Do time-release food blocks for fish work well? What about for goldfish?

Question

My sister has a whole tank of little goldfish, and we're going on vacation soon. She needs a way to feed them, so she was thinking that time-release food blocks would be the way to go.

Have any of you had any experience with these things? If so, what were your thoughts?

Answer 1

I detest those things. Normally, they break down very quickly releasing too much food in the first day or two and then are gone. You don't mention how long you vacation will be, but goldfish will be just fine without food for a week, a little longer if need be. Really, this is often the best option for the fish because if they are not fed the water will not foul or need changing before you get back. If you are going to be gone over a week, have her leave a premeasured amount of food, just enough for one feeding and ask a friend of neighbor to feed them a few days after you leave. Longer trip? add an extra feeding or two, just once every 4-5 days will be fine.

MM

Answer 2

Hi Rose, I have no personal experience of vaction feeders but several people on my forum have had very poor results with them, even if you set one going while you are still at home & watch to see how it performs there is no guarantee that the next one will behave just as well, I've heard many horror stories of large amounts of food being dumped into the tank all at once.

How long are you going on vacation for? Goldfish will be perfectly fine unfed for at least 3 or 4 days. If it is longer perhaps you can get a responsible neighbour or friend to look in daily or every two days & feed them for you? This is the best option HOWEVER there are certain conditions that must be me with this method. If the nominated person doesn't keep fish they will be tempted to dump huge amounts of food in "because they look cute" so you need to do one of two things.

Either bag-up appropriate daily amounts & label each bag with day & date & ensure the remaining fish food is well hidden (take it on vacation with you is the safest way!)

The other way is to instruct the person beforehand, let them see you doing it so they know how it's done & then next feed , let them do it under your supervision to make sure everything is just right.

Answer 3

I used one many many months ago and I was gone for 5 days. Left a horrible mess in the tank. I will never use them again. Your best bet would to be get a timed feeder and place the flakes in there or just don't worry about feeding them. Then you won't have to worry about the ammonia level going up and not being there to change the water. Healthy fish can go many days with out eating.

Answer 4

Hi, No the Time release food blocks don't work well for most fish. They tend to make the tank very cloudy. Your sister would be better off to get a automatic feeder. She can set to feed them as many times a day as she needs it to.

Answer 5

They aren't great because a lot of it ends up in the gravel and pollutes the tank. It would be better if you could have somebody visit the tank every day instead. If you do use the vacation feeder, make sure you remove whatever is left of it when you get home.

Nosoop4u

Answer 6

I used them for our tropical fish while we were away for 10 days, they were all fine when we got home. I would use them every time.

Answer 7

I have used them whenever i go on vacation, and have never had a bad experience.

Answer 8

Here just get one of these so your goldfish won't die.

http://www.petco.com/product/3194/Penn-Plax-Daily-Double-II-Automatic-Fish-Feeder.aspx

Answer 9

sry no

Answer 10

http://www.petsmart.com/global/product_detail.jsp?PRODUCT%3C%3Eprd_id=845524441808253&FOLDER%3C%3Efolder_id=2534374302030133&ASSORTMENT%3C%3East_id=2534374302023693&bmUID=1184099737115&itemNo=1&Ntt=feedre&In=Fish&previousText=feedre&N=202369