Vacation Problem :(

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Endgame319

Aquarium Advice FINatic
Joined
Jan 11, 2004
Messages
696
Location
Edmonton AB, Canada
I'm going on another vacation :D for 10 days and I dont know how I'm going to keep my 1/4-1/2" fry alive. I feed them powdered food, but I'm sure they could eat small flakes. I considered an automatic feeder, but I dont think the cheap ones (<$30) would work, and I'm quite sure the flake will float, and the adults will eat everything before any of it sinks. Do you think the vacation blocks that dissolve will work? I'll do a large change right before I leave and then another one when I get back. And how do the dissolving blocks work? Do they release flake, or do they eat the block itself. Is there any other way? I dont think I can spend $50+ on of those good feeders :(
 
I am leery of those vacation blocks - they are made of (so I hear) plaster of Paris and about 40% food. When I have used them years ago I found the tank an algae swamp when I got back, and a death or two. Recently a friend used one for a week and had major water quality issues when she returned, but I think she put too big of a piece in. Maybe if you were very conservative with how much you used it could work out.

Is there anyone who could stop by every other day or so to feed the fry?
 
PLANTS...
I know some people will disagree, but if you have lots of clean water and filtration, lots of healthy plants, you really don't need to feed those fry to much... I suppose it could depend on the type of fish... I kept a feeder guppy for a good year or so without ever feeding it... Just kept lots of plants in there with it. I do agree that the best way would be to have someone stop in and check on them as often as possible... Hope you can figure out something that will work for you...
 
Hey Endgame, let me know if you really get in a bind. I could always figure out some way to fishie-sit for you, especially since I'd love to take some of those fry off your hands one day! :D
 
I'll second tankgirl's wariness. Those vacation blocks really cloud up the tank and I had nasty water quality issues afterwards. Also, the food in them comes in 1-5 mm chunks; the white part is the slow-dissolving medium into which the chunks are set.

This is a very difficult issue, as fry really need several-times daily feeding for optimum health, and daily feeding for survival. If you have plants and a bit of algae, this is often a great way to feed the fry, but I do recommend you have somebody stop by. If you do, make sure that the person knows to watch out that the fry get food, and knows exactly how much food should/can reasonably be served at any one time.
 
Don't forget the brichardi are going to have more fry for you! I know it's tough to loose some, but I would not put the tank's health at risk by using a feeder block.
How are the other fish getting fed? The fry sound like they are big enough to go with only daily feedings--my brichardi had fry right before we were gone for 14 days and they did just fine with daily feedings :D
 
but about the auto feeder thingy. dont brichardi feed their fry (in a sense)? i always thought they fed them etc...
 
oh. you could try the wardly's shrimp pellets. they break up really fast and get pretty small.
 
Thanks everyone for all the suggestions. Last time I went on vacation a relative came twice I week to feed everybody. I'm sure she'd be willing to help again, but I dont think she could come every day. Probably every three days at most. The brine shrimp hatchery looks good, but I dont think I have time to order one (I'm leaving in a week). I have a big al's retail outlet that might sell them though. I'll check it out. I'm not too sure about the plant thing. I only have 20w of light and its a 25g tank. Would java moss work? Would try fry eat the java moss?

*edit*
Ouch, the brine shrimp feeder is $40, scratch that idea :(. If I'm lucky I'll be able to get someone to come in every second day. Would that work?
 
The fry won't eat the java moss but they might eat little critters that reside there, so I would definitely put it in there if you have some.
 
Gah! My relative will only come in twice. That leaves the fry without food for one 2-day period and one 3-day period :(. I will add a bunch of java moss, hopefully that will help. Is there anything else I can do to get them more food without messing up the water quality?
 
let loose some live daphnia?it can hide in the java moss... until it gets big enough for the fry to eat...
 
You would have to order a culture kit for them (they are filter feeding shrimp-type creatures) and have it ready, and use greenwater to feed and propagate them. They are not the easiest thing to get going, so I don't think it is going to be practical.

If you want you can start some infusoria before you go - though the fry might be too big for that now. Stick some old lettuce in a jar of tank water in the window - organisms will grow in that, and you dump some in before you leave, and then have your house-sitter dump some in when they come by. I'm not sure there is much else you can do without causing problems in your tank.

We need an Aquarium Advice Network of fish sitters! We could create a forum and people could post their vacation schedules, and whoever is in the area could volunteer and be on a rotation. Just a thought... :lol:
 
I have got a Fish Mate automatic feeder, from a Fosters & Smith it cost me about 28$, it works well IME, uses 2 AA batteries, you can sset it to feed once to four times a day.

As for getting the food down to the fry, I set it up so that it dispenses the food near the water return from my aquaclear so that some of the food is pushed under instead of floating

If your LFS sells bunches of plants as food, then I would suggest buying some for your food. I'm not really sure how much my fish ate (if any), but what was left did take root a few weeks after I got back from break and added some nice bright green to my tank :)


**edit**
I think it was anacharis that I got
 
Unfortunatly I live in Canada. Almost all fish supplies cost double or more to Canadians, even though the canadian dollar has been very high recently. Look at big al's online for example. The 1g of Amquel is $85 for Canadians :(. While the same bottle costs $25 american. With the exchange rate thats approximately $32 Canadian. So amquel costs us more than double what it costs you. Back on topic, does anyone have experience with this auto-feeder:
http://bigalsonline.ca/catalog/product.xml?product_id=22605;category_id=1761;pcid1=2911;pcid2=
 
What about taking Sara up on her offer? Although, it is odd having someone you don't yet know watching your fish. When I go away for my wedding, a lab mate is going to stay at our place. I haven't known her long, but I know where she works :twisted:
 
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