Which Vacation feeder to get?

I'm going on vacation on Saturday, (next week) and I wouldn't be here for one month. I could have a friend come in every week, and was wondering which product I could use and which would be best for my fish.

I was looking at these two products:

10780 Marina Nutramatic Economy Fish Food Feeder


A-7531 Nutrafin basix 7 Day Fish Feeder

 

I also noticed at WalMart There's a more affordable $20 fish feeder. Online it says that the food gets moist in that one and turns into mud. I really am looking to keep my fish alive and happy at a reasonable price. I forget what it was called.

 

Good morning,

I'm not fond of the weekend feeders. If your friend could come over at least twice a week, maybe 3 times to feed your fish then that is the route I would take and forget about the weekend feeders.

As for the automatic feeders, one's I've tried, clogged and just were not worth the $.

Let's see what other responses you receive.

Have a fun safe vacation!

Ken

 

I just found it on WalMart.ca It was called the:

Daily Double II Feeder (Penn Plax)

 

Good morning,

I'm not fond of the weekend feeders. If your friend could come over at least twice a week, maybe 3 times to feed your fish then that is the route I would take and forget about the weekend feeders.

As for the automatic feeders, one's I've tried, clogged and just were not worth the $.

Let's see what other responses you receive.

Have a fun safe vacation!

Ken

Do you think my platy and guppies could survive without being fed daily? My friend who is my Uncle, doesn't have a car. so once or maybe twice a week he could do, but not thrice a week. I am looking for ideas, but please remember that I am not in the states and don't get the same products as you.

 

I think they'll be fine with 1-2 feedings a week if it's for only two weeks.

 

It's two weeks my uncle will have to do it, but My Father will have to feed them for the rest of the month. July 25th-June 30th and the only fish experience my father has is turning on and off the aquarium light.

 

Also, I know this is totally off topic, but can I put a marble in my tank? I think it would look cool.

 

A marbel what? Angel? In any case you're already overstocked if it's for the 5G listed in your info. A 5G is no home for a common pleco unfortunately. They get massive and really need a 55G at the very least.

 

A marble that you play with. It's made with glass.

 

A marble will be absolutely fine, I used to have one in a tank. Glass is generally always safe! As for the feedings; even if they got fed once a week they would be fine, twice would be better. Fish can go two weeks without food but I don't recommend it. If the friend is not experienced in fish keeping, measure out the feedings as there is nothing worse than overfeeding when you are gone, your water will become very toxic.

In fact the water quality would be my main concern. I recommend a huge (75%) water change right before you leave. Good luck and have a safe trip.

 

Marbles would be fine in your tank, and I think they would look pretty cool.

1 or 2 feedings a week would be just fine. Just make sure he knows how much to feed them. When I have somebody feed mine, I put daily portions into the compartments of a pill box.

 

Would I have to wash them in something special, or just use tap water?

 

I would just use hot tap water.

 

I have a programable auto feeder that works well. It was about $35 at Petco but I forget the brand (I think it was just Petco.). I have had it for about 4 months. I have kept it attached to the tank for the entire time and the food is still great quality. You can adjust the amount of food that comes out is easy to set to a good amount (I keep mine at about half a normal feeding).

I use it when I go, set to feed every other day. I also use it when I am feeding pellets. No complaints and it works great. No mushy food and I have only filled it twice as it holds a ton of food.

 

I live in canada. The one here is a nutrafin nutramatic 2x and is $35 but I have a $5 off coupon. What about feeder bricks? Are those any good?

 

I feed my fish 3 to 4 times a week on a normal week, so I think you would be ok with 2 weeks of 2 feedings a week. You could buy some of those pill boxes that has a compartment for each day of the week and portion out how much food the fish will get at each feeding before you leave, then you wouldn't have to worry about your dad overfeeding. Just make sure he knows to only open 1 compartment at each feeding.

 

A marble that you play with. It's made with glass.

Haha my bad!! Yep a marble will be fine. I had several in a tank at one stage. Sorry for the misinterpretation.

 

How about a feeder brick? I could only have my uncle cOme once a week

 

I have only heard bad things about them, I understand they will muck up the water peramiters pretty quickly. Your fish should be ok even if they could only be fed once a week for two weeks. If you have no one to do water changes, less feeding would be better anyway. It will help keep your tank a bit cleaner.

 

I heard there's a special type of block. Anyway, If my stock dosent make it, I will just save up for a 15 gallon (that's all I am allowed)

 

I went crazy and bought a $40 auto feeder. It's the NUTRAFIN NUTRAMATIC 2X. I really thought and read the feeder brick box and all the ingredients (plaster) were not good.

 

I went crazy and bought a $40 auto feeder. It's the NUTRAFIN NUTRAMATIC 2X. I really thought and read the feeder brick box and all the ingredients (plaster) were not good.

Wow! That is kinda pricey! I paid less than that for tank set ups. Let us know how it works and good luck.

 

It has done one rotation and feeds the perfect amount. I had a $5 off coupon and a SPC card so I really paid like $31 It holds enough to feed my fish for a month. I also got the lights sorted out (WalMart yesterday) and my friend checking in on them once a week. I also noticed a Door on my feeder. I think it is for antI moisture.

Anyway I'm off on vacation and hope I don't lose any stock.

 

The auto feeder might be better. But if you get one for oly $20 that sounds to cheap to me so It might break.

 

Hope all is well while you are gone! Have fun on your trip!

 

I called my friend today, and he says they are alive! I hope to see them in 2 weeks. I just got back frOm my resort in Maine and am now in Montreal for two weeks!

 

My dad just got home. They are still alive. In one week I will see them! I would DEFINATELY recommend the NUTRAFIN NUTRAMATIC 2x feeder for fish tanks.

 

Glad to hear all you are enjoying vacation with your fish at home safe and sound. I had a bad experience once with auto-feeders and things weren’t as positive as yours is turning out to be. I returned home to clogged feeders and a few dead fish due to ammonia poisoning. I had to do large water changes for a few days to get everything back under control. When you have 18 tanks it takes awhile to do large water changes on almost a daily basis. I treated the tank with Prime every day and ended up only loosing a few fish.

I haven’t used them sense then but I am going to give them one last chance this year. I am going to be gone for two weeks this year but the wife will only be gone one week so I will only need them to feed the fish for the first week.

I was going to have my renter come over and feed them for me but I didn’t want to impose too much on him so I decided to see what I could do to fix the feeders I have. My renter is still going to come over and check on things for me but at least he will not have to do it daily.

I decided I have to modify the auto-feeders I have to make them work properly. They were some cheep thing Walmarts were selling and they sit way too close to the water and always get moisture up in the drop tube which causes them to clog up. It not only wasted the food but stopped feeding and man what a smell that caused.

At first I thought about placing them on the top edge of an open hood to move them up and away from the water but I am afraid that the fish will jump out. I have decided to build a bracket to hold them higher off the tanks. They will sit above the filter and just in front a bit so that the food drops in an already open spot. I am sure the filter will drive a lot of the food down towards the bottom so I am going to set them to feed a very small amount each time.

I will be sitting them up on my tanks about a week before I go on vacation so that I can monitor how well my idea works before I leave.

 

I actually left the hood open. All of my fish are there or were replaced by impostors.