

 

And if that happened, I'd use a top of the line auto feeder. Of course, after I test it for a while to make sure it isn't going to malfunction.

I still don't really like the idea of an automatic feeder, after all, equipment has been known to malfunction long after it's been running.

 

I still don't really like the idea of an automatic feeder, after all, equipment has been known to malfunction long after it's been running.

I wouldn't use an old auto feeder. Only a brand new one. And I wouldn't tell someone to use them unless they have nobody that could feed their fish once a week. I don't have that luxury since none of the people I know can be trusted to not overfeed the fish (I have even used those weekly pill boxes and they decided one "Serving" wasn't enough.)

 

You could feed your fish something live like new brine shrimp. Maybe leave your tank lights on or farm some algae on glass jars or stones. That would help hold the fort. Do you know anyone with cull cherry shrimp?
Preferably ones that are berried?

 

The OP already said that an auto feeder isn't an option. And nobody is going to be granted the security code for entrance. 16 days is a long time for the fish to go without food, IMO.