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hey everyone,
im going on a work vacation for close to 5 weeks. Wondering if i should use an automatic feeder for my 20g ??? i already have one from my last vacation.....when i returned though i had 3 fatalities, and noticed the FLAKE food i put in the feeder was all moldy .... its one of those feeders that sits on the side of the tank and spins and every twelve hours it dispenses the food ..... should i attempt to try it again ??? this time using pellet type food ??? i mean i need to do somehting cause 5 weeks is a long time, and i only have someone checking on my place once a week.........
which brings me to my last question.... how long can my fish go without being fed ??

thanksssss

Well, it really depends on the fish for how long they can go without food, but for smaller fish, probably not more than a couple days.

The biggest problem with those feeders is that they are extremely susceptible to moisture. I had one do the exact same thing yours did, and of course when the mold grew, it stopped dispensing. It could probably be ok over a week, with the person coming to check on it cleaning it and refilling it.

I don't know how well pellets would work in it.

A well-fed fish can go a little over a week without food. I had all my fish go for 8 days without food, and they all did fine.

Since you had such problems with the dispenser, you might want to try to find someone who will be willing to feed your fish. If you do that, the fish only need to be fed about every three days.

HTH

Ditto what solublefish said...when I was gone for two weeks I had someone come by my house and check/feed the fish every other day...even with specific directions they managed to overfeed the home tank (the work tanks they were also checking on were fine :%)....twice a week will be enough...maybe see if you can find two people to switch off, then print out specific directions and a check on schedule for each of them so they'll know what days to stop by....

^_^
*Proud member of the Committee for Sig Line Restoration*

I have used automatic feeders on my tanks because i live in a rural area and am unable to have someone come to feed them. Mine have always been fine but i have also had moldy buildup of the food after about 2 weeks. Sinse i only go for about 2.5 weeks at a time for me it is fine but i would not trust one for weeks. I agree that having someone come to feed the fish would most likely be the best method. One way that you can help prevent over feeding is to use one of those pill dispencers that have a little slot for each day. You could put the correct amount of food in each slot so that the person will give exactly how much you want them to. Good luck.

some feeder have air tube intake, i suppose this is to keep the food dry and to completely push out all the food from the small container.

Do you have an dependable lfs that house your fish for that time? I have never done this before, but I have heard of some people doing it.

Any chance you could do both...run the feeders but have someone check on them once a week...just a thought.

^_^
*Proud member of the Committee for Sig Line Restoration*

im going on a work vacation for close to 5 weeks.

I think I would be more worried about leaving a tank for so long without any attention.

I would get someone to check the tank weekly as well as clean and check the feeder.

Keith

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