Going home for the holdays

[larisa5656]

I'm planning to fly home for the holidays and will be gone for roughly 10 days (12/17-12/28). Does anyone have any suggestions for ensuring that my betta, Lindsey Joe, stays alive during that time? Right now, I plan to do a 100% water change the day before I leave to ensure that everything is clean. What I'm most concerned about though is food. I considered getting one of those feeding blocks, but I've heard bad things about them. I thought about asking one of my friends to stop by every few days, but she'll be out of town around the same time, so that doesn't help. Any suggestions or advice anyone has would be much appreciated.

Thanks!

[DragonFish]

Definitely stay clear of the feeding blocks. Those things are more likely to kill your betta and completely destroy your water quality rather then anything else.

Your betta will be just fine for 10 days without food. Won't hurt her a bit. Bettas can easily go 2-3 weeks without eating(though if you're ever gone for longer then two weeks it would be a good idea to get someone to come in and do water changes and drop in a couple of pellets).

Whats more worrisome is the water quality while you're gone, but that depends on the tank you have. What size of tank is she in? Filtered? Cycled? Any live plants?

[callistra]

If you have a larger (10 gallon) cycled tank then your betta will be fine. You'll just have to do a larger water change when you get home and I'm sure she'll think she's starving but she should be okay.. if you can get someone to drop in an feed that would be better though.

If she's in a smaller 1-2 gallon uncycled bowl she can't be left for 10 days. The ammonia build up will be inhumane and high.

Agree, feeding blocks is a bad idea. She lack of food isn't really the concern so much as the water quality.

[xtcking]

This thread has my interest!

Im getting a betta tomorrow. and there will be the odd time I will have to be out of town for 48 hours. I have a friend that can care for him while Im gone so no issue. Ive just always been under the impression they need daily feedings, but up to 10 days?!? wow. betta forums you have taught me something new today :)

[DragonFish]

Well, of course leaving them for that long without food is something you don't want to do regularly....bettas do need regular feeding, preferably small meals twice per day, but once or twice a year if you happen to go away for a week or two it won't hurt them to be without food. Often its better then trusting someone who may not know what they're doing to feed your fish.
The bigger concern with being gone for that long is water quality in uncycled smaller tanks, which require several water changes per week to keep clean. But a larger cycled tank will often be okay.