Vacation food for Bronchis Splendens?

[sfishkeeper]

Hi everyone,

I have 3 Bronchi Splendens in my 65-gallon community tank and I will be on vacation for 2 weeks. I am planning to use an automatic fish feeder for the tank, but I fear the catfishes will not get enough to eat. Does anyone have any suggestions? I am thinking of trying the Tetra Gel Vacation food block or having another automatic feeder for their sinking wafers.

Thanks in advance!

[bekateen]

What's your substrate, and how deep is it? And how many other fish (and what kind) are in the tank? If you have sand that's not too deep and if stocking is mostly upper water fish, myself, I'd just put a big wad (2-3 ounces) of live black worms in the tank and let them borrow into sand. Then add a slow release feeder. Between the two foods, the Brochis should be okay.

But to be fair, two weeks is a long time to go with no inspections or food. What if a pump stops?

Good luck, Eric

[Bas Pels]

Assuming the fish are healthy, and well fed, 2 weeks without food should be easily done.

We, warmblooded animals, use 90 % of what we eat to keep warm. Still, although we will not like it, we can go for 2 days without eating. Fishes generally can go for 3 weeks without eating.

Still, fishes from lakes, such as Lake Malawi, will have problems going without food for a few weeks, because these lakes are so stabile. Many fishes from rivers go for 2 months without eating, in the dry season. But many of them die, so I would not advise this. But a few weeks, for healthy, aldult riverine fish? No problem.

In many cases the well intending care taker overfeeds them, and feeding noting is much better than too much

[Shane]

Agree 100%. The safest route for anything less than 3 weeks is to just leave the fish on their own. I have taken dozens of 2-3 week trips over the years with zero issues. Auto feeders, well intended babysitters, etc are all far riskier than just leaving the fish alone.
-Shane

[sfishkeeper]

What's your substrate, and how deep is it? And how many other fish (and what kind) are in the tank? If you have sand that's not too deep and if stocking is mostly upper water fish, myself, I'd just put a big wad (2-3 ounces) of live black worms in the tank and let them borrow into sand. Then add a slow release feeder. Between the two foods, the Brochis should be okay.

But to be fair, two weeks is a long time to go with no inspections or food. What if a pump stops?

Good luck, Eric

My substrate is pool filter sand and I have about 2 inches of it in the tank. The community consists of 4 Giant Danio, an Angelfish, a Pearl Gourami, 6 Cherry Barbs, 4 Glofish Danios, and a Guppy. I'm not sure where I could find live black worms, but I can certainly find slow release gel food from Tetra. If anyone has any experience with that product, I would appreciate hearing about it. I have three filters on the tank, Penguin 350, Penguin 200, and a dual sponge filter. Hopefully, all three won't fail at the same time.

[sfishkeeper]

Assuming the fish are healthy, and well fed, 2 weeks without food should be easily done.

We, warmblooded animals, use 90 % of what we eat to keep warm. Still, although we will not like it, we can go for 2 days without eating. Fishes generally can go for 3 weeks without eating.

Still, fishes from lakes, such as Lake Malawi, will have problems going without food for a few weeks, because these lakes are so stabile. Many fishes from rivers go for 2 months without eating, in the dry season. But many of them die, so I would not advise this. But a few weeks, for healthy, aldult riverine fish? No problem.

In many cases the well intending care taker overfeeds them, and feeding noting is much better than too much

The thought of leaving them unfed for 2 weeks is quite uncomfortable for me. I don't want to risk coming back to unhealthy fish. But I will take the advice from you all into consideration. Thank you!

[bekateen]

FYI, Shane and Bas Pels are two of the most knowledgeable people on here. I'd trust their judgement before I would trust mine.

... Don't know what that says about me, but assuming your fish are safe and well fed to start with and the tank is clean and well-operating when you leave, unfed fish should do okay.

[MChambers]

My experience is that a two vacation without feeding is fine. In fact, it may stimulate breeding when you return and restart feeding.

[N0body Of The Goat]

I used to ask relatives to drop in and feed my fish daily while we were away for ~4 days and every time, perhaps by coincidence in some cases, I came back to dead and/or missing fish. For the last three years, I now give a generous last feed just before we leave for vacation and all fish have reported for duty upon our return.