This page contains some information and advice about how to feed your Tropical Fish and Goldfish, while you're on vacation.

1. Going on Vacation?
If you're going out of town for a day or even two days, your fish will survive without food. You certainly should not leave your fish extra food in their home with one exception.

Several companies make food blocks, which are also called vacation blocks, banquet blocks, etc. They are made of Plaster-of-Paris mixed with bits of fish food. As the Plaster-of-Paris dissolves in the water the fish can bite on the exposed pieces of food. Goldfish, Plecostomus, Algae Eaters, Sharks, and Crabs swarm around these food blocks.

We recommend cleaning your fish's home before you leave to go on vacation. Click here for more information about cleaning your fish's home.

You should also change 20% of the water in your fish's home each day for 3 or 4 days before you leave. So the water in your fish's home will be really fresh, when you leave. Click here for more information about changing water.

Just before you leave, check to be sure all your fish are OK. Make sure all the equipment, if any, is plugged in and working properly. Then turn the lights off, and leave the lights off the entire time you're gone. Click here for more about aquarium lights.

Incidentally, you should not depend on your aquarium lights to heat the water in your aquarium. If you keep warm water fish, your aquarium should have an aquarium heater. Click here for more about aquarium heaters.

When you return, make checking on your fish one of your first priorities.

Don't use an Automatic Fish Feeder to feed your fish every day, because it can't be adjusted to feed just the right amount, and you need to watch your fish, while you feed them to be sure they're eating.

But the Automatic Fish Feeder might help, when you're gone for a couple of days. Be sure you test the Automatic Feeder for a few days before you leave, and your fish are left to depend on the feeder for all their food.