Slow-Release Fish Food

Many pet shops sell vacation blocks or vacation foods: slow-release fish foods. These are blocks of fish food mixed with other substances, designed to slowly dissolve and release food into the aquarium for fish to eat. These products are intended to feed your fish while you vacation. They have some drawbacks; alternatives exist.

  1. Feeder Block Drawbacks

    • Fish sometimes have trouble viewing feeder blocks as food. Many fish prefer to eat food at the water surface, and it may take them a while to get hungry enough to start foraging and realize these blocks are food. Uneaten food can decay and foul the water. There's always a chance with these that your fish won't eat them or will take long enough to start picking at them that released, uneaten food fouls the water. Additionally, many types of feeders have various preservatives, which can harm water chemistry.

    Electronic Feeders

    • Electronic fish feeders are a sophisticated alternative to block feeders. Models vary considerably in price, sophistication and reliability. Your best bet is to go for a model that plugs into the wall instead of one that relies on battery power. Most of the moderate to high-end models are programmable to feed once or twice per day, and the amount of food delivered is adjustable. While they cost more than weekend feeder blocks, you can use them even when you're not on vacation to simplify care.

    Pet-Sitting

    • It is harder to correctly feed aquarium fish than it looks. You should feed aquarium fish only what they can eat in less than 30 seconds. It is easier to overfeed than to underfeed, and the consequences of too much food can cause more serious problems than too little. Extra food will usually go uneaten and foul the water, causing elevated levels of ammonia and nitrite when they decay. It can be tricky to find a friend to feed your fish that will not overfeed; it's just too easy to give fish too much food if you're not an experienced keeper.

    Fasting

    • Fish are cold-blooded. This means their metabolism usually runs slower than mammals'. This means they can go for longer periods of time without food without trouble. In fact, most aquarium fish can go up to a week without food, so long as you do not let them do so frequently. Fasting your fish for the duration of a short vacation can be safer than risking a friend overfeeding them or a vacation feeder rotting, and more cost-effective than investing in an electronic automatic feeder.