General Aquaria Discussion • I hate going on vacation

[Cichlid boy]

Every time I go in vacation it seems like I lose a few fish.

My last vacation I lost my male N. multifaciatus. Luckily he left a few kids for me to grow out a new male.

And this time I lost my female J. Transcriptus and about 10 o the fry in the tank with them. I have 2 other females that I can put with the lone male but they may not like each other.

It seems like however much i tell the person to feed they always over feed. I say to Feed certain amount amount every 3 days and they find a way to over feed.

Anyone else have this problem

[Deeda]

No, I don't go on vacation!! Fish should be fine without food for at least 7 to 10 days and probably even longer though fry and young juvies may require daily feedings.

[tanker3]

Whenever I go on a vacation, I buy the "Walgreen" weekly pill boxes with a compartment for everyday. I put enough for one feed into every one, and tell the " fish caregiver" to feed every other day.

[DJRansome]

I don't feed. If someone comes over, it's just to make sure the power didn't go out and remove any dead fish (never had a fish die while away, but better to get it out).

[Cichlid boy]

Whenever I go on a vacation, I buy the "Walgreen" weekly pill boxes with a compartment for everyday. I put enough for one feed into every one, and tell the " fish caregiver" to feed every other day.

This is a great idea I'm going to start doing this now.

What I've been doing is leaving little measuring spoons and enough food to last the time in gone and leave notes on all the tanks saying what spoon to use and how often.

[Cichlid boy]

Whenever I go on a vacation, I buy the "Walgreen" weekly pill boxes with a compartment for everyday. I put enough for one feed into every one, and tell the " fish caregiver" to feed every other day.

This is a great idea I'm going to start doing this now.

What I've been doing is leaving little measuring spoons and enough food to last the time in gone and leave notes on all the tanks saying what spoon to use and how often.

[pfoster74]

last time i left i put the food in separate zip lock bags and instructed to use the one bag per day. that way it's pre measured out.

[rookie-cichlid1978]

In the interest of full disclosure, I travel a bunch for work and i am a total newbie to fishkeeping.

Does an autofeeder like Eheim's product work? Assuming a week long vacay, I think of a water change and some tank maintenance 24-48 hours before departure and then have the autofeeder take over and reduce amount/frequency of feedings.

[tanker3]

Personally, I do not and have never used any autofeeders.

[noddy]

In the interest of full disclosure, I travel a bunch for work and i am a total newbie to fishkeeping.

Does an autofeeder like Eheim's product work? Assuming a week long vacay, I think of a water change and some tank maintenance 24-48 hours before departure and then have the autofeeder take over and reduce amount/frequency of feedings.

I have two of them and just got back from a week in Mexico yesterday. They work great but I wouldn't bother with them if it wasn't for the fact that I'm growing out some brand new fry and am also trying to nurse a few skinny cyps back to full bellies.
Most of the types of fish that I keep don't eat for three to four weeks when they're holding anyway.

[mambee]

I keep the small plastic containers that sushi restaurants put the soy sauce in. I fill each one with a day's worth of food and leave enough for every day that I'm going to be gone. My neighbor stops in every day to feed my fish. I do this for each tank.

[CeeJay]

I just got back from being gone a month. Never lost a fish. I have friend that fed them and check on the tanks. One of the ways I have over come over feeding is to use a automatic feeder. Even with using it he still had to be able to refill it because it wouldn't make it a whole month. I use it even to feed them when I'm home. It's so easy to push the button and the right amount food comes out.

Here's the key if your only gone a week don't worry about feeding them they will be all right. Over that and you need to have someone are a way to feed them. I was more concern with my pumps and sumps not running out of water so he checked it daily for me but with the way cameras and the web is I could of monitor from were I was. It's better to not feed anything then to over feed and foul the tank.

[Steve C]

Being a very avid angler and outdoorsman I go on lots of trips where I leave my fish for periods of time. The longest is an annual 16 day fishing trip every July. While fish can go for periods of time without being feed sometimes it's not the best for them to go 2 weeks without food because it can raise the aggression in the tank when they are food deprived for longer periods of time, so I do use auto feeders once per year during my 16 day trip. Normal 2-5 days trips I don't worry about feeding or auto feeders.

Right before my 16 day trip I will do a 80% water change, set the feeders so it drops a limited amount of food into the tank and I'm good to go. I use auto feeders that have the individual compartments that drop only the amount of food you fill that compartment with once per day (called fishmate) not the rotating drum ones, too much of a chance of overfeeding with those kind.

Done that way I have never lost a fish with the exception of a few years back when a big storm knocked the power out for 3 days while I was gone and it was 90f during that time. Lost a tank full of peacocks that time but that was not due to the feeders or anything other than the lack of power/water circulation.