What's the longest you've gone without feeding your fish?

[toadfarm]

Going to Kauai in April to propose to my lady...I have to find someone to watch the tank for a week. I wish they could go a week but I don't want to take the risk. Plus my ATO will need to be topped off. Longest I've ever gone was two days.

Congrats! Kauai is the best place on earth

 

[MichaelReefer]

Congrats! Kauai is the best place on earth

That is what everyone has told me. We wen't to Maui last year.

 

[Fishko]

When i had freshwater maybe a week. Just became lazy my reef tank 2 days.

 

[Super Fly]

Currently in week three due to a long ski vacation. However, my Apex is telling me all equipment is functioning well so far. The fish have an auto feeder to feed them. Did plenty of testing before this trip so hopefully all is well. I’ll know for sure in 3 days when I return home.

3 week ski vaca?!?!?! NICE!

 

[Pickwun]

About 5 months of each year in my goldfish pond.
Indoors I've gone a week or more when called away suddenly. Most fish can go a long time without food; I haven't been able to ask how they feel about it.
Normally I use a feeder set for once/day when I'm gone. I'm definitely in the camp that would let them go for a couple of weeks before I'd use a well meaning fish-sitter. I've done that cleanup before.

 

[Daniel@R2R]

I agree that it probably depends a lot on the tank and stock list. However, for most mature tanks and fish, I don't think daily feeding by the owner is all that necessary. If I'm traveling, I prefer to let things ride if I'm not going to be gone for more than a week or so. I agree that overfeeding is definitely more dangerous to your tank than underfeeding (so tank sitters that don't actually have tanks themselves may potentially be more dangerous than helpful IMO). Most reef tanks should have enough stuff floating and swimming around that fish will be fine for a good while.

I'm VERY curious about the systems that aren't getting fed at all. I definitely think that is a plausible goal if the reef is planned out that way.

 

[zalick]

I have one of those little ecosphere globe things. Its the size of a large orange. It has a twig, some algae and a little ghost shrimp or similar. My wife got it free at a convention 12 years ago. The temp of the water has been as high as 85 and as low as probably 50. When new, the globe was 100% full of water. Now, its about 75%. There is some small evaporation out of the rubber plug.

The little shrimp is still swimming in circles, all day, every day. The life expectancy on the package said 2 years. 12 years and going strong with nothing added.


As for my reef, I've gone a week, with no ill effects. I feel bad for the fish though.

 

[ca1ore]

10 days is the longest. Fish survived it. I do tend to feed the tank more heavily before I leave though.

 

[ca1ore]

I'm VERY curious about the systems that aren't getting fed at all. I definitely think that is a plausible goal if the reef is planned out that way.

I looked into such a system many years ago. Didn't see any way to make it work short of a single small fish per 100 gallons of reef tank.

 

[glendale789]

What's the longest you've gone without feeding your fish? Mine was 2 weeks because of being out of town. Everyone was fine and healthy when I got back. My suspicion is that there's enough food in a mature tank that the fish would probably be fine for a good while if I didn't feed at all (not that I'm planning to test that theory).

7 days (new tank!) I went to California on vacation and had inadvertently left my auto feeder on the stand beside the tank and didn't notice when I left. When I walked in the house I immediately noticed and my heart sank! I thought I killed all 6 fish in my 40gal breeder. The fish were fine - if a bit hungry. I now have a camera pointed at my tank...just in case.

 

[Dimmy007]

I use to feed everyday. But since po4 were out of wack I cut down to once a week. I see the fish everyday and they pick at the rocks and algae so they find a way. I have a friend that has been feeding once a week for years and his tanks are perfect.

 

[Sapper Ski]

I feed once a week. I have a lot of algae for my tang and I do keep pods stocked every 3 months and have gone over 2 weeks without physically feeding my fish. My 2 clowns have been in the tank for a year now.

A note about my clown fish. About every other day, I check the tank at night with the lights off. When I do this, my clowns have a feeding frenzy on any and all pods they can mow down before I’m finished checking the tank.

I’ve considered cutting out physically feeding and just keep pods stocked, but I’m not brave enough to try it yet.

 

[rfgonzo]

7 to 10 days when I go on vaca for reef tank.

4 month longest for eel tank. when getting them off live food. The last 5 years they get feed once per month.

 

[don_chuwish]

Maybe 4-5 days. Any longer and I'd prefer to set up the auto-feeder. I have wondered if I can ever go on a 2 week vacation, given the ATO reservoir typically lasts about a week. Might have to put some glass tops on in that case.

 

[K7BMG]

When I was in Viet Nam, at home I had this huge albano catfish.
I came home a year later and it was in 4" of water and it just died the month before. No one fed it or added water.

That shows the resiliency of fish and the laziness of family members. ;Wideyed

Back in the early 80s I had a shocking experience with an Albino Cat.
I had a 22 inch Albino Cat in a 55G hex. I came home from work and he was gone. Roommates said they did not do anything, and that they never go into my room.
Obviously I knew they were lying. 16 days later I got woken up by banging sounds.
Tracked it down and found my Albino Cat behind a bookcase flopping around.
Yes 16 days out of water and still alive.
Honestly thought I was dreaming, but got him out of there and put him back in the tank.
Went to my LFS and told my friend about this and he told me to come back the next day.
I returned the next day and he gave me a national geographic magazine.
On the cover was a picture of an aborigine and dozens of Albino Cats on the ground.
Reading the article I learned that these guys are a menace. One the food supply in there habitat has been extinguished they go through a change and can breath air and will leave the water and crawl across land in search of another water source, if I remember correctly they tracked some of them 100 miles away from the original source.
These guys were named Walking Catfish in the article.

That explained everything, I was so broke back then I had no money for food for myself or Throckmort my Albino Cat. My friend at the LFS gave me some food and said feed your fish and all will be well, and it was. The following week I got a better paying job and Throckmort wound up in a much bigger tank. He started out in the 55G Hex at about three inches and eight plus years later when he died he was 26 inches, was my pride and joy, but mostly my friend.

Moral of the story feed your fish or they may come out of the tank and snack on you LoL.

 

[Daniel@R2R]

Back in the early 80s I had a shocking experience with an Albino Cat.
I had a 22 inch Albino Cat in a 55G hex. I came home from work and he was gone. Roommates said they did not do anything, and that they never go into my room.
Obviously I knew they were lying. 16 days later I got woken up by banging sounds.
Tracked it down and found my Albino Cat behind a bookcase flopping around.
Yes 16 days out of water and still alive.
Honestly thought I was dreaming, but got him out of there and put him back in the tank.
Went to my LFS and told my friend about this and he told me to come back the next day.
I returned the next day and he gave me a national geographic magazine.
On the cover was a picture of an aborigine and dozens of Albino Cats on the ground.
Reading the article I learned that these guys are a menace. One the food supply in there habitat has been extinguished they go through a change and can breath air and will leave the water and crawl across land in search of another water source, if I remember correctly they tracked some of them 100 miles away from the original source.
These guys were named Walking Catfish in the article.

That explained everything, I was so broke back then I had no money for food for myself or Throckmort my Albino Cat. My friend at the LFS gave me some food and said feed your fish and all will be well, and it was. The following week I got a better paying job and Throckmort wound up in a much bigger tank. He started out in the 55G Hex at about three inches and eight plus years later when he died he was 26 inches, was my pride and joy, but mostly my friend.

Moral of the story feed your fish or they may come out of the tank and snack on you LoL.

That is an amazing story!

 

[anthonywesty]

14 days here!

 

[Daniel@R2R]

I feed once a week. I have a lot of algae for my tang and I do keep pods stocked every 3 months and have gone over 2 weeks without physically feeding my fish. My 2 clowns have been in the tank for a year now.

A note about my clown fish. About every other day, I check the tank at night with the lights off. When I do this, my clowns have a feeding frenzy on any and all pods they can mow down before I’m finished checking the tank.

I’ve considered cutting out physically feeding and just keep pods stocked, but I’m not brave enough to try it yet.

See, and I'm thinking that would work! I'm sure it depends on not having high needs fish like anthias, but I think a tank can possibly provide enough food on its own if designed that way.

 

[Sapper Ski]

See, and I'm thinking that would work! I'm sure it depends on not having high needs fish like anthias, but I think a tank can possibly provide enough food on its own if designed that way.

I found a local store that sells bottled pods. Just started adding more pods every 3 months. Either my fish are devouring them (complete possibility considering my feeding frequency), or they are dying out from inbreeding (not sure how true this is, but sounds plausible), or both.

 

[Paul B]

As of today, this copperband hasn't eaten in almost two months.
She is old and probably dying of old age or some neurological disease