leaving on a trip for a week

zdowell

I am going on a trip and I have a Oscar who is about 3-4 inches long. I live in the dorms and everyone is leaving. If I feed him really well to the point of exploding will he make it a week without food?

crazy4fish

i would advise against that strongly. there are a few reasons this should not be gone.

1if you feed him to the point of exploding he will bloat and might be harmed
2it is never good to leave a fish without food for a whole week! 1 day is another matter but a week....
3 this can easily be solved
is there anyone you know that could make it to your dorm even once a day to feed your Oscar?
if not then you could always buy one of those machines that will add the food for you. dont say its too much money because it will keep your pet alive and then you will have it for other times when you go on vacation.

whatever you decide please dont leave your fish alone without food for a whole week.

Cody

A week is a long time without food, espically for a big fish like an Oscar (even though yours is small). Try looking into automatic feeders. Most work pretty well.

okiemavis

Just a guess here, but they're probably locking the dorms for the vacation. My uni used to deactivate the swipe cards so I couldn't get in over holidays. Auto feeders are probably the way to go unless you can move the fish.

zdowell

I have no one, and honestly i heard if you dont buy a $50+ they wont work, or will over feed. He likes ghost shrimp, maybe ill just buy 5-10 of those. I only ment by feeding him to the point his belly looks full, not litterally feeding to death. Plus if he isn't hungry for all of his pellets he doesn't eat them all.

MattD

I'd say stock the tank with some live food, enough to last at least a few days (it can go three or four days without food). If there is sufficient live food, it will consume it at a steady pace and make it just fine. My friend used to have kuhlis and never fed them (not that they need specific treatment) - just stocked the tank with a ton of ghost shrimp and watched the population steadily decline over a month or so. We are fairly certain his cichlids ate some too. I swear they'd eat rocks if they had to.

Jasey

The gel, slow release feeders have worked good for me in the past. Here is a picture of the weekend feeders: http://www.petdiscounters.com/mc_ima...age/d_7675.jpg

But you can get a bigger one that lasts up to 2 weeks. Just take off the top and put it in the tank. It won't cloud the water. It costs less than $10 at Petsmart for sure, I just can't remember the exact price.

jeaninel

Make sure you do a water change before you leave so your Oscar has nice clean water. :D

crazy4fish

if you dont want to get an atomatic feeder, stocking with live food would work as well.