Gone a few days - feeding?

[Mark_C]

Hey all. Hope everyone's enjoying this weather.
I've been feeding the kids on a daily basis for the past few weeks and they seem quite happy with the arrangement.
Next week we're disappearing from Tuesday afternoon to Saturday night/Sunday morning.
Four to five days without food shouldn't be a problem, should it?

 

[Edwardw771]

http://premiumaquatics.com/products/eheim-everyday-fish-feeder.html

 

[Mark_C]

I interpret that as four to five days sans food is not an option and I should either buy a device to feed the wet-ones or ask a neighbor to drop a pre-determined chunk of stuff in the tank.

 

[Edwardw771]

I put pellets in mine when I go out of town. It feeds a set amount everyday.

 

[mnat]

We generally will go a long weekend maybe, but that's really it (2-3 days). It can be done for five, but as Ed said above adding in an auto feeder will help tremendously. If you dont' want to, start feeding twice a day leading up to leaving to "fatten" them up a bit and go from there. If you feed tuesday you are really talking about missing Wed, Thurs and Fri if you get home Saturday which is not the end of the world if you feed again on Saturday. However, if you don't make if home until Sunday it might pose a problem.

 

[Mark_C]

Thanks for the info gents. I'll go pick up an Eheim this weekend.

 

[looneytunes]

Just be careful. The fan on mine didn't last more than a day and it can easily get very humid in the container making a very disgusting, smelly, mess. Try to put it as far from the surface as possible to minimize temp. and humidity.

 

[redfishbluefish]

On the Eheim Every Day Feeder I believe the little fan only comes on when the feeder is doing its turning thing. If not, then my fan has stopped working on both of my feeders.


Also, if you feed a floating type of food (flakes), you'll want to pick up a feeding ring or simply make one out of some tubing. HERE is the DIY of my first feeding ring. I've since made a second were I attach it to the tank glass with suction cups.

 

[Mark_C]

Thanks all. Picked up the Eheim feeder and built a RFBF-ring.
Joy in Mudville.

 

[redfishbluefish]

Mark, that looks very nice. Great job!

 

[lefkonj]

Looks great. I have used the Eheim for years (accept for the one I dropped in the tank, not good). Works great and provides a nice variety from the frozen food. Cost is also perfect on those things.

 

[Mark_C]

So, returned from the trip and, all in all, things went relatively well.

Algae bloom beginning so the reactor gets dropped in with some GFO today.

Autofeeding worked well for all with the exception of the new kid, a Darwin Clown. Small when intro’d to the tank and, seemingly, being unable to compete at the feeding ring dropped his size by 30-40%. Target feeding and hoping for the best.

Found a long lost anem. Apparently it overheard about the Disney trip and wanted to get in on some action. It began on the Overflow Gatesucker, rode the Skyride to the U-bend, jumped in the Bumpytube decent, and finished in the Sumpy Maelstrom.
Now its back in the main tank, bleached, small, and jostled.

 

[mnat]

That sumpy maelstrom can be a stomach turner for sure.

Glad things went well.