New Tank, Goldfish, Auto-Feeder, Nitrogen Cycle

[goonsquad]

Hi Group,

I'm a new member and this board is great. Here's my problem.

My wife bought a 5.5 gallon tank and a small (1 inch) fancy goldfish on a whim for her preschool class. I'm trying to help her figure out how to keep the fish from dying while surviving the nitrogen cycle. So I have two questions.

1) Since the tank is already set up, is there anything I can do to keep the fish alive during the first month or so other than frequent dechlorinated partial water changes?

2) Since the tank is set up at my wife's preschool, this means that she will not be there to feed them for 2 days every week. I've heard that fish can survive for a couple days without food but assume that 2 days out of every 7 without food will not be good for them. Can anyone comment on this? I'm looking at one of those aquachef auto-feeders to be set up and turned on every weekend.

Thanks!