I left my fish for 5 days

[Angry_Platy]

I just got back from a 5 day vacation to my fish/cat/dog and they are all OK. I had nightmares of coming back to either cooked fish, frozen fish or just dead fish. No dead fish, no cooked fish and no frozen fish. Suffice it to say they are happy to having just been fed their first meal in 5 days

And the cat and dog are fine too!!!

 

[ScoutCarcer]

 

[Ethos]

B)

 

[Karah's_Mommy]

I can't believe you'd go away for five days and not have someone feed your fish or at least use a weekend feeder pellet or such. I'm surprised you have fish that are alive and even more surprised you'd come post something like that on the boards.

 

[The-Wolf]

Karah's_Mommy
it is perfectly fine and acceptable to not feed fish for short periods.
in the wild there are times when food is at a premium and therfore not all fish will feed everyday.

As long as the fish are healthy (IE not suffering from any disease) then ther will be no problem not feeding for a max of 10 days.

On a side note
those weekend/7day feeder blocks are made of mostly ash and create havoc with pH,gH and kH. Personally I'd like to see them banned.


Edit
Good to have you back Chookie

 

[Angry_Platy]

I'm surprised you have fish that are alive and even more surprised you'd come post something like that on the boards

Erm, I posted a LONG time before I went away asking questions about leaving my fish. And yes, I got replies about not using feeder blocks (for reasons the-Wolf suggested). The 5 fry I have were fed using an automatic feeder, which I considered doing for the fish but people said not to. The tanks all have automatic light timers so they were FINE!! As for things like filters and heaters breaking while away.....even if someone came and checked on them theres nothing they'd be able to do anyway. All my tanks have two filters and the heaters I have, when they break, simply stop heating. The temperatures would not have dropped enough over that time to cause significant harm to the fish, or any harm at all for that matter.

Good to have you back Chookie yes.gif

Thanks The-Wolf

EDIT: Karah's_Mommy, do you really think I would intentionally put my fish in a situation where they might be harmed?

 

[Mr Miagi]

Ive left my fish for over 3 days before with no food. As Wolf explains, perfectly acceptable in most cases. And he is right, those foodblocks are terrible and can cause more trouble than their worth.

Leaving fish for short periods is fine, provided they are healthy and you do normal tank maitenance before you leave.

 

[Angel Lady]

I dont see the problem the fish can survive without eating for five days. I am glad that everything is ok with your fish..

 

[Bloo]

Yipeeeee ! Well done Glad to hear they made it all ok.
5 Days is absolutely fine

 

[bunjiweb]

[quote name='Karah's_Mommy' date='Jun 20 2005, 06:06 AM'] I can't believe you'd go away for five days and not have someone feed your fish or at least use a weekend feeder pellet or such. I'm surprised you have fish that are alive and even more surprised you'd come post something like that on the boards. [/quote]
I suggest you go away and actually learn something about fish before you start making pretty rude posts like this.

Alot of fish, particularly large ones can be left without food for up to 2 weeks if previously happy, healthy and well fed. In the wild most fish are opportunistic, don't get fed every day.

Using feeding blocks is actually a BAD idea as it is continually releasing crap into the water continuously, and if the fish dont eat it you end up with a big ammonia spike in your tank, usually ALOT more harmful than leaving your fish without food.

In future, THINK BEFORE YOU TYPE!

Ben

 

[Ben]

agreed with Bunji and Wolf

Great news chook
how're the africans going?
i had to go away for emergancy once (family member died) and was out longer then i expected. 2 weeks
but then i had tough new world cichlids which are hardier and no one died fortunatly

DD

 

[sunflower]

Glad to hear everything was OK on your return Chooky!!

I've left my fish for a week before just having someone come around once to feed them while I was away. I agree with everyone else in that if the fish are healthy there should be no problem.

 

[iggy01]

I used one of those holiday feeding blocks a few years ago. I dumped it in the tank before I left. Came home a fortnight later to a very cloudy tank and extremely pale looking fish.

I had to do an immediate 50% water change. Luckily all my fish survived. I would never use one again. If I was only going away for a few days I would do the same as Angry_Platy.

 

[Angry_Platy]

Thanks peeps for the replies....I especially liked bunjiwebs reply

I was starting to feel bad about leaving my fish, now I realise it was the OK thing to do

 

[hellohefalump]

*very bitter about food blocks* I got a contaminated one that gave all my fish tuberculosis.

In a normal week, there are about 2-4 days when I aren't at home, and my fish are always fine to be left. I've been doing this for ages and they've suffered no bad stuff... the rest of the week they eat like pigs.