Vacation feeding

[woody0369]

Hello all, I am new to the hobby (about 6 months) and have encountered an issue that I had not previously even thought of. I will be going out of town for a few days next month and am curious how you handle feedings? I have only ever feed frozen food to my fish but when I look online at the auto feeders they all feed pellets. I am not sure if this might be an issue with having never fed pellets before. What are some experiences, or recommendations for this? Thank you all in advance.

 

[danh]

1 - find someone close to you that you can trust who either already knows or can follow very specific instructions. The club is definitely a way to find people close to you that can hopefully get to know your system.

2 - Don't feed them at all. Most fish will be fine for a couple of days. Unless the person you find for 1 knows fish, reefs and possibly even your set up very well, then they may end up doing more harm than good.

 

[urbanknight]

Those choices given by Dan are on target. Here is one additional consideration for you. I feed my tank frozen also. However, a few weeks before leaving town for a few days, I began feeding pellets in the evening after the main course of frozen earlier in the day. Just a few to begin with to get the fish used to them. Before I left town, the little buggers were eating pellets like crazy. I put an auto feeder on, kept an eye on the system with a camera that I installed.

 

[saltwaterwannabe]

Both above are great comments.

Having someone not very familiar with at least part of your system can end up with bad results.  I recently had a dog sitter look after my fish and mistakenly she was feeding 1/8 cup to 2 tanks instead of 1/8 teaspoon.  I labelled everything clearly, even put the food and 1/8 teaspoon in front of each tank.  Needless to say I could not see some of my my fish through the murky water until a couple major water changes.  I got lucky and all are as well as they were before I left now, but it could have been much worst.  That reminds me, I need to do another major water change for whatever was left in the tank and was not yet broken down.
The fish were in QT, separated from my coral.  Coral can easily go a week or much longer without food.  Most fish can go a week without food as long as they are healthy to start with.
An autofeeder is a great way to go if you are using small pellets.  I use eheim autofeeders for small snacks or travel and never had issue other than dropping one in the tank.

 

[saltwaterwannabe]

Oh, one more very important thing.  Do not forget to ensure you have enough water in your ATO to last safely until you return

 

[woody0369]

Thank you all so much for your input.