# How long can i go with no food?



## Lars23 (May 23, 2020)

Im going on a 3 day camping trip.
I know my older or bigger fish will be fine for 2 days no food i will feed just before we head out.
I have 5 pc cichlid fry and i have been feeding them 3 times a day with almost every day 50% water changes.
Can the little guy's/gal's do ok with no food for 2 days?


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## DJRansome (Oct 29, 2005)

How big are they?

You don't really have any choice so see what happens.


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## Lars23 (May 23, 2020)

DJRansome said:


> How big are they?
> 
> You don't really have any choice so see what happens.


They are at 1/2in in size. They seem very healthy but honestly these being my first baby fish i really dont know what im talking about. They are super energetic for the most part. 3 of the 5 are bigger so i hope they are males.
But your right we will just have to find out.


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## shiftyfox (Aug 2, 2019)

They should be fine. 
I'd get a water change in just before you go and feed them well.


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## Ronzo (Sep 8, 2013)

Lars;

They will certainly survive, but juveniles like that want to eat often (as you're familiar with)...I usually arrange a trusted housesitter and leave a daily portion in a shot-glass so there's no change of overfeeding because the housesitter's portion judgement doesn't even come into play. As an alternative, I have had very good automated result feeding small (2-3mm) pellets if they are already eating those (less so flake form food) with the Eheim Everyday battery powered fishfeeder.

Cheers


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## DJRansome (Oct 29, 2005)

Then you hear the horror stories about pet sitter mishaps and auto feeder malfunctions killing all the fish.

If they are 1/2 inch I would feed before leaving and get nitrates to 10ppm.


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## Ronzo (Sep 8, 2013)

DJR;

Our housesitter is a longtime and trusted family friend, who permanently has a housekey, and she is well qualified with what the plants and fish need, but when I had juvies who I wanted to feed multiple times a day, I didn't want to bother her with coming over so often, and I decided on 
the autofeeders...I set these up and had them test-running a number of days, with monitoring of the feeding time and amount, before actually leaving. It did take some fine tuning of the portioning door opening, and finally securing it into place with tape, but once fine tuned for a consistent desired amount, two feeders served as expected and without issue.

Cheers


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## Cichlidude (Feb 7, 2010)

Lars23 said:


> Im going on a 3 day camping trip.
> I know my older or bigger fish will be fine for 2 days no food i will feed just before we head out.
> I have 5 pc cichlid fry and i have been feeding them 3 times a day with almost every day 50% water changes.
> Can the little guy's/gal's do ok with no food for 2 days?


Fish can go up to 2 weeks without food. Happens all the time.


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## DJRansome (Oct 29, 2005)

Lars23, how did it go?


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