Feeding while away

fishlvr13 · 06-28-2007, 04:33 PM

I am going to North Carolina for vacation and i will be gone for about 9-10 days. i was just wondering what you suggest i should do in the way of feeding them and controlling the amount of light. Are there any kinds of feeders that will feed 9 fish for 10 days?? Also, i may have to buy a timer for my light. How much do they go for and which one do you suggest.

Kuli_Loach · 06-28-2007, 06:01 PM

The only feeders I know of feed twice a day and I only feed once with my fish, being tetras mainly and all. The best thing to do is have a relative of friend come do it for you. A feeder would work I guess but the light problem I am just kinda duh on.

pappyy3 · 06-28-2007, 08:56 PM

Hi

You have three choices re the feeding:

1. As suggested in the previous post, perhaps get a friend or family member who can feed your fish every couple of days?

2. You can get feeders that will feed your fish once a day for up to 14 days.
Unfortunately I can't recommend a brand, but most of them these days are pretty reliable. The only thing I would suggest is perhaps to choose one which suits your budget. You can buy battery or mains powered models and the prices vary quite a bit (Battery powered are generally cheaper and would be my choice if you only intend to use them every once in a while).

3. As long as your fish have been well fed before your vacation, You can safely leave your fish without food for up to 10 days. Your fish will be fine. I've done this a number of times and have not lost a fish yet!

Timers for your aquarium lights can be purchased at any Supermarket or hardware store (Cheaper than buying from LFS). Once again what you buy will depend on whether you want a manual or digital model. They're not expensive though. The manual models start under $10 & digital are between $10 - $20.

I very rarely manually turn my aquarium lights on or off. I use the automatic timer to do this for me and this is now part of my standard equipment for my aquariums.

BJP · 06-29-2007, 07:15 AM

Don't worry about feeding them unless you're using food to keep incompatible fish full and complacent so they don't eat each other. If you get someone else to feed that doesn't normally take care of the tanks it can lead to problems including extreme overfeeding to overloading the filtration. The fish and tank will be fine when you return.

The timer is a good investment for lighting even for normal use. The one's that offer multiple on/off settings can be used to have the lights come on only during the peak viewing hours cutting way back on algae and diatom growth. Maybe an hour in the morning on during breakfast and dressing, then off while you're at work and the kids are at school, back on for four or five hours in the evening, then off while you're in bed. Unless you're keeping live plants it isn't a neccesity. You can simply leave the lights off the entire time you're gone letting the room lighting from windows supply the only light.