Going on holiday
 

I have a tank with 10 pristella tetras in it (approx 1" long small
tetras). Water quality etc is ok. There are no plants. A backup
airpump-driven filter complements the main filter which needs manual
restarting after a blackout.

What I'm more concerned about is feeding. If I give them a good feed
before I go, how long before they start starving to death?

Travis

Going on holiday
 

On 5 Jan 2006 21:49:39 -0800, "Travis" wrote:

I have a tank with 10 pristella tetras in it (approx 1" long small
tetras). Water quality etc is ok. There are no plants. A backup
airpump-driven filter complements the main filter which needs manual
restarting after a blackout.

What I'm more concerned about is feeding. If I give them a good feed
before I go, how long before they start starving to death?

Travis


Two months is the longest I have gone for fish in an indoor aquarium.

Going on holiday
 

Travis wrote:
[vacation story]
What I'm more concerned about is feeding. If I give them a good feed
before I go, how long before they start starving to death?

Actually that well-meant "good feed" is likely to do more harm than good.
The uneaten, rotting food will drive amonia and nitrite levels up and nobody
will be home to do an emergency water change.

If you can't get someone to feed the fish (premeasured amounts, otherwise
people will always overfeed because the fish look so hungry) then why not
getting an automated feeder?

Otherwise a few days shouldn't be any problem.

jue

Going on holiday
 

Jürgen Exner wrote:
Travis wrote:
[vacation story]
What I'm more concerned about is feeding. If I give them a good feed
before I go, how long before they start starving to death?

Actually that well-meant "good feed" is likely to do more harm than good.
The uneaten, rotting food will drive amonia and nitrite levels up and nobody
will be home to do an emergency water change.

I know that overfeeding isn't going to help, by that I meant only that
I should ensure that they are well fed (as much as they will eat
without leaving food to rot in the tank) for the week prior to me
going.

If you can't get someone to feed the fish (premeasured amounts, otherwise
people will always overfeed because the fish look so hungry) then why not
getting an automated feeder?

Frankly I'd rather buy some new tetras than spend that kind of money.
As callous as this sounds, when I was considering getting an autofeeder
I took into account the replacement costs of the fish. If these were
discus or cichlids or something then it would be another matter, but
these are just little tetras...

Otherwise a few days shouldn't be any problem.

How about two weeks?

Travis

Going on holiday
 

"Jürgen Exner" wrote in message
news:B_nvf.2429$q26.1363@trnddc03...
Travis wrote:
[vacation story]
What I'm more concerned about is feeding. If I give them a good feed
before I go, how long before they start starving to death?

Actually that well-meant "good feed" is likely to do more harm than
good.
The uneaten, rotting food will drive amonia and nitrite levels up and
nobody will be home to do an emergency water change.

If you can't get someone to feed the fish (premeasured amounts,
otherwise people will always overfeed because the fish look so hungry)
then why not getting an automated feeder?

Otherwise a few days shouldn't be any problem.

jue


Exactly :o). I can leave my fish for a couple of weeks (auto-feeder on
each tank). Longer than that and I might want to move some fish
together, double the auto-feeders per tank, and instead of the current 2
feedings per day on each feeder, change it to a single daily serving each
(for redundancy, longer battery life and longer interval before needing
to be refilled). This arrangement might go months, but I need to keep a
low fishload as there's no one to do water changes.

The only drawback is that small tetras get fed flake food, and
auto-feeders do pellets great, or pellet/flake mixtures. Straight flake
food clogs more easily, from humidity or oversize flakes (break them up
so you have a uniform size before filling the feeder). hth
--
www.NetMax.tk

Going on holiday
 

"Travis" wrote in message
oups.com...
I have a tank with 10 pristella tetras in it (approx 1" long small
tetras). Water quality etc is ok. There are no plants. A backup
airpump-driven filter complements the main filter which needs manual
restarting after a blackout.

What I'm more concerned about is feeding. If I give them a good feed
before I go, how long before they start starving to death?
===============================
How long will you be gone? Why not get a relative or neighbor to come in
and feed them every other day? There's not just starvation to consider,..
what about evaporation? If you're going to be gone for more than a week you
can always give them to a pet shop or ask your favorite store (or a fishy
friend) to "hold" them for you. A store I know did that for a friend of
mine while he moved. It took him a week to move and get his tanks set up
again. He then picked up his fish........
--

Koi-Lo.... frugal ponding since 1995...
Aquariums since 1952
My Pond & Aquarium Pages:
NEW PAGE: Aquariums:
http://bellsouthpwp.net/s/h/shastada...ium-Page4.html
http://bellsouthpwp.net/s/h/shastadaisy
~~~ }((((o ~~~ }{{{{o ~~~ }(((((o

Going on holiday
 

"Travis" wrote in message
oups.com...
How about two weeks?
===========================
For the sake of kindness - please have someone come in and feed them at
least every few days while you're gone. As someone else suggested, have
pre-packaged amounts for them to add to the tank. Also a jug of water in
case there's a lot of evaporation while you're gone.
--

Koi-Lo.... frugal ponding since 1995...
Aquariums since 1952
My Pond & Aquarium Pages:
NEW PAGE: Aquariums:
http://bellsouthpwp.net/s/h/shastada...ium-Page4.html
http://bellsouthpwp.net/s/h/shastadaisy
~~~ }((((o ~~~ }{{{{o ~~~ }(((((o

Going on holiday
 

Charles wrote:
On 5 Jan 2006 21:49:39 -0800, "Travis" wrote:


I have a tank with 10 pristella tetras in it (approx 1" long small
tetras). Water quality etc is ok. There are no plants. A backup
airpump-driven filter complements the main filter which needs manual
restarting after a blackout.

What I'm more concerned about is feeding. If I give them a good feed
before I go, how long before they start starving to death?

Travis



Two months is the longest I have gone for fish in an indoor aquarium.

Two months? How large were the fish? Were the tanks planted? I'd love
to not have to worry about having a friend come over and feed the fish
but my cardinals, guppies, and Espei rasboras seem awfully small to go
more than a few days without food. I'd also be afraid of losing the
cardinals to the angel or M. altispinosa in the community. The guppies
would probably be fine in their little tank eating tiny ramshorn snails,
plants, and algae.

--
Elaine T __
http://eethomp.com/fish.html '__
rec.aquaria.* FAQ http://faq.thekrib.com

Going on holiday
 

Hi..

but these are just little tetras...

Really? What makes them different to discus or cichlids?

Otherwise a few days shouldn't be any problem.
How about two weeks?

Two weeks without food are no prob to the most heathy and
well kept fish!

Travis

Of course! :-)

--
cu
Marco

Going on holiday
 

heathy
+l
--
cu
Marco