That Fish Blog – Aquarium Advice and Information
Worried about what to do with your aquarium when you go on vacation? Who will feed the fish? No need to worry, there are several products that are easy to use, that will feed your aquarium for you while you are away.
There are several options for feeding your aquarium while you are away from home. The first, and easiest, option is to use a vacation feeder block. Vacation feeder blocks, like the Pyramid Feeder from Aquarium Pharmaceuticals, are a community fish food that is imbedded into a slowly dissolving binder that slowly releases food for your fish. These work great for small fish, and community fish, and are safe to use on most aquariums. These types of feeders are typically made with plaster and should not be used repeatedly without performing water changes in between usage; repeated use will affect your aquariums pH.
A new type of dissolving feeder is also available from Tetra. The TetraVacation Feeders use a Gel binder to hold the food which will not affect pH in repeated use, and are considered safer to use than the older plaster type feeders.
If you have finicky eaters, or you travel often, an Automatic electronic fish feeder is a better option for you. Electric feeders give you the ability to use your fish’s favorite pellet or flake food, so that you know your fish is getting food they will eat. Feeders like the Current AquaChef, are programmable and adjustable, so that you can feed as often as you like, and also control how much food is fed at each meal. Automatic feeders like the Rondomatic from Grasslin have individual compartments for each meal, so you can feed different foods at different times. Automatic feeders are great to use year round. Most feeders are battery operated.
Whichever vacation feeder you choose to use it is a very good idea to do a test feeding before you go on vacation. This way you can fine tune your electronic feeder so that you have the feeding volume correct. If you are using one of the dissolving feeders you can make sure that it is acting properly with your water chemistry, and that your fish are eating the type of food in the feeder. Testing the products first will make sure that you do not over or underfeed your fish.
hope that gives you one less thing to worry about when you are on vacation, until next blog.
Dave
I have two aquariums that I maintain at my place of employment. We will be out for Spring Break next week (Total of 9 days). One aquarium is 75 Gallons with @15 fish (Freshwater Fish) and the other aquarium is 30 Gallons with 5 fish (Freshwater Fish). How many pyramids do I need to put in each aquarium to last 9 days?
I would say 2 large pyramids in the 75 and 1 in the 30 gallon should be sufficient for average community fish.
The 75 gallon tank has the following fish: 3 Orandas, 2 tetras, 1 catfish(couts as 4), 1 pleco, 2 golden algae eaters, 3 rainbow sharks. So, will 2 pyramid feeders still suffice? Also, the 30 gallon tank has the following fish: 1 oranda, 1 tetra, 1 angel fish, 1 comet goldfish, 1 clown pleco. Will the 1 pyramid feeder still suffice?
Should be fine, better less than more than enough…they will be able to go for several days or even weeks without food before they would starve, the pyramids should be plenty to carry them through. As long as there are no equipment failures they should be just fine…have a nice break!