I left my fish for 5 days

[quintessential]

I left my wife for five days and she was ok,

might try a bit longer next time

 

[rdd1952]

I left my wife for five days and she was ok,

might try a bit longer next time

I bet she didn't go without food though.

 

[wuvmybetta]

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!!!

This is awesome to hear. Congrats, Chook! I'm leaving for five days this weekend and I'm leaving my fish to fend for themselves as well. I'm a little nervous but your outcome is comforting!

 

[Karah's_Mommy]

I have done my research tyvm. No where anywhere have a read that starving fish is beneficial. One or two days to clean out their system is one thing, but no food for a week or two? And what is left in the tank to eat if you've done a good cleaning/maintenance before you leave for a vacation? To me there is a big difference between an animal surviving and an animal thriving. If I am wrong, then I apologize. If someone would care to post some reliable links to articles that show this, I would appreciate it.

 

[quintessential]

Sorry Karah's_Mommy, and this is definately not meant to be rude but do I take it that you don't have many years of experience.

 

[funkybodal]

I agree totally with bunjiweb...fish can be easily and happily left without food for two weeks which I have done many a time. Also, like undawada said, they will happily forage around in the tank, and when you get back it'll be very clean and funky.

Think about it, say, for example, if your filter breaks while you're away (as has been mentioned the 'fish-minder' would unlikely be able to do anything) , your fish are gonna stand a much greater chance of survival if they're NOT being fed as it would put less biological strain on the broken filter.

biological = logical.

wooh.

 

[daudy_dojo]

i have been doing this for like 4 months and i leave my fish with no food for 3 days twice everymonth (i have to go to my mommies) i was thinking about feeder blocks but i thought it would be better for then to go with out food! PLUS fish need it... i only feed my fish 2 times a day atleast a week then i feed them once in the afternoon 2 days before i leave to prepare them for no food.. the day i leave i give them good fatty foods than turn on their timers and im out the door! the worst thing to happen to me while doing this was the power went out one weekend and my filter and my heater and my lights wouldnt come back on so they were filterless heaterless and lightless for 6 hours before i came home!! im not trying to sound rude in the following:
karahs_mommy your kinda wrong! sharks... you suppost to feed a shark maybe once a week! slow moving fish should only be fed fewer times a day, bettas for instance, they can go with only on feeding a day, why you ask? well thats because they dont swim to much and they arent as active as other fish so they have no way to loose the fat they just ate! so over time the betta will get bigger and bigger and die of being fat! there for my male bettas get fed 2 times a day and my female 4 times a day.
to create a benificial envritoment i usually leave the fish unfed at night and in the morning they arent fed more or less they are fed what they are always fed! sometimes i only feed once a day to help them loose some weight! and some times i feed them 4 times! plus their every other day bloodworm snack

so yea 5 days is a-ok

ps welcome back and im glad for you platy!

 

[pica_nuttalli]

some evidence: my brother had some feeder guppies. he thought they were living off his algae. so he feed them nothing. they lived for 2 weeks before they started disappearing. (he thought the newt was finally eating them.) this theory was disproved, however, when he found lots of little dead bodies when he did his first water change.

my point: feeder guppies (which are notorious for being malnourished) can live for two week sans any food beyond a little algae before starving to death. thus, a few days for a well-fed fish (with the nice fat reserves most of ours have) is not an issue.

two weeks is pushing it, but one week is perfectly fine especially if you take things like missed water changes and possible filter failure into account. far more people on this forum have killed their fish by using those feeder blocks than by not using them.

 

[canarsie11]

I went away for 9 days no problems.

 

[Karah's_Mommy]

Angry_Platy:

I apologize for coming off so strong in my original post to you, whether it was right or wrong.

I'm going to look further into this myself, since there's nothing but he-said, she-said, my brother starved his fish to death in 2 weeks, in this thread.

 

[DMan99]

Karah's Mommy, no-one is saying it is beneficial, it is simply not detrimental to their health. Leaving fish without food for a week is not something people would recommend but if it has to be done then the fish will come to no harm. With fat reserves in abundance for well cared fish and living in a well maintained tank will provide fish with other nutrients and algae on which they can feed. I certainly do not leave my fish without food but when im away i have no choice, and not once has anything died.

EDIT: It is true that there's a lot of he said, she said and any fish going without food for a week will be in need of a good feed, but its something that can be done when needed.

 

[Dorkhedeos]

ive heard that goldfish can survive a year without food my goldfish had no food for a month once. this was back when i was 7 or somewhere around there. they were all fine

 

[canarsie11]

A year? Dont know bout that, they eating something

 

[Inchworm]

When it comes to vacations, it seems that I have heard more sad stories about people returning to overfed tanks with polluted water and sick fish when they were cared for by well meaning, but inexperienced, friends and family than I have heard of starved or malnourished fish.

Angry_Platy, you did the right thing, IMHO. Hope you had a great vacation too!

 

[canarsie11]

When it comes to vacations, it seems that I have heard more sad stories about people returning to overfed tanks with polluted water and sick fish when they were cared for by well meaning, but inexperienced, friends and family than I have heard of starved or malnourished fish.

Angry_Platy, you did the right thing, IMHO. Hope you had a great vacation too!

This so true. I have never heard someone say the starved thier fish. With a well established health tank, the fish always seem to mske it by without stress