any one know how long tropicals can go without being fed? we are planning on going away over xmas and i need to know how long i can leave my fish without feeding them.

not sure really, can you get one of those vacation feeder thing, pyramid things (really well explained that!!) gimmie a sec i find out what i mean...

these are the ones i'm on about!!

http://www.fishandfins.co.uk/holiday.htm

nah! sorry loz but i dont want to pollute my tank. those things are foul and the fish dont eat them anyways. ta very muchly though

hummm... dunno then.. you can get automatic feeders , dunno how exspencive they are thou?

try here> http://www.aquatics-online.co.uk/listsecti...etp=84&rets=165

I've been gone for over a week and the fish were fine. (was out of state and a relative died, had to stay for the funeral) For 2 years I had to go out of state for 3-4 days at a time every 2 weeks, the fish never had any issues going without food for those periods. As a matter of fact, I came home to batches of fry several times after they were left alone without feedings . Though I suppose it would depend on what kind of fish you have, I wouldn't trust some of the more carnivorous fish to behave themselves, they'd probably go hunting after the first day or two.

I'd say away from those drop in feeders, they just pollute the water. Auto feeders can be nice, but test it out ahead of time to make sure it doesn't dump too much food in at once. I have one but have never used it, it scoops up too much food even at the lowest setting.

loz . thanks for that have bookmarked it for reference, hadnt even thought about feeders.

myaj > thanks for the info. its mainly tetras with a pair of kribs, a siamese fighter and two angels.

am going away over x-mass for 3 weeks and am going to rely on the same plan as last time i went away. i have 3 tanks with very different requirements and when i got back all was fine. what i do is get my mother in law to feed them as she knows nothing about fish (because she does not want to) i rap single day portions in cellaphane and leave them in order on top of each tank i also rap my frozen food in single day portions in the freezer. she pops round every one to two days and feeds a single portion in each tank. works for me, good luck

Hi Sandy,

Well have fun on your Xmas holiday trip// As for i would and do use Feeders... Fish are built to go with out food.. its there natural instinct to always look for food but scientificly they can go as long as 2 weeks with out a bit of food the metabalizim is built for this.. But us as humans have this need to feed our living creatures all the time or even over feed LOL.. i would agree to a auto feeder too.. i use them and it works great.

RAZ

thanks for the replies.
paddas pal > i dont have anyone here that could look after the fish for me.

RAZ > this might sound nasty but im not really looking forward to going. id rather stay here for xmas. i have left them without food for 5 days but wondered if a week was too long.
thanks anyway raz youve been a help. looks like im going to his mothers for xmas