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Does anyone have a recommendation for what brands are reliable vacation feeders? I will need one that will feed the fish for at least 14 days. The tanks sizes are 55 gal, 29 gal, and 10 gal if this helps. I looked on Big Als, however, it does not state how long they feed for. Any replies are greatly appreciated!.

There is a great deal of debate as to if these even work, or are worth more good than mess that they make.

Is it not @all possible to have someone come by and feed once or twice @least while you're away?

All the feeder blocks I've seen in petsmart are clearly marked as weekend or vacation feeders.

^_^



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Thanks for the reply Babel. I was really hoping to find a automatic feeder that dropped food in. I have read that the blocks seem to muck up the water and since I won't be doing my normal weekly water changes during this time, I didn't want the water to go bad too quickly. So I am really hoping that someone could help me that had previous experience using one. Thanks!

Last edited by NeptunesLady at 02-Apr-2005 16:31

I have used an automatic feeder on my 20g for a max of 7 days (as tank is in my classroom), and still do. IMO They work great, and a good investment. The brand name I can't remember right now.

The only issue is setting the amount of food to deposit into the tank. I set mine a day before leaving to make sure the right amount of food is deposited.

Penn-Plax Daily-Double I use them for my 55 and my 20. They work quite well. You just have to be careful on how much food they are dumping out and remember that they do it ever 12 hours. At least thats what mine do but thats just something to look out for. Good luck!

55G Planted tank thread
19G Container Pond
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I have one Penn Plax daliy double and one Nutra Max 2X. They both seem to work great although i dont think i would reccomend using them 24/7. The main problem with these feeders seems to be humidity, which causes your food to become a solid block. Mine seem to be able to last about 15 days before not working properly which has always been long enough from what i have needed. I highly reccomend using these over the "feeding blocks". In my opinion the Penn Plax daily double is beter thant the nutra max one and it is available at Wall-mart for quite cheep. Good luck.

The vacation feeders usually come apart within hours, not days. The food they produce is enough to bring you whole system down to a shocking halt due to the rotting fish food. Your fishes can go without food for up to 2 weeks straight. Your best choice is to go with an automatic feeder or to let them just be without food.
Trust me, I leave for two weeks every summer. I know.

________________________________________
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WOW!!! I didn't know they could go so long without food. I guess I will try a 3 day feeder and hope for the best

Thanks for all the great replies, they are very much appreciated.

I just bought a
Animate Automatic F14 Fish Food Feeder

I had a penn plex daily double. I had it on its lowest settting. It worked good on my 30 gallon for the 10 days I was gone, but it destroyed my 10 gallon. Killing 2 fish and making the rest sick.

I saw the Animate, its different because it has little squares you fill with food. Instead of scooping some unknown size of flakes. I will be getting it in the mail this week.
I will be out of town four weeks this summer (not in a row). The benefits of being a teacher is I can take off all summer.

I will review it after I put it in use.
Thanks,
Joshua

I have used several different kinds over the years. One was the penn plax and another the kind you portion out up to 14 days in little cubicles. Both worked good until they fail (cheap) and I used them full time. They require some "set up" and watching them work helps get ready for vacation.

Dan Kehoe

14 days w/o food is quite a bit of time. This is only possible with a healthy fish to begin with, and generally in a pretty well planted tank. I don't recommend more than 7-10 days without a regular feeding. I highly urge you to get an automatic feeder before you leave. As stated above, the feeding blocks are junk. They are usually hogged by bigger, boisterous fish, dissolve into teeny chunks that are almost worthless, and pollute the water. Also, the binding agent has been known to raise pH in tanks.

Even if you set the auto feeder for once every few days, it'll be much better than nothing.

Fish can go for 14 days without food, as long as they are healthy & they are not fry.


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