Can I have 411 on taking care if Eels on vacation?

[hrdneglcry]

Hi. So I wanted to ask any tips on how you care for your fish in vacation. In particlar eels. Because I basically hand feed themz The trip would be about a week long. i have a grouper in the tank. Just a matter of what the person is willing to do that i find to feed them. The lfs I think has a service.

 

[SlugSnorter]

Find someone you trust, have them come over beforehand and show them every little detail of what your daily maintenance is, and ask them to send daily photos, videos and updates

 

[Bucs20fan]

+1 to @SlugSnorter

Exactly what I did. I have a snowflake and a bamboo shark that I hand feed. I have a friend I taught how to do it. If it is for 7 days, you can get away with the eel eating twice. I feed mine only every 3 days anyway. Im going on a weekend trip this coming weekend. Ill feed the shark and eel as much as they will eat friday morning, and I wont feed them again until I get back sunday night.

 

[Flatearth]

If you have some long tongs it should be easy for them to feed the eels, if not invest in some it is worth making it easier for the vacation-helper. It is a good idea not to let anyone aside from yourself handfeed a pet that can potentially bite, even a light bite can cause someone without experience to reflexively hit your animal.



I assume you have moray eels. They can go about a month without eating, and often do so when first imported. I understand why you don't want to pause their feeding, but it probably isn't actually unhealthy for them to not be fed for a week as that would happen to them in the wild sometimes.


If it were me I would ask someone to visit on Wednesday or Thursday and try to feed them, and if no one could I wouldn't sweat it too much. I have had far more issues with vacation helpers overfeeding my tanks(even when I lay out what a feeding looks like) than just letting fish fast for a few days.