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Hi, I'm new to this group, so I hope this is the right place for this question...

I have a 46 gallon tank with 2 corys, 8 zebra danios, and 5 rummy nose tetras. I'm going to be on vacation for a couple weeks this summer, and am concerned about my corys getting enough food to eat. The concern stems from the fact that my zebra danios are absolute gluttons and eat everything they possibly can. While I'm home, I can drop a tetramin tablet in for the corys (which the danios go after as well), but I'll have to rely on an Eheim automatic feeder while on vacation.

I've tried to see how things would play out by not putting the tetramin tablets in at night for the last week or so, and instead having the feeder dispense some flake at 4am. Too early for the danios, right? I'm not so sure... What really got me concerned recently is that the caudal fin on the larger cory seems to be getting shorter, which may be a sign of malnutrition.

Some things I'm considering are:
- Having the feeder dispense more flake at 4am with the hope that more of it will reach the bottom.
- Reduce the head count of the danios from 8 to 4 (targeting the biggest eaters).

I'm not thrilled with either option and am hoping to get some better ideas.

Tetra makes a vacation feeder out of gelatin and daphnia that works very well for bottom feeders. The danios can go after it as well, but the cories will have it to themselves at night while the danios sleep at the top of the tank.

They stay stable in water for a long time and will be perfect if you'll be away for two weeks. You also avoid the chance of the ehiem running out of batteries (which they tend to do pretty quickly) or otherwise malfunctioning.

The shortened caudal might also be a result of the danios picking on the cory since they aren't getting enough food.

I highly recommend the gel feeders. You can get them at petsmart and I've also seen them at Target - or online, of course.

drgold wrote:Tetra makes a vacation feeder out of gelatin and daphnia that works very well for bottom feeders. The danios can go after it as well, but the cories will have it to themselves at night while the danios sleep at the top of the tank.

They stay stable in water for a long time and will be perfect if you'll be away for two weeks. You also avoid the chance of the ehiem running out of batteries (which they tend to do pretty quickly) or otherwise malfunctioning.

The shortened caudal might also be a result of the danios picking on the cory since they aren't getting enough food.

I highly recommend the gel feeders. You can get them at petsmart and I've also seen them at Target - or online, of course.

I rate these gelatine-style tetra vacation blocks quite highly - i've had good success with the limited times i used them.

Sorry - just read the rest of the post.

The most effective method of feeding whilst i'm away is to get someone to come in & feed for me. Either someone who TOTALLY knows what they are doing or someone who can feed an amount of food that i have measured & labelled in advance - never get someone to do this who is not experienced unless you've measured doses of food - one person's small pinch is half a large tub of food

Thanks for the suggestions. I'm going to pick up some of the Tetra gel feeders and give them a try. My vacation isn't for a few weeks yet, so I can see how my fish respond to them.

I was also thinking of trying a Fish Mate or Rondomatic automatic feeder for sinking pellets. This would mean putting two automatic feeders on the same tank (I think I have enough real estate up top...). Does anyone have any experience with them?

I suppose asking a neighbor to come in and feed the corys wouldn't be too risky since a pellet is a pellet... If the corys don't go for the gel feeder, then that may be the best bet.

XShadowRider wrote:
I suppose asking a neighbor to come in and feed the corys wouldn't be too risky since a pellet is a pellet... If the corys don't go for the gel feeder, then that may be the best bet.

You could always get one of those pill boxes with the days on them so they only empty that days in to the tank if you dont want them to feed too much