Longest you can go between feedings?

[Cheeze]

Hi all,

I'm going away for 5 days next week and was wondering if my fish and corals would be ok if they aren't fed during this time. I have 4 fish (clown, a fat gramma, wrasse and cardinal) and some LPS and SPS corals. Flight is super early on Tuesday morning and I plan on over-feeding Monday night.

I tried an auto-feeder the only other time I was away and it caused a total mess. Condensation clumped up the dry food and there was brown algea/sludge all over the water. (Plus I know my wrasse won't eat dry food). Sadly, I couldn't find anyone I trust to feed while I'm away.

Tank is established for over a year now, and I don't plan on doing anything out of my normal routine before I leave other than delay my water change until the night before. I'm not worried about parameters as I don't touch anything between weekly water changes, only worried about feeding.

Anyone have any experiences of going 5 days without feeding?

 

[Alexwlwsn]

Following as I have a weekend away planned this month. I know I can easily let my FW fish go a couple days but nervous about the salty ones. Just 2 clowns, orchid dottyback, and CUC.

 

[bstodds15]

with those fish You should be “ok”, but I would see if you can have someone stop in to feed them mid week.

Bigger issue when not feeding is aggression can build up, but that stocking shouldn’t cause too many issues.

do you have an auto top off for the water? That would be my bigger concern.

 

[moorjames]

Last vacation I took I used Rover (app) to find somebody that could check in on my cats while I was away- and also asked her to add water ( I don't have an auto top off ) and feed my fish. She was great and even took pictures everyday of her doing the tasks. I was gone for about 5-6 days and tank was great when I returned

 

[FurrierTransform]

My yellowtail blue damselfish did not survive 3 days of no food (I was called away to help my dad during his passing). Note that these are smaller fish than what you have, so it's conceivable they could survive, but it would be close, I'd think.

 

[Cheeze]

Thanks all for the suggestions!

I do have an ATO which I clean the lens every week with my water changes, as well as fill up the reservoir. Never considered aggression, my tank is a breeder so the fish have their space and "spots", but something to think about.

Maybe I'll try the auto-feeder again but set it up for just a one-time dump of food mid-week if I can figure out the programming. Maybe it'll force the wrasse to downgrade from it's gourmet food to back-alley scraps

...and I will look into that Rover app just in case!

 

[andy28115]

You should be fine, all they do all day every day is hunt for food. I would be more nervous about trusting it to someone who may not be knowledgeable. It’s a lot more common for fish to be over fed then starve in this hobby.

 

[Cheeze]

UPDATE: just returned from my trip (Tues morning - Sunday morning), and the fish and coral look good. Relieved!!!

I overfed them all on Monday night, and set up an auto-feeder with very little dry food and only a small opening in the drop so as not to dump too much. My fish don't go for dry food, so at least my hermits had some constant food.

Haven't tested parameters yet but going to mix some salt in the 5 gallon bucket I had at the ready and do my usual water change.

 

[Devaji]

next time check out the frozen feeder from smarter reef. still someone has to stop by once a day and drop in a reeficle in but worth it IMHO I have one coming.