4 days without food?

[Em29uk]

I'm going to my bfs for 4 nights, will my fish be ok without food?? I have 3 X-ray tetras in a 19L tank, shall I give them extra food before I leave?

 

[Davep]

Can you not leave out a portion of food and get a friend to feed on the second day you are away

 

[Toad]

They'll be fine for four days. Just feed them right before you leave and as soon as you come home.

 

[ashleynicole]

We left ours for 5 days with absolutely no issues whatsoever. With the exception of pristine water.

Sent from my SPH-L710 using Aquarium Advice mobile app

 

[Masha]

Safer to just leave them without food. They'll be fine, and the danger of over-feeding and polluted water is much higher

 

[NYgiantsRP]

They will be fine.

 

[HN1]

Agreed. They will be fine for four days. Do not try to feed them extra to compensate.

 

[tnfinfan]

They'll survive but you could return to nipped fins.

Has anyone tried the Tetra gel vacation feeders? I know those pyramid things are awful but then I saw the gel discs and wondered if they might be better? There are also timed dispensers that may be worth considering if this will be a semi-regular occurrence.

 

[HN1]

IMO the gel feeders are still a potential point of failure and the auto feeders can be too. Just a risk that I wouldn't take personally. I used to routinely leave 8-10 tanks unfed for up to a week at a time with no ill effects. If you add any food during your time away, you'll want to do a good PWC before your departure and as soon as possible on your return.

 

[KimmiA]

I went to Australia/New Zealand for 18 days...the house sitter completely forgot to feed my 3 tanks for the entirety of the trip....came back horrified and scared to see the damage...and surprisingly, no casualties! So 4 days? Piece of cake

 

[Khuligirl93]

Yes they'll be perfectly fine. Don't add any vacation feeder blocks.. They're full of fillers and preservatives. I left one in my tank for 10 days once when I was on a trip and when I returned the fish had not touched it. They didn't even know it was food. And they were all fine.