# Other Aquarium Forums > Fish Care, Nutrition and Water Management >  How long can fish go without food?

## hck

I have some bristlenose nose pleco, some neon tetra and cherry shrimp, just want to know how long can these fellows go without food? 
especially when we are planning for a family holiday and there's no one to feed these fellows at home.

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## stormhawk

Most fish can go without food for 2-3 days at a stretch, but if you're planning a long holiday, get an automatic feeder.

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## Aquanoob

I read in some books that fish can go without food for
about 14 days. It is said that if they are really very hungry,
they will search for all that they can swallow, like algaes,
plants, leftovers at the gravel, so they wont go hungry.

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## stormhawk

In the wild, fish are more of opportunists than anything else. They don't get to eat constantly, so they gorge themselves when the chance comes.

14 days is too long for fish to survive in an aquarium. If you are going for a long extended holiday, get an automatic fish feeder or ask a relative/friend you trust, to come over and feed them while you're away.

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## checkerboard

I find that fishes can actually starve for some time (more than a week) and they will not die. BUT, do note that prolong starvation can lead to skinny or sunken-belly fishes and they do not recover well from that even after you start feeding them again. If you do not have many fishes and have a big tank of plants etc, the fish MAY sometimes be able to scavenge for some 'bugs and fleas' amongst the mosses. But to play it safe, try to get someone to feed or use automatic feeders as suggested.

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## ranmasatome

i've gone 10days without food for my fishes, but that was a forgetful mistake. Nothing died but some took a long time to look fat again.

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## hck

Thanks guys, holiday plans shelved. In any case, its good to know, so next time I will have to plan for a short holiday then, anything not more than 5 days, I think should be safe. Most of our relatives are not into fish keeping, so getting help is a problem and using an automatic feeder can post more problem, water pollution.

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## garfieldnfish

Rule of thumb is 7 days. But male plecos can go for up to 3 week without eating anything (except for bad eggs). I would feel comfortable leaving my fish for 4 days without food.

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## lucasjiang

i think most likely your fishes would end up feasting on the cherry shrimps, which would be a very nutritious treat for them. :Laughing:

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## stormhawk

Haha lucas. If it's not the shrimp that gets eaten, its that one or more of the fishes will die, and then the shrimp and other fish feast on the remains..  :Laughing:

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## hck

Didn't have time to water change, so decided to stop feeding for 3 days. Just last night, many smaller cherry shrimp died already, neon tetra, cory and pleco still alive.

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## Kane

2 weeks is ok in a planted tank. they will eat the plants

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## ctzeh

What kind of plants would fishes like mollies eat?

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## StanChung

I thought the answer was "just before they die."  :Laughing: 

Timers should be set to minimum IME. Most of the time it's better to starve them than to overfeed because there's no WC especially in a heavily stocked tank.

Get somebody to come over and feed them if possible.

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## whale66

anything beyond 1 week of no food will be pushing it, I think.  :Smile:

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## youtypetooslow

The last time i went for holiday i used the holiday fish food which can last for 2 weeks. Not sure about how much it cost but its less than $10SGD.

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## chooz

My tetras and white clouds have gone without food for 2 weeks. All survived.

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## ouuuigh

fishes that eat live food can survive without food for 3weeks , like arowana , bichirs , etc , etc , i stop feeding my arowana and other fishes becoz they get too fat and look stupidly ugly , and due to the DE my arowana have on one eye

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## hck

Ha, back to this topic again. Now that I have pleco fry, I need to know how long these fries can survive without food as I really need to plan for the long outstanding holiday, but had been quite worried about leaving these little ones without food. I am not so worried about the adults, because it seems they can go without food for more than 7 days. 

These little ones, however, are now only about 1mth old and I have another batch coming up, and if I leave them in the tank with just driftwood without any other food, can they survive? for maybe around 5 days?

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## StanChung

What species is it?

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## hck

Its albino bristenose

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## sglascow

Dude you should just get an automatic feeder. they're not that expensive. i got one when i went on a holiday for 3 weeks. Just a little bit everyday for 4 oscar's. It works great and it's quite reliable. Some fish can go for ages without food though.

Right now i'm keeping 2 snakeheads who can go for MONTHS without food.

2 Oscars who can go awhile without food. But i dare not try. As you probably know oscars are extremely greedy. So if i feed them like 5 hours later than i usually do they start to attack each other. haha :S. 

Then my discus' can go for a few weeks without food. + they are very sulky. So they usually fast for awhile because they are mad. I don't know about pleco's though. i have a couple of pleco's and i've never 'tested' how long they can go without food.

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## Crusaders

If your fishes is well fed and healthy it can last for a fortnight with feeding.... :Smile:

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## sglascow

> If your fishes is well fed and healthy it can last for a fortnight with feeding....



With feeding? All fishes can last a fortnight with feeding right ? Don't u mean without feeding ? Haha. FYI not all fish can. Oscar's can if they are alone. But as you probably know Oscar's will kill each other and other things If no food is present.

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