However ‘vacation block feeders’ are not recommended they tend to dirty the water and we have seen so many comments and reviews where they have dangerously increased the ammonia levels which in turn can be harmful to your fish. The fish is unable to eat more than is required because it takes a long time for the block to release the food. These quite large blocks are put into your tank before you leave for your vacation and work by breaking down gradually in the tank – releasing food as it breaks down. There are other feeding options known as ‘ block feeders’. In a very similar way, we also use a plug socket timer to time our lights on for 8 hours every day (vacation or not). Some of these feeders have issues, one of which is the buildup of condensation inside the drum which wets the food, clogs the feeder, and prevents the food from being released at all!Īlways check the Amazon reviews and always test before your vacation to see if your betta’s aquarium has this problem. There are several available mechanical feeders but you must test with your tank set up to ensure that they are working properly before you leave. They work by storing the food in a small container and then dispense the correct amount of food by rotating and releasing it after your preset time. There are several mechanical auto-feeders on the market, generally starting around $20 (and upwards), you may consider paying more for reliability. How about you get a robot to feed your fish while you enjoy your vacation!? So you are going away too long to consider a small fasting period for your betta fish. Yes, he may survive even 10 days but this is cruelty. NEVER overfeed.Ģ to 4 days is ok but any longer than this, and you must find a pet sitter to feed your fish. It is preferred that you leave your betta unfed versus dirtying the water and bloating your betta’s stomach by overfeeding and they’ll no longer eat pellets. This should always be a secondary option, the best option would be to find a pet sitter. The point we are making here is if you are leaving your home for between 2 and 4 days you could leave your betta unfed. It is possible they may even survive a few more days than this, however, this is merely surviving and you are actually slowly starving your betta fish which can cause them to die easily. How long can betta fish go without food?īetta fish can survive up to 10 days without food, however, this is not recommended! If you are going away for only two days this could be an option – feeding them as you leave (but not overfeeding!). Now, we must say this isn’t recommended and shouldn’t be done often as missing feeds is not good for your lovely betta fish and could lead to organ problems and make them more susceptible to disease. Option two: Leave the fish unfed for the weekendįor shorter periods of time, such as a long weekend, you can leave the fish to go without food. Please stress the importance of not over-feeding your fish no matter how tempting it may be. The biggest problem with human fish sitters is their tendency to want to feed the fish lots of food because they ‘looked hungry’. If you know someone who’s willing and reliable but has no experience in fish-keeping then you could leave comprehensive instructions and even divide the pellets out into days so that they know exactly what to feed the fish each day. Now, this may sound like scaremongering, and obviously, if you already have a reliable fish feeder then you really don’t need to read on. You could, of course, ask someone closer to home, there’s Overfeeding Audrey, Nosey Ned from across the road or Know-it-all Nigel from the local bar. Does he really want to do the five-mile round trip to come and feed your fish every day? Your ideal choice would be your fish keeping friend but he lives five miles away. Well, firstly we are assuming you have a friend (or neighbor) who’s free over that period and is willing to come and feed them. Sounds great, doesn’t it? What could possibly go wrong? They can also contact you for advice if something doesn’t look quite right. In an ideal world, we should all go with this one as a human fish sitter can not only feed your prized fish but can also check other important things, such as water temperature and filter pump functioning. The first and most obvious option is to ask family, a friend or neighbor. Options to consider when organizing fish care while on vacation Option one: Ask a friend or neighbor This vacation care checklist may help you decide.How long can betta fish go without food?.Option two: Leave the fish unfed for the weekend.Options to consider when organizing fish care while on vacation.
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