going away over the holidays... how long will my tank go?

[JHZR2]

Hi,

I am going away tomorrow for the holidays, and will not be back until the 31st of Dec. I might be able to come by on the 25th in my travels, but that still leaves quite a few days in between.
Here's the situation:

-2 betta bowls with happy male bettas
-6 gal tank with 3 serpae tetras, 1 zebra danio, 1 tiny silver dollar, 1 fiddler crab, 1 silver algae eater

The two bowls and the tank are doing really great, the water is clean and correct, all the fish get along, and so I dont forsee any problems.

Ill do a water change and then feed the tanks tomorrow before I leave

I am not wirred about the betta bowls, bettas Ive read can easily go over a week without eating. If I get in on the 25th to feed them, Im sure theyll be OK. Plus Ive heard theyll eat plants that are in their bowls.

I do worry a bit about the tank... I know the little silver dollar will eat the plants in my tank if hes hungry. The crab will suck on substrate clumps to pull bacteria or whatever out. The algae eater will do his normal thing... But the tetras and danios wont be fed. I worry that if I put in one of those 7 day time release feeders, the crab will just more or less sit on it and eat at it all the time, kind of like when I drop in a shrimp pellet and she takes it and eats it all up.

Am I overthinking this? Even if a 7 day feeder lasts 3 days, itll be enough to tide them over, then Ill feed them, put in another 7 day chunk, then feed them again on the 31st. Does this sound OK?

If I didnt do anything (not that Im entertaining the thought, just out of curiosity), and just leave and dont feeed ther tank from the 18th to the 31st, would any of the fish make it? My bet would be that the silver dollar, algae eater and crab would be there, and its hit or miss with the others, with one starving,and then the others cannibalizing it for food fdor the rest of the time.

Any info on my speculations/questions would be really great.
Thanks very much,

JMH

 

[Sati]

I don't know much about this but I don't like those feeders. Aren't they basically big hunks of flour? I'd rather leave them w/o feeders and drop some big pellets in there. I'll be anxious to hear the replies.

 

[Fishboy-from-NY]

That sould not be a problem, Fish can go at least one week with out food without suffering adverse affects. I would not try to overfeed the tank since you may not want to contaminate it while you are gone. I have gone 2 weeks with my Saltwater & freshwater tank during our honeymoon and nothing happen the fish were doing great. Mu suggestion is that you need to make sure the water parameters are great, if not do the necessary water changes then, dont worry about feeding them, until you come back. Also, don't overfeed when you come back, thinking you can catch up since that will only ruin the water quality.

 

[BrianNY]

Exactly right Fish Boy. Most fish can go for weeks without eating. Just don't make the mistake of feeding heavily either before you leave, or on your return. This can cause more problems than not feeding at all. JMO

 

[TankGirl]

I agree with what is posted above, but I do have concern about the stocking level of the 6-gal. That is not relevant to this situation, and will be an issue for later as the fish grow, so I will restrain myself!

 

[JHZR2]

I agree... My brother has a large tank with silver dollars, so if mine gets too big, Ill send it over to that tank. The tetras stay small, as do the danios. Im not conccerned with the AE either, it seems fine.

As of now, the bioloading is fine, the water doesnt get high levels of anything easily. I do have a good filtration system, so it helps me bend the 1nch of fish rule a bit.

JMH

 

[TankGirl]

The silver dollar will likely need to go in with the other silver dollars, as you say, and obviously you recognize the need to keep on top of the water parameters. The algae eater (depending upon exactly what kind it is) may get large and aggressive, so watch that one as well. Otherwise it sounds like a nice little tank.