preping for vacation

[nyrmel]

Ok I will be leaving on vacation in a week and a half I have a timer set on my lights and a feeder to dispense the fake/bloodworms to my fish but i also have snails and ghost shrimp I need to care for I will be gone 5 days and I really dont have any algae in my tank. I feed them algae wafers and they eat 1 1/2 a day I cant just put a bunch in there because I know from whne it was just my shrimp that they wafers go kinda funny if they arent eaten in say 24-36 hours and the shrimp wont touch them after that. SOOOO what am I going to do about feeding them. I also have a clutch of snail eggs from my myrstery snail that will be turning about 3 weeks while i am gone (was told that was about how long to hatch) and they will also need to eat. So is there something I can get to feed them while i am gone? the wafers are to big for the timed feeder i have (well I have 2 a cheap cheesy one and a nicer fancy one) There will be people in the house but the last time I was gone they forgot to feed the cat (lucky it was only 2 days and I had stocked her well with dry food and a water bubbler, which I will do this time too) but I know they wont even look at the fish. So is there something I can feed the shrimp and snails that i can put in the timer dispenser while I am gone? I would like to get something this weekend so i can monitar it for a few days before I leave to make sure it behaves!
Any thots or Ideas would be most welcome
Thanks

 

[p3purr]

I always have a pet sitter come in and care for my cats and tanks. I haven't used a professional services since the price of gas went so high. I'm concerned with equipment failure almost as much as proper feeding. I've used one of the things that holds pills divided into daily doses. to put the correct amount of food for each tank. The sitter just dumps the food in the tank.

I'm a bit confused about what you're asking/saying about the mystery snails.

 

[JohnPaul]

Better to underfeed than overfeed while gone. If a whole wafer doesn't fit in your feeder, you could try breaking up some of the wafers into smaller pieces.

Tropical fish are amazingly strong when it comes to feeding, I have gone on vacation for 12 days before with NO feeding of any kind and not had a single loss out of 20+ occupants in my tank. As long as you have some light on the tank, there WILL be algae growing (even if you can't see it with the naked eye), and fish, shrimps, and snails will all munch on that.

 

[Phoenixphire55]

What kind of fish do you have, or is it just the shrimp? From what I've heard about the crustaceans and from my crayfish experience (and scorpions for that matter) they will be totally fine for five days without food. Just feed them a lot before you go and do a tank cleaning right before you leave. 5 days sounds like it will be fine for shrimp to go without food, especially if you feed them a lot before you go.

 

[nyrmel]

Ok I will try to chunk up some wafers and see if i can ge consistent amount to drop during the week I guess I was getting at is there an algea food that isnt the disc sized wafers. They dont seem to care much for the flakes when they fall (the fish happily hunt down and munch long after feeding frenzies are over) the fish also munch the wafers. All of my equipment is on a spare UPS system i had for my comp (until I upgraded to a madel with more outlets and staying power. So I am not worried about equip failure. I have tested the primary feeder i plan to use for the flake food to make sure it is consistent and dropps equal amounts of food when it is supposed to (twice a day) I have the timer on my tank that came the middle of last week and it is working like clockwork they way it should. I do plan to do WC of 20% daily for 2-3 days just before i leave to make sure I have no issues with any mini spikes (tank is still in its first months and though cycle seems to be done it doesnt hurt to be careful) and I will do WC once I am back. My fry seem to be doing well and swim up at feeding time just like the rest. so I guess the real question is

IS there an algea food for snails and shrimp etc that isnt in a wafer?

Thank for your answers I will try to chunk upp some wafes and see if the feeder can drop about the right amount that my freinds tend to get thru

 

[Purrbox]

Personally, since you're only going to be gone for 5 days I wouldn't even bother with the automatic feeder. I'd just do a larger water change before leaving and give them a good sized meal. Then do another large water change when you return home and resume feeding as normal.

 

[Innovator]

Personally, since you're only going to be gone for 5 days I wouldn't even bother with the automatic feeder. I'd just do a larger water change before leaving and give them a good sized meal. Then do another large water change when you return home and resume feeding as normal.

I agree with this other than perhaps just feeding per your regular schedule or if you do include a larger feed portion, do so two days before so you can monitor any excess the day before you leave or feed smaller portions the last two days before you leave.

 

[Purrbox]

By a good sized meal, I meant perhaps a bit larger than normal but not 2x or more than normal. Sorry for any confusion.