How can fish survive in a tank for a month while I´m on vacation?

S

Stephany

New member
I´m going to be gone for a month and I don´t want my fishies to die, I´m wondering can I just put a good sum of fish food and they´ll live off that? or how long can fish survive without food?
 
In my opinion, a month is too long. You could use an auto feeder for food, but what about the water changes? It's always safest to have someone check up on your tank at least once a day unless you are willing to suffer some casualties.
 
There are way more issues than food if you'll be gone a month.

What about water changes? What if a fish dies?

I would get a feeder (the kind on a timer that drops out food). Try it for a while before you go to make sure it works. You'll also need a timer for the lights, or leave the blinds open as long as there isn't direct sunlight on the tank. You'll also need someone who knows how (or you could teach them) to come and do your weekly water changes. Then they can check for dead fish & disease. Leave the person an emergency $20 just in case your fish need medication for ich or an infection.

If a fish died 3 days after you left, & it sat in there for a month, it would kill all of your other fish. So much can happen in a month, you really need someone to check on them.
 
There are these things that you can get from just about any store (I think) that will feed your fish for a number of days, but the biggest I've seen was fourteen days. (They're feeding blocks, I think they're called. Mine came in cool shapes, such as fish or clams.) They can make a tank really dirty though, from my experience. I'm not really too sure on how healthy they are for your fish, either. Sometimes my fish would die soon after putting it in.
 
I just use a vacation feeder. It's like this small white, solid shape of like a shell or whatever. and you put it in the tank, and it will slowly release food.
 
Well, I think your fish will survive this. They will miss you terribly but they will survive. To help them out: 1. Do filter maintenance 2-3 days before you live. 2. Do 15% water change day before you live. 3. Get enough fish food for 4 feedings. Put it on CLEARLY MARKED 4 sheets of paper. Single dose of food on each. HIDE REST OF FOOD ;-) .5. Get a friend or relative who can come once a week and dump one dose of food in tank.
Good luck and have nice vacation
 
I'm going to agree with Penguin on this, two weeks is fine, however four weeks is too long without basic maintenance. Dumping in a load of food would only do more harm than good, as most of it would go uneaten and pollute the tank.

Do you have a friend or relative who could check on the tank for you around once or twice a week?
 
Fish can go a long time without food (weeks) but I wouldn't recommend a month. Throwing a lot of food in the tank would kill your fish for Shure. I would recommend getting a friend who is familiar with fish keeping to keep the fish for you while you are away.
 
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