Leaving fish with roommate while away

[EVoyager31]

In past when I have gone on a trip I would leave the care of my fish to my roommate. To minimize how much she had to do I would do a fat water change before hand and give DETAILED instructions on how much to feed/what to feed. (i.e. tank 1: 2 large pinches of X food, tank 2: one pinch of x food, etc.). I am not keen on automatic feeders because I don't want to pay for them and feeding is the most fun part. 

They were bloated and overfed almost every time so I had what I would consider to be a low level genius idea: Putting the fish food into a weekly pill container so she can just open a tab and dump. 

Do y'all have any other neat ideas?

[meadeam]

I might take it one step further and use individually labeled vials.  I buy plastic test tubes with caps on Amazon.  That way the roommate won't accidentally open more than one compartment and inadvertently dump multiple feedings at once.  Remove as much room for error as possible.

[EVoyager31]

On 9/15/2022 at 10:30 AM, meadeam said:

I might take it one step further and use individually labeled vials.  I buy plastic test tubes with caps on Amazon.  That way the roommate won't accidentally open more than one compartment and inadvertently dump multiple feedings at once.  Remove as much room for error as possible.

That's a good idea... I'll have to try that one out.

[JettsPapa]

The individual containers is a good idea, but I've also used a set of the small measuring spoons.  "Pinch" isn't a very precise measurement.

How long will you be gone?  Unless it's a week or longer the fish would probably be fine without feeding.

[EVoyager31]

On 9/15/2022 at 10:44 AM, JettsPapa said:

The individual containers is a good idea, but I've also used a set of the small measuring spoons.  "Pinch" isn't a very precise measurement.

How long will you be gone?  Unless it's a week or longer the fish would probably be fine without feeding.

OG measurements I gave her I showed her while I was explaining instructions and watched her do the first feeding and was fine... Oh well, fish are still alive xD

I'll be leaving for about a week and a half. Normally I would just have her feed once or twice, but I have some baby fish I am trying to grow out too

[Janoš Bećar Pecaroš]

Have you tried 7 day or 10 day food pucks. I think they work great and usually last longer than advertised. I just came back from a 2 week trip. I dropped in a 7 day food puck on the day I left and my brother dropped one more 7 days later. When I came back there was still some food left, but the fish did not look bloated at all. 

[Biotope Biologist]

I freeze portions in water and put them in shot glasses I no longer use for alcohol, then store them in the freezer. I tell whomever to feed one portion every other day. 
 

keep the portions small and ice cubes slowly disperse food across the tank so it’s easy. 
 

If you have live critters in the tank too it teaches your fish to forage and not rely on you for food.

[RockMongler]

I use a weekly pill container to help my friend who comes over to feed my fish when I am out of town.  I actually go super light on feedings while I'm away, and often only leave food for every other day.  I put a mixture of the foods I use (xtreme nano, xtreme krill flake, vibra bites) in each day I want fed, and it makes sure the tank gets fed, but not so much that the water quality will go bad while I'm out of town.

But, I can confirm, weekly pill containers are great for helping make sure your fish get fed right while you are out of town!

[EVoyager31]

On 9/15/2022 at 12:50 PM, RockMongler said:

I use a weekly pill container to help my friend who comes over to feed my fish when I am out of town.  I actually go super light on feedings while I'm away, and often only leave food for every other day.  I put a mixture of the foods I use (xtreme nano, xtreme krill flake, vibra bites) in each day I want fed, and it makes sure the tank gets fed, but not so much that the water quality will go bad while I'm out of town.

But, I can confirm, weekly pill containers are great for helping make sure your fish get fed right while you are out of town!

Thats basically what I did! I mix in hikari lionhead, extreme big fella for my goldies and micro pellets, vibra bites and freezedried brine and algae wafers for the community.

[rockfisher]

I have used the weekly pill containers of food amounts. Each tank has the right amount of for for each day. Since I feed 3-4 times a day a do try to  get them on a twice a day schedule a few days before leaving. I use a morning and night container. I leave them in the freezer so the frozen foods are safe. The flake and pellets are ok in the freezer as well. I have about 20 tanks and each tank is numbered and each container has a corresponding number so if tank one gets frozen brine and tank ten gets frozen blood worms they just match container 10 to tank 10

[Odd Duck]

Weekly pill containers got my husband through my recent trip.  Several of my tanks had recently been cleared from quarantined fish, so he only had to feed 8 tanks plus the outside tub.  Some tanks shared twice daily pill containers with tape on each side to label which tank. For instance, the 100 G tanks are both in the living room so the nanofish got the am side and the angelfish got the pm side.  “Flip this lid only and dump.”  He still managed to forget to feed one tank.  🤷🏻‍♀️ Better to forget a feeding than double feed anybody, so no harm done.

I prefilled them a few days ahead of time, plus filled the whole week instead of just the 4 days I was going to be gone (just in case).  Worked almost perfectly except the single tank with one forgotten feeding and there just isn’t any explaining certain things with my hubby.  He’s a little bit “absent-minded professor” type and has been known to put the milk in the cabinet and the peanut butter in the fridge.  🤦🏻‍♀️ 🤷🏻‍♀️