Can I leave fish unfed for 5 days

[tennisjad3]

Goin out of town from Sunday evening til Friday evening, I'm worried my fish will starve to death. I've feeding them every day to try and bulk them up, but it doesn't seem to be working. Any ideas?

i only have 3 smaller fish in a 29 gallon (skunk clown, candycane hog and coral beauty)

[LarryD]

I wouldn't leave them for that long, I am fairly comfortable leaving fish for a day or so if they are hardy but five days seems a bit extreme, they might survive but the chance of a fish dying and crashing the tank is also pretty high in my mind.

[Good Greef]

Ive left my fish for 8 days before. Yellow Tang looked the skinniest, but all recovered.

[Woods]

I would worry about a power outage or a fish dying for another reason and crashing the tank before I would worry about fish starving... I would get someone to stop by and check tank and feed since they are already there. I know from experience in losing $1500 worth of fish from a lightning strike power outage that tripped my breaker... I trade out of town tank watching with another forum member.

[jestep]

I leave about 10 - 12 times a year for up to 2 weeks at a time. Only time I have someone feed or even look at the tank is if I'll be gone for more than 10 days. Have a huge container for top off and nothing else. I've never lost a fish while I was gone, and have been doing this for about 5 years.

[+etannert]

Agree with Jestep, 5 days is NBD. Make sure your ATO is full before you leave and you should be fine.

[FarmerTy]

It's because I sneak over to Jestep's place when he's gone and feed his fish. [emoji6]

Auto fish feeder folks? My fish get fed 3 times a day. They aren't too expensive and they make sure the fish always have a little something in their bellies at all times.

[ckyuv]

I feel bad for yalls fish... Why not get an auto feeder for 20 bucks so they dont starve?

[jestep]

I feel bad for yalls fish... Why not get an auto feeder for 20 bucks so they dont starve?

I've lost 2 FW tanks to autofeeders malfunctioning. 1 was an expensive eheim one which replaced a cheaper ekomixo one. Both were tested extensively to get the correct feeding amount. Total loss was about $600 in discus. I'll never use an auto feeder again.

[Sascha D.]

I have also lost tanks due to auto feeder malfunction. Last summer I lost my largest and favorite acropora colony when the auto feeder dumped the whole food chamber into the tank at once. If I were to use one again, then I would only put a small amount of spectrum pellets into the chamber and have it feed once per day.

[FarmerTy]

Jeez, my Eheim feeder would have to rotate like 100 times in a row to overfeed my tank. Any insight on how yours malfunctioned Jestep so I can be on the lookout? Where you using pellets or flakes?