Vacation Feeding Question

I was wondering if someone could help me. I have got in my marine tank 1 maroon clown fish, 1 electric blue damsel and 1 foxface. I have never been away from them longer then a day. In a weeks time I am going to go away for a week for christmas.

What is the best thing to do? I don't have anyone that can feed them while I am away.

Could anyone help me out?

Bob, I really recommend buying a foxface. They really stand out in the tank. A real beauty!

 

That's tough about leaving....you have no one that can stop by and check on the tank during the week? I would think if all you have is fish, you could leave lights off and just feed a couple of times and it should be ok..but you'll need someway to top off your water and possibly other equipment unless you have everything automated....

 

Bob hasn't posted since 2005. This thread is 8 years old .

If you're only going to be gone for a week, I wouldn't worry about feeding. Your tank should have enough bugs in it to feed your fish while you're gone. If you're overly concerned, however, you could always purchase an automatic feeder but only have it feed sparingly while you're gone.

 

lol since this thread came back to life, my one spot foxface that I’ve had for over a year never eats nori when i put it in the tank! it seems its scared to go near it! otherwise, it eats anything else i feed it lol!

 

I have moved these posts into a new thread.

 

I use a cheap walmart feeder. Does the job, but the main issue is finding decent dry foods that sink (since the overflow makes all floating foods instantly get pulled to the sump). If you have a lot of evaporation with an open top tank, it may be a good idea to get a powerful air pump put in and cover the top so most of the water doesn't go away.

 

A feeding ring will solve the overflow issues. Easy to make, or companies like Ocean Nutrition have them on the market. I just use a little pipe that penetrates the surface of the water, and attach it to the auto feeder.

Where does the air go once pumped into the tank? Right back out into the environment along with water vapor unless you are pressurizing the tank. Not really a solution, but good thinking out of the box.

 

I use ehiems auto feeder. It works great! make sure you use pellets not granules and something that they're used to eating. I recommend a mix of ocean nutritiants formula one and two. double test the food out put and tape the feeder door. it's easy to over feed with those.

 

The air pump does help. I have a friend with a covered 40 breeder and an air pump and it has to have water added much less. Some of the water goes out the cracks with the air flow, but a lot of it just hits the top and falls back down as water. Getting a thin sheet of glass is cheap and would still let plenty of light in too (assuming algae doesn't grow on it too quickly).

Good idea about the feeding ring though. Maybe I'll make a big one (so fish don't become aggressive toward each other). So far things have been great but the frozen food always gets dispersed quickly where I feed.

 

Thanks everyone for all your information. It's been a great help!