Holiday feeding?

[CV26]

Hello

Most advice I've seen suggests to pretty much not bother feeding if away for a week or less. From my understanding, the idea being a helpful fish sitter could easily overfeed so starving is better than a tank full of food, and they'll be ok for a short burst of time.

I'm ok with this for the adult fish we have but we have a tank with just 4 x 3-6 month old platy fry in. Would they be ok without food for several days?

We are away for 7 days. We do have someone calling in to check on things but their visits will be random and possibly after fish bedtime. So I just wanted to ask about the best plan for feeding if it needs doing at all? Any tips?

 

[Colin_T]

Don't get anyone to feed them. Unlike mammals that need to eat to stay warm, most fish take their body temperature from the surrounding environment (the water). This means any food they eat is used for movement and growth. Subsequently, fish can go for weeks or even months without food and not starve.

If you know when you are going on holiday, feed the fish more often for 2 weeks before you go. Feed them 3-5 times per day for 1 to 2 weeks and they will gain a heap of weight, which will easily get them through the 7 days you're away.

Do a 75% water change and gravel clean the substrate every day for a week before you go. This will dilute any nutrients from the excess food and clean the tank conditions up so there are fewer disease organisms in the water.
Make sure any new water is free of chlorine/ chloramine before it is added to the tank.

Clean the filter a week before you go. This will reduce the chance of the filter blocking up while you're away. Wash filter media in a bucket of tank water.

Have a spare air pump pushing air into the tank to keep oxygen levels up if anything goes wrong with the filter.

Add a heap of plants to the tank 1-2 weeks before you go away. The fish can eat the plants if they get really hungry. Wash all new plants before adding them to the tank and don't buy plants from tanks that have fish in. This will reduce the chance of any diseases being introduced into your tank with the plants or water from the plant tank.

Increase lighting by 1-2 hours per day to encourage plant and algae growth. Fish can pick at algae while you're away and you can reduce the light and wipe the algae off the glass when you get back.

-----------------------------
Platies that are 3-6 months old should be adults.

 

[The Lumpfish Guy]

Colin is right, Most fish can go a long time without feeding. And in most cases fish do not need to be fed every day like many people think.
I have been away from my tanks for a month, and come back with no casualties. It's just knowing how to manage the tanks.
As Colin suggests before you go away, up your feeding rate on all the tanks, to put on some size for the fish and obviously increase you water changes, and do a large one before you leave. All should be fine

 

[CV26]

Thank you both