Will my fish survive for 5 days without me?

I'm going for 5 total days. 5x24 hours. Will my fish be ok without me feeding them?

16 clown loaches (3 inches), 10 cardinal tetras, 4 zebra dianos, dwarf gouramui, and 15 siamese algae eaters.

 

I just came back from an 8 day vacation without feeding them. My fish are all fine. They can even go longer without eating. I wouldn't worry about it. Just do a very large water change right before you leave, lower the temp a couple of degrees to slow their metabolism and they should be fine.

 

I agree with el337. I just returned from a vacation as well. Did a 50% water change on all 3 tanks on Saturday. Left early Sunday morning and returned Friday evening. Fed them when I returned Friday and did a big water change FrI as well. They did not eat Sun-Mon-Tue-Wed-Thur and everyone was fine in all 3 tanks when I returned on Friday. Yours will be fine!

 

Awesome to hear! I won't worry so much now

 

Can they really? So I don't need to worry about getting a fish sitter for 3 days on my occasional long weekend trips?

 

Can they really? So I don't need to worry about getting a fish sitter for 3 days on my occasional long weekend trips?

You don't need to worry at all. 3 days is no big deal

 

They'll just be really happy to see you!

 

Fish sitters can cause you more trouble by over feeding your fish.
5 days is the longest I have gone with out feeding no problem...

 

My advice I have a family member like my grandmother who is also big into fish keeping (she keeps Angels) care for my fish while I'm gone!

 

Well... Thanks. Now, I'm on vacation. I have this camera to check on my cat. But here are my fish too. Hehe. its next to my 65 inch tv.

I see them moving!

 

Way off topic my apologies, but what Software are you using? I like this idea of remote monitoring while gone. Let's face it anything could happen ( slow water leak comes to mind ) if you could get emergency assistance from a friend or family member it could save the fish and a major headache when you return...

 

this is what I am using... And you download the vimtag software, too! You can move and zoom remotely.

 

I have left mine for 3 weeks with no issues. Any longer than that and I'd get someone to come by and do a water change and maybe feed once a week.

I'll be gone for 5-6 weeks soon and I'm having a fish friend come by and do 2-3 water changes and feed a few times a week.

 

What about those vacation feeder blocks? Is it better to let them go a week without eating or give them a vacation feeder?

 

I wouldn't bother with the vacation feeder blocks - some fish may constantly eat and they aren't nutritious to begin with.

Your fish can survive easily a week with no intervention from you. Personally, I would rather go that route than end up with someone inexperienced and overfeeding your tank. More problems can be caused by overfeeding then underfeeding.

Just do a good water change before you go and do a normal feeding then.

 

well I came home, I fed my fish and they were quite voracious eaters, LOL. I have never seen them eat like that... All of my fish and loaches have picked off nearly all of my cherry shrimp, lol, and my fish have all also picked over every bit of stag horn algae, just wow. LOL. It is all gone... I thought it was never going to go away. So my siamese algae eaters, shrimp and mollies must have turned to stag horn algae for nourishment.

that and it probably ran out of nitrate-without feeding. I am sure that nitrogen levels were low. I have two denitrate towers, so my nitrate stays around 0 at all times.

BUT you guys were right, they handled it fine, they found food and the ones who didn't- made it just fine.

I take that back, while they ate a lot of the adults. I do see a lot of babies growing now into adults, so they couldn't get all of the babies