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Hello,
I am going away this summer and I am afraid my Autofeeder will not feed them sufficent amounts. I am using it now but I do not know if it is feeding enough. They do charge my hand when I hand feed though. How do I tell whether it is feeding enough, are there telltale signs? Thanks.

Chris

how long are you going away for?

Fish can survive remarkably well with no food for short periods, and most people who deal with wild fish would happily tell you that a majority of tank fish are rather overfed in comparison to their wild counterparts.

you really only want to keep your fish on minimum rations anyway, as if they are to be left alone, the last thing you want is for your water quality to turn nasty on you. If something dies and nobody is there to take it out, it'll really foul the water, and feeding enough to keep the fish happy will compound the problem.

If when you are watching the autofeeder work now, all fish are getting something, I think that'll be fine for a week or two



For animals, the entire universe has been neatly divided into things to (a) mate with, (b) eat, (c) run away from, and (d) rocks. - Terry Pratchett

Uh... Well my dad will be there and he promised to watch the tank for me. The feeder seems like It is doing enough. I will be gone for about 10 weeks. I hope they will survive on that. My dad will also feed pellets occasionally and replace lettuce whenever.

Chris

Well, that should be ok. I assume your dad is refilling the autofeeder? Another option is those pill boxes that you can get from cheapie sops that let you store medications. You can portion out the food and all your tanksitter has to do is open a box a day
It might be worth doing for refilling the feeder if you are putting in mixes of foods.

For animals, the entire universe has been neatly divided into things to (a) mate with, (b) eat, (c) run away from, and (d) rocks. - Terry Pratchett

The Feeder last 4 weeks. He dosent have to worry about that. Can fish survive on very minimal rations? Thanks.

Chris

depending on the fish, they can go quite long periods with very minimal feedings. In the wild, say if it was raining or if they were in a very overpopulated area, food might not be as forthcoming. They'd just eat what they could when they could.

Fish over about 3" can go quite long periods with no food at all (10 days or so) although I wouldn't recommend it as their body and condition suffer and it is likely to lower resistance.

how many fish are in the tank, what types, and what are you feeding? what is the volume of that food per feed (how many teaspoons)?

For animals, the entire universe has been neatly divided into things to (a) mate with, (b) eat, (c) run away from, and (d) rocks. - Terry Pratchett

Look at my profile, Yes it is overcrowded...

Chris

For that period of time I would be more concerned with the water, as you state you are over loaded at 10 weeks I would hate to see the condition of the water it would be low, due to natural evaporation, poluted feeding and fish waste etc, also the filtertration who is going to look after that. Feeding would be the least of my concern as you have some there who can be trusted to do that.

Have a look in [link=My Profile] http://www.fishprofiles.com/forums/member.aspx?id=1935[/link] for my tank info

Look here for my
Betta 11Gal Desktop & Placidity 5ft Community Tank Photos


Keith

Near enough is not good enough, therefore good enough is not near enough, and only your best will do.
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