Going On Vacation

[OneOnion]

I'm going on vacation, like, next week and I'm not sure what to do with my bettas. I'm afraid that if I don't feed them for that period of time, they might die or start trying to eat the shrimp out of hunger. So what should I do? Should I pay someone to come in once a day and feed them a pellet? Or come in once every two days and feed them two pellets? Also, should I make them change the water? The food will make them poop more.


Also, one of my betta fish recently moved from a one gallon tank to a divided 10 gallon. He was in the 1 gallon for 4-5 months(longer than expected, it was only supposed to be a temporary thing), and when he was in there, toward the end his fins became all cramped(all good water stats though). Now when he moved to the 5 gallon, his fins got wider again, but are now frayed evenly across(like a crowntail, but tears instead of the rays extending). I'm wondering if the lack of swimming space(there were a lot of plants in there) in the 1 gallon forced his fins to grow cramped, and when he moved to the larger tank(more space to swim), his fins had to tear to become normal-sized again?

Thank you please no flaming; I know having him in the 1 gallon was bad but everything turned out well in the end and now he's in the divided 10 gallon and everything fine.

 

[OneOnion]

bump...

 

[fry_forever!]

If you could find someone to feed them while you are away, that would be great, but if you can't, he will be fine for two weeks. I know it sounds bad, but they can go without food for two weeks.

As for the frayed fins, he may have fin rot. It is usually brought on by bad water quality (Which is hard to avoid in small tanks). Now that he's in a divided 10 gallon, the water will be a lot more stable, and while you are home, try doing daily water changes, which will help with the healing of his fins.

Good luck.

 

[OneOnion]

alright, thanks. maybe i'll have someone come in every few days to give one pellet now that i know they can survive 2 weeks without any food.

 

[loraxchick]

do a really nice big waterchange and substrate clean before you go. then portion out some food for the days someone will come and feed them (seriously can be like every 5 days or so if someone cant come more often). ive found that pill containers, the kind that are for weekly medicine (Separated mon/tues/wed/etc) are great for this. then just put however many pellets per day the fish normally eat. or just use envelopes with the days written on them. that way, there is not a chance of someone who doesnt know how to properly feed a fish, overfeeding and potentially messing up your water stats.
but agreed with above, if your fish are healthy, you could feed them before you go (as well as big waterchange) and they should be ok until you get home. please do not use vacation feeding blocks or automatic feeders, as they will just pollute the water.
also might be a good idea to turn the temp of the tanks down a degree or two a few days before you go-will lower metabolism a bit. but not completely necessary.
have fun on vacation
cheers

 

[OldMan47]

Most adult fish can survive with little impact for 2 weeks at least without food being supplied. If you are caring for fry, things are a bit different. I have found it better to let my fish get a bit hungry than to allow someone who is not themselves a fish keeper feed my fish. The only time I used an inexperienced fish person to feed my fish while I was gone, I came home to a grossly overfed tank that had killed most of my fish. You could smell the darned thing as you walked through the front door.

 

[Tolak]

If you do with the portioned food for feeding every few days hide the rest of the food. Inexperienced people don't understand how little fish actually eat, will see what they think are too small of portions, and take it upon them selves to feed your fish real good.

A club member who breeds angels went on vacation for a few weeks a while back. He had his brother come in as planned every other day. His brother came in once a week, and horribly overfed. As OM47 stated, the second he walked in the door he could smell it, knew what it was, even with the fishroom being down in the basement.

Luckily I have a son that understands overfeeding any animal is a sort of unintentional animal abuse. A pinch of flake half the size of a pea twice weekly is just that, and nothing more. He understands most animals will always act hungry as long as they are healthy, seeing this natural response is a sign of health.

 

[OneOnion]

wow, those are some sad stories. i'll be sure to make it clear to feed them only a pellet every few days while i'm gone and hide the rest of the food, like you said. thanks for all the help!