How to deal with vacations?

[Fnic99]

Going on vacation for 10 days and trying to find a good solution for my fish? I used an Eheim feeder once and found it to be inconsistent. Sometimes the drum would revolve and drop little food, sometimes it would drop a ton. My fish won't eat pellets. They will eat flakes and freeze dried brine shrimp but I feed mostly frozen.

Any opinions? Thanks

 

[MuShu]

Do you trust a friend or relative nearby and can you pre-portion food?

Otherwise, I'd hire an aquarium maintenance company.

 

[CrayolaViolence]

Hire a professional. Do not rely on friends and family. Even when they mean well, being friends and family, they sometimes think, it's okay to be a little slack. However if it's someone's profession they tend to pay better attention. Make sure they are bonded and insured. It won't be cheap, but you are less likely to come home to a disaster.

And I'm speaking from experience.

 

[Sk8r]

Try freezedried cyclopeeze type stuff. It's highly granular, and if you experiment with that feeder on a flat surface (so you can recover the food) it should work for you. It's good stuff. Automation on your lights, topoff, and hey, most fish can go without food for a couple of weeks and just forage: it's a lot better than overfeeding.

 

[WatDatThing]

Can clown fish, wrasse, angel and tang go 10 days without eating?

 

[newreef15]

Can clown fish, wrasse, angel and tang go 10 days without eating?

Probably depending on there current health but I wouldn't risk it

 

[newreef15]

I always use my eheim fish feeder with a mix of flakes, pellets, and some freeze dried foods and a large container for my ato. I left my tank for almost a month once with no issues.

Like Sk8r said your better off under feeding than over feeding . I usually set my feeder for two very small feedings on in the morning and one at night. A feeding ring will also help you out alot

 

[Fnic99]

I spent a few hours trying the eheim on the countertop and found it hard to regulate. One rotation would throw out tons of food, the next rotation close to nothing. It probably works much better with pellets. I was looking at the FishMate F14. It has individual chambers for each feeding. Anyone have any experience with it?

 

[disc1]

Light fish load + lots of pods = my tank regularly goes 30 days or more without any input from me. I wouldn't even think about it for a paltry 10 days. Even when I'm there that tank is lucky to get fed once a week.

 

[tjnorthdakota]

apex and their afs all the way, plus if your worried about your tank, set up a web cam and check in on it whenever you want, make sure that person your paying to take care of your tank doesnt just wait til the last day to come make everything look like they were taking care of it the whole time.

 

[VegasMike]

We used to use a pet sitter for the dogs who would come 2-3 times per day. I also had her feed the fish and make sure everything was running and there was no water on the floor. I premeasured the food into little Dixie cups and told her which days to feed on. If anything stopped working or water was on the floor, I gave her an emergency number to call with a local maintenance company and told that company she might call.

We now leave the dogs at a kennel setup out in the country, but have retained her to come and feed the fish. She charges me around $20/day, but it is worth it for me to have her check on things. We are going on a 9 day trip and I have her coming twice during that period.

 

[ca1ore]

Can clown fish, wrasse, angel and tang go 10 days without eating?

As long as they are well fed and at a healthy body weight, 10 days is no big deal. Bigger problem, for me at least, is whether the ATO reservoir will last that long.

 

[WatDatThing]

As long as they are well fed and at a healthy body weight, 10 days is no big deal. Bigger problem, for me at least, is whether the ATO reservoir will last that long.

I'm new to SWF, but I have done it many times with my discus, flowerhorn, and aro tanks.
With SW tank, my thought is I would reduce the light intensity to minimal to reduce evaporation. Now that I have 2 RBTA and wanting a carpet Nem, I may have to setup an ATO.

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[Voodoojar]

I have tons of automation on my Tank but whenever Im out of town I always makr my friend get on skype with me while he feeds, changes filter whatever. I'm just way too paranoid.

I even leave my gas generator set out with the extension cord pulled out all the way to the aquarium with super detailed instructions that include images.

 

[TheFishGuy31]

Hire a professional. Do not rely on friends and family. Even when they mean well, being friends and family, they sometimes think, it's okay to be a little slack. However if it's someone's profession they tend to pay better attention. Make sure they are bonded and insured. It won't be cheap, but you are less likely to come home to a disaster.

And I'm speaking from experience.

All of our friends and family understand that my tank is my baby.

I'm fortunate to have my mother in-law along with a friend that house sit for us that respect my explicit instructions.

One thing that I have learned over the years- make sure your maintenance is up to date before you leave. Set your sitter up for success and enjoy your vacation.


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[Fnic99]

Thanks for the advice. Any tips on the various types of automatic feeders?

 

[TheFishGuy31]

The only auto feeder I've used is the Eheim and I had the same issues with flake food being inconsistent.

Breaking the flakes up into smaller, more consistently sized pieces seemed to help a little.

I've read that the Apex feeder is loud and is a PITA to refill.


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