Holidays and absences: fry feeding

Circumstances have conspired against me. I will be going away shortly and I have 400 fry which will be 8-10 weeks old when I depart for a week. The only person I could trust with the key to the house is going away at the same time. No one else is getting the key, full stop, we have only been here a few years, no neighbours to pop in.

With my adult fish, if it is just a week I generally put in extra plants, keep the water clean by doing two good water changes in the week before, then leaving them to it. I occasionally use autofeeders, I have a few. Adult fish are usually fine for a week.

With the fry my options are to put decap brine shrimp in an auto feeder or some dried food. I could add some vinegar eels or other live food to the tank, but it isnt going to stay alive for a week. Has anyone got any other suggestions which dont involve giving someone a key?

8-10 week olds should be fine for a week, but an automatic timer with flake food will help. Just make sure they're feeding on flake before you go, and set the timer running a few days in advance so that you can check it's working and not delivering too much food.

Thank you so much for that reply. It has set my mind at rest. Is it better to use finely ground flake, or decap brine shrimp, or fine 00 grade granules, or golden pearls? I have all of these and all will go in autofeeder. I am trying to think of what will pollute the water least.

I'm not sure how you'd get decap brineshrimp to work in an autofeeder, I'd try experimenting to see which of your options works best with your autofeeder, although I suspect that flake would be the least polluting.

Thanks again, I will get my autofeeders working, see which one works best with quantities needed.

Sorry for not updating. The fry were absolutely fine on my return, and the majority have now found new homes. I have kept a few back to raise also.