Vacation Feeding

[the98hawk]

Howdy all.....My normal feeding routine is alternating frozen foods (Rod's and mysis) once daily. I mix in a few pellets mainly hoping some fall to the sand since my fire shrimp loves them.

I'll be out of town for 4 days and am thinking about an auto feeder (probably Eheim based on reviews) but main question is what kind of dry foods might work best considering what they're used to and something that will make it to the bottom for guys like the shrimp and CuC.

Would love to know what you guys have had good luck with....thanks!

1 Royal Gramma
1 Purple Firefish
2 Bengai Cardinalfish
1 Yellow Tang

 

[Member No. 1]

IMHO, I wouldn't worry about feeding them the 4 days you are gone. They will be fine.

 

[Vinny Kreyling]

New Life Spectrum pellet foods.

 

[Sk8r]

Any pellet will do fine. The problem with the Eheim is you have to set the 'slots' to a size to deliver food, and flake is easier to set up than bitsy micro pellet, which may dump too fast for the tank size. Depends, in other words, on what you have, but I will attest that the Eheim feeder can handle a 100 g for a month without a problem. Cranky to set up: keep your instructions. In any case, your fish are not going to suffer nutritional issues in a week or even months on a pretty-good dry food. They'll just be happier when the mushy stuff reappears.

 

[the98hawk]

Appreciate the input guys. Good to know I could do nothing for 4 days and be fine.

Otherwise, 1 vote for NLS pellets. Any other suggestions on dry foods considering my stock?

 

[billdogg]

I feed NLS pellets almost exclusively and have for well over 20 years. Mine get frozen (either Rod's original or enriched brine) maybe once a week.

A HUGE +1 to letting them be for just 4 days, especially if your tank has been up for a year or more and is well established. There is plenty for them to find in there when they get hungry. IMHO, a much larger problem is a malfunctioning feeder dumping excess food into the tank and causing an ammonia spike.

When I'm gone for longer periods, I hire a trusted neighbor kid to handle topoff (no ATO) and to feed ONLY premeasured containers of food.