Going on holidays

[shaela21]

I am new to this forum, and to aquariums. I have a 20 gallon tank and it is about 3 weeks old. I have 2 female swordtails, 3 rainbows and 2 guppy fry (their mother died after giving birth ). So I have the fry in a breeding net so the others do not make an appetizer of them. My question is, we are going away at the end of July for 10 days. I am planning on taking the fry in a separate tank to a relative to feed. As for the other fish, should I use the blocks of food for vacations, or an automatic feeder? Is it a good idea to move the fry, or would they be safe in the tank with the others? How fast will they grow? Any suggestions would be appreciated. Thanks.

 

[Moe36]

Same question. Im going for a vacation in eqypt for 3 weeks; is there hope for these blocks to cover that time? Or am i going to have to find someone to come into my house every week..

 

[Bearfan]

Auto feeders work well (it would cover a 20 gal for three weeks or so) and if not, they'd be fine for a week or more unfed. (Not the fry)

 

[Devilishturtles]

I agree, Automatic feeders are the way to go, and your fish wont die if they don't eat for a couple of days. You can vacation feders that will cover you for two weeks, but I doubt three.

The fry however need lots of food. If you have plenty of plants and hiding places I would suggest letting them out into the tank, but there is always that chance that they will get eaten still. I'm not sure about moving them....but I wouldn't if you don't have too. Sorry, I can't help more.

 

[jaysono]

The time released food blocks that claim to disolve slowly over time appear to cause more harm than good. I think I have read here plenty of times that the binding agents can affect water chemistry, and also depending on the type of filter you have....may cause problems there as well.

If you have healthy fish, they can indeed last upwards of a week without feeding, but I think 10 days may be stretching it, so definetly an auto feeder...but I see if you can get one that you can fill and release every 2-3 days.

Do you have a neighbor child you can trust? Maybe a few dollars to the kid on the block to look after your fish with his/her parents permission?

 

[Menagerie]

[center:a602bcc537] Welcome to AA, shaela21! [/center:a602bcc537]
If you get an automatic feeder, you will need to test it ahead of time.
The best is to find someone to come in and care for your fish if at all possible.

 

[poppab02]

auto feeder, definitely. Bought a cheapo from Wal Mart for 10 bucks and it works fine.

 

[shaela21]

Thank you very much for your responses, and I will look for an auto feeder.

 

[millym]

auto feeder - but as said please test test test & dont overstuff the auto feeder with too much food in each little section. we did that when we went away for 2 weeks in january...........poor fish had been starved for 2 weeks as the thing was too heavy to go round & drop the food we felt really really bad amazingly we only lost one fish out of 30 odd. but the poor things were very very hungry & went mad at the first sight of some flake after all that time