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gwand

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I recently retired from academia and bought a 10 gallon tank to start a new hobby. I’m in the process of cycling the tank and will add fish soon. I do travel a bit, usually less than a week away from home. Should I purchase an automatic feeder or use the food pellets that can feed for up to a week? Thanks. GW
 
Welcome, and congratulations on your retirement. It depends on how your specific tank is set up, but most fish can go several days without food and be none the worse for wear. It's an advantage of being cold blooded.

If I'm going to be gone more than three days, I usually get a friend to come over every other day or so and drop some food in. If your friend isn't completely trust-worthy (and let's face it: most adults can't be trusted with fish food! :lol: ), you can pre-measure it into little cups to avoid over-feeding.

If that isn't an option, I'd go with an automatic feeder. The slow-dissolve fish foods usually cause more troubles than they solve.
 
Hi gwand and welcome to TFF, one of the friendlier fish forums on the net.

The fish you acquire will play a role in the appropriate way to feed them while you go on vacation. For example, if you get a Badis Badis fish that prefers live foods only, you may end up having someone come and give the fish a little food every other day or so. If the fish you acquire is a wild caught fish that won’t eat pellets and flakes, that could be another problem. If your fish will readily eat flakes and pellets, then you can certainly use an automated feeder.

Healthy fish can go without food for a day or two, so to go away for a long weekend, you may not have to do anything special for them, especially once your aquarium matures. This is especially true of omnivorous fishes.

Years ago I was working a lot and was also in the process of moving house, so I would only travel back to my old empty house once a week where my aquarium was still located. Every time I visited the old house I would drop in a Tetra Vacation Tropical Slow Release Feeder in my lightly stocked tank. My fish lived on that stuff for nearly a year (!) so I can attest that it can do the job, although over such a long period of time it was not the ideal situation for my fish, but they did all pull through fine. Eventually I got tired of maintaining a separate house an hour away for my fish and finally went through the “pain” of moving the aquarium and selling the old house.
 
Hi gwand and welcome to TFF, one of the friendlier fish forums on the net.

The fish you acquire will play a role in the appropriate way to feed them while you go on vacation. For example, if you get a Badis Badis fish that prefers live foods only, you may end up having someone come and give the fish a little food every other day or so. If the fish you acquire is a wild caught fish that won’t eat pellets and flakes, that could be another problem. If your fish will readily eat flakes and pellets, then you can certainly use an automated feeder.

Healthy fish can go without food for a day or two, so to go away for a long weekend, you may not have to do anything special for them, especially once your aquarium matures. This is especially true of omnivorous fishes.

Years ago I was working a lot and was also in the process of moving house, so I would only travel back to my old empty house once a week where my aquarium was still located. Every time I visited the old house I would drop in a Tetra Vacation Tropical Slow Release Feeder in my lightly stocked tank. My fish lived on that stuff for nearly a year (!) so I can attest that it can do the job, although over such a long period of time it was not the ideal situation for my fish, but they did all pull through fine. Eventually I got tired of maintaining a separate house an hour away for my fish and finally went through the “pain” of moving the aquarium and selling the old house.
Thank you for the information
 
Hi and welcome to TFF... :hi:
If your absence is shorter than a week, an automatic feeder can be used but isn't neccesary. Fish can do without being fed for over a week without a problem. And be aware of it that there's still food in the tank that was missed by those fish that they can look for when you're not at home.
 

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