Holiday concerns

[SC Fish]

Soon im leaving for italy for 3 weeks..

I have been trying to find a food that lasts 3 weeks but i cant find any longer than 14 days. What do i do?

And i know it risks a lot to go for 3 weeks straight but it isnt my choice

[Cory]

Use an automatic fish feeder. it'll dispense some food each day.

[SC Fish]

On 6/24/2022 at 7:37 AM, Cory said:

Use an automatic fish feeder. it'll dispense some food each day.

i was thinking about that but apparently they dont dispense flakes too well?

[Hannah Parker]

On 6/24/2022 at 9:32 AM, SC Fish said:

i was thinking about that but apparently they dont dispense flakes too well?

I haven't used one before so I can't speak to that, but do you think it would dispense pellets better?? What kind of fish do you have, can they eat pellets? 

[Patrick_G]

I put pellet type food in mine. 

 

Edited June 24, 2022 by Patrick_G

[DebSills]

is there a neighborhood kid that can feed your tank and bring in your mail? You could use one of those weekly pill dispensers to put only enough flakes so the tank didn't get overfed? you could get a couple of them for pretty cheap?

[JettsPapa]

The pill dispenser is certainly one option, but you'd need three of them for three weeks, and if you have more than one tank you'd need even more.  Here's what I did when I went on vacation and my daughter did the feeding.  I bought a set of the small measuring spoons, ranging in size from 1/64 tsp to 1/4 tsp, and left a list of which size spoon full of food per day for each tank (I had nine; yours may be simpler).  It worked out fine.

[lefty o]

for 3 weeks, you need either an auto feeder, or someone to come feed a few times.

[Chrisanderson707]

On 6/24/2022 at 6:32 AM, SC Fish said:

i was thinking about that but apparently they dont dispense flakes too well?

They do much better with pellets, so if that's an option do that. If not you can crush up the flake in uniform pieces and test it on a plate for a couple days to make sure you have it set right. I'd error on the side of too little food. Even if it only dumps a little food, that's better then none. Good luck!

[Odd Duck]

Depending on size of tank and how many fish, you can get this style feeder and probably set it for every other day.  I have NOT used this style, but it will dispense flake more reliably.  This particular one won’t feed every other day and won’t last a full 3 weeks, but I think I’ve seen this style in other brands that will feed every other day?

Or start training your fish to floating pellets now and use a cylindrical ACO dispenser.  I’ve used that style (different brand from before I found ACO) and they work well on medium tanks.  Nano tanks are problematic for dispensing very small amounts.  The cylinder type, watch Cory’s video on how to adjust them or Irene’s video that’s linked on the ACO page for their autofeeder.

https://www.amazon.com/Fish-Mate-F14-Aquarium-Feeder/dp/B000YK5W18/ref=sr_1_15?crid=2AFHAN3ENECGY&keywords=Fish+feeder&qid=1656180895&sprefix=fish+feeder%2Caps%2C85&sr=8-15

Edited June 25, 2022 by Odd Duck
Forgot to link disc style feeder and correction.

[Torrey]

On 6/24/2022 at 12:32 AM, SC Fish said:

Soon im leaving for italy for 3 weeks..

I have been trying to find a food that lasts 3 weeks but i cant find any longer than 14 days. What do i do?

And i know it risks a lot to go for 3 weeks straight but it isnt my choice

What type of fish do you have, how heavily planted, how heavily stocked? Because like everything in aquarium keeping, it depends.

Will someone be checking on theings while you are gone?

I do not recommend the dissolving blocks, the rate of dissolve is not consistent.

If your fish are really healthy, in heavily planted tanks, and not likely to prey on each other, it may be easier to get some live food in there that hides and they could hunt while you are gone.

If they are messy fish (discus, goldfish, plecos, etc) it's worth asking an employee at the LFS how much they cahrge to tank sit.

If they are livebearers in an overplanted tank with scuds to hunt, you'll come back to not many fry, but the adults will be fine, even if nobody feeds them while you're gone.

Our big tank went 2.5 weeks with no servicing, and aside from the plant overgrowth and lack of baby snails or many fry, the endlers were fine. Water parameters were fine. Scuds have not recuperated yet.

Shrimp on the other hand? They need someone to come check on them while you are gone.

[SC Fish]

On 6/26/2022 at 3:56 AM, Torrey said:

What type of fish do you have, how heavily planted, how heavily stocked? Because like everything in aquarium keeping, it depends.

Will someone be checking on theings while you are gone?

I do not recommend the dissolving blocks, the rate of dissolve is not consistent.

If your fish are really healthy, in heavily planted tanks, and not likely to prey on each other, it may be easier to get some live food in there that hides and they could hunt while you are gone.

If they are messy fish (discus, goldfish, plecos, etc) it's worth asking an employee at the LFS how much they cahrge to tank sit.

If they are livebearers in an overplanted tank with scuds to hunt, you'll come back to not many fry, but the adults will be fine, even if nobody feeds them while you're gone.

Our big tank went 2.5 weeks with no servicing, and aside from the plant overgrowth and lack of baby snails or many fry, the endlers were fine. Water parameters were fine. Scuds have not recuperated yet.

Shrimp on the other hand? They need someone to come check on them while you are gone.

I have gold and white cloud mountain minnows and  platys. There are a total of 22 fish i belive. There are some very aggresive eaters tho- 10 gallon - flakes

4 endler guppys - 5 gallon - pellets

[Odd Duck]

Start training everybody to small pellets and start using an autofeeder now so you can fine tune the adjustments.  Those are small enough tanks it’s going to be tricky.  You will probably need somebody with at least a little bit of fish experience to come in and check on them and at least top off the tanks with purified or RO water depending on how much your water level drops and what type of filtration you have.  HOB’s are the most sensitive to water levels dropping (depending somewhat on the style of HOB).  Other filters are typically a bit less sensitive to water levels.

A bit of huntable live foods like Daphnia or blackworms (add them after dark so they don’t all get eaten right away) would help fill in the gaps.

[smoore]

I use auto feeders and Xtreme pelleted foods... different foods for different fish.  The feeder drops some of the "Nano" and some of the "Slow-Sinking Community".  Everyone gets a bite.   You'll need to evaluate which foods work best for your fish.  Be sure to put your feeder away from the sponge filter, if you use one.  The tiny bubbles from the sponge filter can create a food clog.😁

Edited June 28, 2022 by smoore

[Torrey]

On 6/27/2022 at 6:02 PM, smoore said:

The tiny bubbles from the sponge filter can create a food clog.😁

That is such an important tip, and so ingrained I forget to mention it, lol.

Worst return from a vacation ever!!!!!!!!!!!!

[Cbass]

I've used one with flakes (exact same type as the AC one). It's possible, I crushed them into smaller pieces so they're more consistent and closed the trap door a bit because they'll all come out quickly. I then tested it by having the tumbler turn several times into a bowl to roughly gauge how much food is coming out. Since you have small tanks, you want to be careful that it's not dumping a ton of food. I had to add a little tape/cardboard to make the exit hatch a little smaller.

Agree with ppl here. 3 weeks is a very long time. So if there is any way that anyone can check on the tanks, it would be ideal and give you some peace of mind.