Like several others here, I will soon be leaving for a 19-day Christmas break. I will definitely steer clear of those vacation food blocks that you just throw in there, because I heard they muck up the water. I don't think I'll be able to get someone to come every couple of days for feeding either. So I thought it would be a good investment to get an automatic feeder to dispense flakes while I'm away. But I have a concern. Since I only have a baby oranda (1.5 inches), I only feed a very small amount per day: usually a flake about the equivalent size of, say, a US penny/nickel, twice a day.

My question: does anyone know if automatic feeders can dispense such a small amount? If yours can, which one do you have? I know that there are adjustable ones, where you can set the amount, but I just don't know if such a small amount is possible. And since the water cannot be changed during this time, I definitely do NOT want to overfeed. (Is this all just a really bad idea for no one to change the water for 19 days?)

Hi there Kamoji. Well - I cant be much help on the feeders. But I will comment on your not changing the water for 19 days. You said that your fish is just a baby, and there is only the one. So unless you have an extremely small tank (10 gallons or under) I wouldnt think it would be too much of a problem, providing you do a big water change before you leave, and a big one as soon as you return. I hope you get some information on those feeders. Good luck!

i had an automatic feeder when i was in school, you could adjust how much it would dispense. i'm sorry i can't remember what kind it was, but i'm pretty sure it's the only kind they sell at walmart. it was black and orange and ran on one AA battery, and you could adjust how much flake (or whatever you put in there) by twisting the tube. on the smallest setting it only dropped a very little bit, perfect for your baby i bet. it dropped food every 12 hours.

good luck.

Thanks guys! I'll try to get one then from PetSmart or PetCo!

Hope you're right about not changing the water for so long!

Right now don't get me wrong but don't buy them feeder things. I had one and to my horror when i got back after my 14 day trip half of my tropical fish had died because moister had got in to the feeder and the flakes did not fall out of it on a cycle. and all the flakes got wet and then fungus started to grow on the flakes and that caused more trouble for my tank.
Stick to the food blocks I've hardly ever lost fish with them and goldfish can live up to a week without food if not a bit longer so i say get a 2 week food block and give your water a bit of a clean when you get back, me to tell the truth I've never had dirty water from using food blocks (something else to think about will the feed fit to your tank sometimes hoods can get in the way).

Okay, automatic feeders are risky, but the vacation blocks you throw in your tank are even worse. From all the stories I've heard on this forum, the automatic ones malfunction a lot, and it usually ends of polluting water and killing fish. The blocks completely pollute the water and there is no stopping them. I wouldn't recomend either...Can you get some one to feed them a few times, maybe 3 times a week or so?

I would just let it go hungry. You can leave some floating plant for it to nibble on while you're away. I just came back from a 14 days trip and they are fine, though a little bit stressed out. My oranda has lost some black color of its wen. But it's regaining the color as soon as I started feeding them last night. The other baby red-cap oranda I have doesn't show any sign of stress at all.

Of course the fish aren't happy with such a long streak of hunger but it's better than running the risk of killing them with the untested food dispenser. If the vacation is still a few weeks away, you can get one and try to see how it works. Otherwise, I think you're better off leaving them unfed.

I never had problems with my automatic feeder. It's made by pennplax. Feeds your fish 2x a day. I actually use it even if I'm at home just to see how it works. Have been using it for more than a year now and still works fine. I have used it for more then a month at a time with no trouble. Just make sure it's mounted well and away from any water splashes.

I might be a bit late replying to this one, but we got an automatic fish feeder when we were going away for a 22-day holiday, and we only managed to get someone to look into our red cap ONCE during that time.

So we were naturally a little worried. The automatic feeder can be unreliable, and dispense too little/too much food at one go. We got one that you can customise, i.e it will dispense only a fixed amount once a day, but that "fixed amount" varied anyway when we tested it, sometimes between 2 and 10 pellets a go.

But our oranda seemed none the worse after 22 days of no water changes, relying only on the feeder for food. So don't worry too much. I'd still go with an auto-feeder instead of a food block, for the simple reason that it worked pretty well for us once.

Good luck,
fishywomble