What can you do when you are not around for a few days or maybe a few weeks? How do you feed them or how to change water while you are away? What happens if you don’t give them food at all for days?
How Long Can Guppies Live Without Food? Guppies can live without food for up to 2 weeks. though I have heard about guppies that live six weeks without food. Guppy fries will not survive more than 2 to 4 days without feeding.
How Long Can Guppy Fry Live Without Food?
Guppy fries will not survive more than 2 to 4 days without feeding. They require to be fed two times a day to help them grown and develop.
Their survival rate drops significantly after three days without feeding them.
If you have guppy fries in your aquarium, it is a good idea to set up an automatic feeder with precipitate food to feed the fry once in 24 hours. Nourishing them with a tiny bit of feed once a day is sufficient to keep them alive and will not contaminate the water too much either.
In a well-organized tank, where microfauna and algae are available, guppy fries can live for a much longer time if food is constant. Fries eat soft algae, shrimps, daphnia, and other minute creatures that stay in the water. These feeds will help them to stay longer in your absence.
Can I Use An Automatic feeder for Your Guppies?
Automatic feeders (Available on Amazon) are a great choice to feed your guppy fish. But, they are not usually a great choice. Some prefer not to feed adult guppies for over ten days to using an automatic feeder.
While for fries, you can set up an automatic feeder for them, and I highly endorse you to do so if you will be out for weeks. There are online stores you can get automatic feeder.
Before Parting With Your Guppies for Weeks, You Must Do the Following
i) Prepare Your tank Before Leaving
ii) Keeping your tank clean regularly is vital if you want to nurture and keep healthy guppies.
iii) Do filter upkeep few days before parting with your guppies
iv) Do a finer water change (50-70%) one day before leaving
v) Put tank lights on a timer
vi) Remove rotten plant matter or dead/dying fish
vii) Do filter routine
viii) Doing constant filter maintenance is essential.
Unwanted waste and debris can build up in the filter as time goes. This has to be removed because it can be an awful source of nutrients and ammonia. In case you use a sponge filter, you should only wash the sponge in a plastic/bucket with tank water, and it is great to take it back to the aquarium.
If you have an interior or a content filter, you should clean the mechanical filter and eradicate all the built-up muck. You should not touch the biological filter section, because you want to keep the nitrifying bacteria thriving. Ensure you use a filter in your aquarium a few days before your short leave; it will help most of your guppies to stay alive.
A day before you leave your guppies, you should do a better water change. We advise you to change 30% of the water every week. You should replace this amount of water weekly; because you will need to preserve the nitrate levels less than 10 ppm. If you are consistent and you measure your aquarium, then they should reach a nitrate level within six to seven days.
When you part with your fish for weeks, we advise doing 50-80% water change. Though this amount of water, you will reduce a lot of nitrates and other fish waste from the water. It will take a lot of time for the nitrates, toxins, and hormones to accumulate to toxicity level.
When doing such a massive water change, I also add nitrifying bacteria to help keep the cluster stable.
Aquarium Lights Time Regulator
People ask if you should switch the aquarium lights/off while you are away. We advise using a regulator for your aquarium lights. You can get this is different stores online.
If it is difficult to get a timer, it is better to keep the lights off than putting the lights on 24/7 because guppies prefer dark environment. Though, make sure that the tank environment is not blacked out entirely. Some sort of natural light is still necessary, especially if you have plants with your guppies in the aquarium.
Eliminate Decaying Plants And Dead/Dying Guppies
Getting rid of rotten plants, leaves, or dirty aquarium decorations is an excellent way to lessen water pollution. Lifeless leaves will rotten and will turn into nitrates. While, some of the nitrates can be enthralled by live plants, though few nitrates will remain in the water.
Before leaving your tank, you should also examine your fish. Dying or ill fish should also be taken out of the aquarium. A dead fish will give an ammonia spike, which will lead to more dead guppies. And the chain reaction continues. This is ill-fated, but if you want to save your cluster of guppies, sometime few might be lost to death.
To figure it up: guppies can survive without food for at least two weeks if the water quality is excellent. So if you are embarking on a more extended trip, do more significant tank upkeep before parting, and your fish will be just well.
If you have fries, you need to feed them at least once a day. So have them in mind. Be free to share your views with us.