Vacation Time and Bettas

[ADsnail]

This question has come up many times over the years: what to do with the fish when you go on vacation. I've taken trips and brought bettas along (evacuation from natural disaster) for weeks. And also left them home for a couple of days.

We are planning some camping trips this summer, 3-7 days each. I know I can leave them for 3-4 days with no food, no problem. 6-7 days seems like too long. There's no one to have in here to trust with not overfeeding. I don't want to deal with buying/setting up feeding machines. Those little feeder blocks - pfft, they're worse than nothing.

So here's my question, especially for betta owners: how long have you left yours without food? I've looked this up on the internet and also past responses here, but what I'm asking for is your actual experience. Different bettas will respond differently of course, so that's why I want to hear your stories, for better or for worse.

The temperature is not an issue in this southern climate. And the snails/shrimp have been left with a bunch of food for weeks and came out just fine. It's bettas I'm wondering about.

 

[Colin_T]

Healthy adult fish can go for days, weeks and even months without food. Unlike mammals and birds that use most of the food they eat to keep warm, most fishes take their body temperature from the surrounding water. This means any food they eat goes into growth and movement. This allows fish to go for long periods of time without eating.

eg: I went away for a few months and asked my sister to feed my fish. I took her into the fish room a few times before I left and showed her how to feed them. I said only feed them once every couple of days. When I got back the fish were overly excited to see me and most of the plants in the tank had been eaten and there was no algae in any tank. It all got eaten by the fish. I asked my sister how they went and she said she tried feeding them a couple of times but they wouldn't take food from her. So she stopped feeding them. They went for 2 months without any food, besides plants and algae. The only fish I lost were young babies and a few species that were specialised feeders, everyone else was fine.

The fish were well fed before I left and they were hungry when I got back. They had eaten most of the plants and stripped the tanks of any algae, but they were ok.

If the fish are adults and fed well beforehand, they can go for a week or two without any food.

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If you are going away for week or two, feed the fish 3-5 times a day for 2-4 weeks before you go. This allows the fish to build up some fat reserves, which they can live on while you're away.

Do more frequent water changes and gravel cleaning when feeding more often, maybe 50-75% every day or two.
Make sure any new water is free of chlorine/ chloramine before it's added to the tank.

Add some live plants a few weeks before you go and these will harbour micro-organisms that small fish can feed on.

Clean the filter a few days before you go so it is clean and less likely to pack up while you are gone.

Do a water change and gravel clean the day before you go.

Feed the fish before you walk out the door and have a nice holiday knowing your fish is fat and healthy, in a clean environment and will be waiting for you to come home.

Make sure you have a cover on the tank to stop the fish jumping out.