Going out of town for vacation will fish last a week without food?

[Dav2996]

Going on a trip this summer will I need an auto feeder? I will be gone a week. What is a good food for the auto feeder? Thank you

 

[nvcheeko]

I never feed my fish Auto Feeder and also every now and again some frozens, that way im feeding same time every day heaps of selections out there dry food depends on your Fish.

 

[JNalley]

No experience in auto-feeders, I have a fish sitter that feeds my tank. But, I thought I'd give a friendly reminder (as it was just a recent topic in the forums) not to turn your A/C off or even raise the temp of it to save electricity while you're away. One poor guy almost had a heart attack because he turned up his A/C to 79 and his tank runs at 5 degrees over ambient, so it shot up to 84...

 

[Derrick0580]

No one you can get to stop by every other day and feed them?

 

[jrill]

A week is fine.

 

[haitian_reefer]

I used an eheim auto feeder when I was gone for a week
EHEIM Everyday Fish Feeder Programmable Automatic Food Dispenser https://a.co/d/cMwSJJB

 

[KStatefan]

I have an Avast Plank that works good.

 

[Floyd-]

I use a cheap auto feeder ($20) for when im gone for a week or so. Just load it up with pellets and set to dump once a day at maybe 4pm and I have never had issues.

 

[Islandvib3s]

Auto feeders are convenient if you set it up correctly. But can also be a huge problem. Depending on fish also. Alot can go a week without if your tank is well seasoned. If you have alot of pods id do without the feeder.

 

[PbMan26]

I would either use an auto feeder or find someone that can help. Auto feeders can tend to be inconsistent and over feed so be careful. I like the Apex feeder because I can feed every other day. Most auto feeders will feed at least once a day.

The other thing to consider is your inhabitants.... after a few days, depending on what fish you have, shrimp or others may be on the menu!

 

[MNFish]

I currently have 5 of the eheims, I use the auto feeders every day and also feed frozen. My fish seem to like any of the GP pellets from brine shrimp direct:

GP Diets, Active Spheres

The Original Golden Pearl (OGP) Diets have successfully replaced many live foods in marine finfish hatcheries. Available in a variety of particle sizes down to 5 microns. Popular choice for reef tanks, too!

www.brineshrimpdirect.com

Which I believe are also the BRS brand here:

2oz Premium Saltwater Fish Food Pellets

High-density nutrition for all small fish & inverts! Bulk Reef Supply's Pellet Diet was specifically formulated to provide a protein rich diet with excellent nutritional qualities for a variety of fish and inverts. Pellets are sized around 1 mm, making them an excellent choice for small fish...

www.bulkreefsupply.com

Ehiems link

EHEIM Automatic "Everyday" Fish Feeder - EHEIM

Shop The Best Saltwater Aquarium Equipment & Supplies at Saltwater Aquarium. We Carry Everything you will Need for your Fish Tank.

www.saltwateraquarium.com

I really like the Ehiems have been using for over a year and have had no issues at all with them, some of the fish love to eat from them some not as much but it depends on the fish and I am sure how hungry they are.

As others said if you are gone a week having someone stop in at the half way point and feeding would work well, however the auto feeders in my opinion are nice to have for all the time as well.

 

[doubleshot00]

Am i the only one on here that has friends.

I just got back from vacation and had a neighbor feed my fish and dogs everyday and let my dogs out 3x a day. Yall need to find better friends or neighbors.

All he had to do was dump a small container each day that i pre-portioned out for him.

 

[DeniseAndy]

I just got back from 12 days gone and used autofeeders on my smaller tanks. I had a babysitter for dog and house (including tanks), but she is not as familiar with tanks and I trusted the autofeeder more than her estimate on how much to feed my 40/20/6g tanks.

All was fine!

 

[LeftyReefer]

I use one of the cheap $25 Alexa enabled auto feeders when I'm away on vacation.

My only issue is that I leave for vacation next friday... and I just recently added a couple new anthias to my main tank. I have not yet gotten them to eat any pellets. They take a bite and then spit every pellet out.... Right now all they will eat is frozen brine shrimp. they are both fat and happy, but just refuse any pellets.

when I'm away for 10 days, and pellets are the only thing coming out of the auto-feeder might get them to change their minds... if not, they will be a bit skinnier when I get back.

 

[Karen00]

As other have mentioned I think it depends on your inhabitants. For instance I wouldn't leave my mandarin for a week without food but wouldn't be as concerned if I had a huge pod population for her however I would still buy an autofeeder. Also, given we try to make our tanks biodiverse, it's possible some inhabitants will become meals for other inhabitants (just like in the wild) if they're not fed. If you get an autofeeder then be sure to buy it well in advance of your trip so you can test it to make sure it's working as expected and you have time to make adjustments if needed.

 

[Reef Rhino]

I need to see a Therapist. I feel guilty when I feed the fish at 6:00pm, because I know they have been pacing, waiting and wagging their tails since 5:00pm .....

I usually ask someone to come through every other day or every third day to feed tanks and make sure no crisis is underway.

 

[DeniseAndy]

For the anthias, try some of the small TDO foods from reef nutrition. My fish like that. Maybe they will too.

 

[fish farmer]

Am i the only one on here that has friends.

I just got back from vacation and had a neighbor feed my fish and dogs everyday and let my dogs out 3x a day. Yall need to find better friends or neighbors.

All he had to do was dump a small container each day that i pre-portioned out for him.

Yes you are. My usual sitter moved in with her boyfriend further away and happened to be going on vacation the same time we were away. Kenneled the dog, autofed the cats, fish have been getting overfed so they were fine for 4 days.

 

[LeftyReefer]

For the anthias, try some of the small TDO foods from reef nutrition. My fish like that. Maybe they will too.

I have. That is always my go-to pellet, but sadly, they spit that out just as quickly as every other pellet.
I've tried a bunch of pellets, and they taste them all and then spit them out and then completely ignore them.

I've tried:
TDO
Nyos Gogi
NLS Thera-A
NLS Ultra-Red
PE mysis pellets

all ignored. I tried a bunch of pellets while the anthias were in a QT tank. i've gone as long as three days offering nothing but pellets but they refuse to eat them. At that point, I've always relented and gone back to feeding them frozen foods. Since then, they completed QT and have been transferred to my DT where they are now feeding on frozen foods with the rest of the fishes every day... but when I'm out of town, the whole tank is fed via pellet feeder daily. All my other fish will readily eat pellets.... these new anthias haven't taken to any pellets yet.

I'm thinking they will start eating the pellets when they get hungry enough.

I fill my pellet feeder with a mix of all the above pellets so that all the fishes get a little choice. They all get dumped into a feeding ring. Some fish will feed right from the ring, others wait below it for the pellets to sink. the mix of pellets seems to do a good job dispersing them to all the fish. Hoping my new anthias get with the program sooner rather than later!

 

[Dav2996]

Am i the only one on here that has friends.

I just got back from vacation and had a neighbor feed my fish and dogs everyday and let my dogs out 3x a day. Yall need to find better friends or neighbors.

All he had to do was dump a small container each day that i pre-portioned out for him.

Mom taking care of grandma she is in death bed and same with dad. My friend became piece of **** and canceled the wedding and cheated on his fiancé with 5 girls. He lied to me for five years I didn’t know. I don’t know if I trust a random dude in my house or service unless I had more cameras. My girlfriends sister will come in maybe once every 3 days to feed the cat.