Vacation and Feeding

[rwilliams26]

We're going to be gone from Wednesday morning until Sunday evening, or about four and a half days. My question is, how many days have you ever gone without directly feeding your fish?

We try to feed twice daily now, but once or twice a week we can only manage one feeding. There have been occasions where we've not been able to feed in a given day :oops: , but I can't recall ever having fish go more than a day without food. Would four days be cruel and unusual punishment? Would we be endangering the health of our fish? I've read about "time release" stuff, but not sure if it's available for reef systems.

We are currently supplementing for our LPS, zoos, mushy-roomie-rooms, etc... every 2-3 days (various supps.), so I don't think they'd be a worry.

We do have some good neighbors who will be happy to help out, but I'm just kind of curious about the situation in general.

Thoughts?

[Jenn]

I'm not sure what type of fish/setup you have, but I don't think that many days would be a good idea. A reef with lots of growth may work, but I know my triggers would end up eating each other. I would definitely accept the neighbors offer.

[TexasState]

I was gone for about 12 days in August. Nothing bad happen other then a light film of green algae on the glass. I overfed the fishes up b4 I took off though. You can get an auto feeder if you're that worry about it. Best not to feed, then have someone else overfeed your tank. If you have dangerous reef fishes like Regal tang, or angel fishes, they might start to eat your corals if they're hungry enough. And once they start, they'll keep going.

[rwilliams26]

Thanks for the feedback....the population is VERY mellow. I'm most concerned about the Sailfin Tang, (2) percs, Orchid Dottyback and six line wrasse. Balance are pretty much algae and detritous feeders anyway. I'm thinking right now about just asking the neighbor to come by once while we're out.

[captexas]

I would strongly suggest having someone with some knowledge or some training from you stop by to feed the fish and check on things. Even if only to feed every other day. Other than feeding, my tank is on timers and has an auto top-off so it is somewhat self sufficient. I went out of town this week and came home to find my nice healthy gorgonian completely picked clean! Very sad, but guess I'm lucky that's all they my fish decided to eat. I had my sister come over to feed and water the horses (my two puppies) and now I guess I will have to train her how to feed the little sharks as well! lol

[Instar]

rwilliams26 - you can borrow one of my feeders if we can get it from San Antonio area to RR in time. There may be someone coming/going between here and there in a day or so. It will feed your fish flake or a mix of dry foods, size and amount adjustable. Battery operated, 12 hour intervals. Simple minded things, but they should work. But, the better option is of course to have someone do it and check on the tank parts, pumps, top off, etc. Its available if you want it though.

[captexas]

Larry -
How well do those feeders work? I heard once before that they can build up moisture (humidity?) in them and the food gets soggy and won't come out. Would be nice to be able to use one. I would have to start feeding flake/pellets instead of frozen food as I do now though.

[Instar]

Yes you have to keep them in a place where condensation and spray don't accumulate, like from splashing returns or an intermittant burst of bubbles from a pump that occurs now and then. They are plastic, so there's no heating/cooling like there can be with metal parts and that helps a lot. Keep them as far away from the overflow and then the front of the returns as possible. When you are not home, you may be able to vent the hood by lifting the cover a bit to keep the temp and humidity changes down during the night. Also, a 4 watt night light mounted inside the hood and near the feeder, shielded so it doesn't shine into the tank, will keep the humidity out of the feeder if you have that kind of trouble. The humidity will only condense at night when the lights are off, so that night light need only be on at night, normally, if you have that trouble. The little bit of light from a shielded 4 watt night light that does reflect off the top of the hood or ceiling in your room will simulate a full or near full moon all night. That won't hurt anything and may actually be beneficial. For the holidays, he's could feed heavy, multiple times before leaving, then they don't get fed for 3 days. Feed when you get home on Sunday night. They should be ok, really. You could anchor some soft thin feather caulerpa in there. The clowns and tangs will go for that. I'd be most concerned about those guys anyway. Also, tie up a pretty good sized piece of Nori just before you leave. That will hold for a little while at least. The kind from the oriental food section of the grocery store is harder for them to get apart, so it lasts a little longer for me (cheeper too). Also, get a live black mussel or live clam (if they have them) from the grocery store and split it open just before you leave and put it on the bottom of the tank. Rinse it for a second in tap water before placing in tank. It will not foul and will last for probably two days, maybe a little more. They will all like that treat and will be wanting you to leave more often.

[brewercm]

I used a feeder with the small pellet style food in my sump return area while we were gone for a week. Didn't put a lot of food in there but it worked good in just letting the return pump send the food into the tank and no moisture build up since the wall was so far from the water line.

[robertpower3]

Make sure if you use a feeder not to place it anywhere near your tank lights. I have pcs and they melted the feeder in less than a day and it was not even close to the light. I would put it in the the sump if I did it again. Actually if my neighbors offered to help out I would just put four days worth of food in seperate bags and just have them dump a bag in every day.

[GaryP]

Ron,

This won't help you but when I lived near the coast I was able to get small "grass shrimp" at the LFS. When I was going to be gone for a week during X-mas I would put about 100 of them in my tanks and just let my fish graze while I was gone. I think the grass shrimp are just juvenile table shrimp, at least that's what they looked like. Actually I think it was good for my fish to actually have to do some hunting.

Gary

[rwilliams26]

Thanks for the great feedback all! This kind of stuff is why it's so beneficial to belong to such a great little community like this one! :D

[Instar]

Grass shrimp are actually full sized at about an inch and a quarter. What a great idea Gary! They carry eggs too and have live babies, so putting a wad of them in you sump will produce live zoo plankton every week. That would be good any time, actually. They'll thrive on a balanced pellet food or chunks of stuff you feed your fish too. The same is true about peppermint shrimp too, if your sump is large enough. Those guys have hundreds of babies twice a month when things are right.

[GaryP]

Yea, they are a little bigger than a Mysid. I wish we could get them around here. I think the LFS got them from local shrimpers.

Gary

[Instar]

Just go to the coast and run a fine fish net thru the marsh grass that is in the waters edge. You'll catch tons of them. Maybe not when its cold though.

[GaryP]

Yea, I know. Spending $1/doz. is a heck of a lot easier though.

Gary

[Instar]

Yeah, if you can find them for that. Last time I looked at them they were $2 for six or something like that. I was glad my seahorse eats frozen foods that day.

[GaryP]

Well, like I said, this was when I lived near the coast and the bay shrimpers would just save a bucket of them every once in a while.