Tetra Weekend Food

Hi All

I’m going away for a week and I’ve got some Tetra Weekend food sticks for the fish.

It says on the box for my size tank:

Number of Fish
8-18

Days of Absence
2-3 days = 1 stick
4-6 days = 2 sticks

I have less than 8 fish (only 2 platies) but I’m out of the house for 6 whole days....so should I go with 1 stick or 2 do you think?

Really?! Oh dear. Why such a poor reputation?

I have nobody to feed them while I’m away.

Any other suggestions? 

I have previously left my gang without food when going away, and they've been fine.
I was very nervous to start with, so just started with weekends away, then increased the time to long weekends, and as everyone was fine I felt more and more comfortable, so continued to increase the time away.
Earlier this year I went on a longer holiday, and managed to get a friend to call over every 3rd day to feed them, but as a general rule I leave them as they are.
 

From what little I've heard about those food sticks, I'd be inclined to think of some other plan...  They have a pretty poor reputation... 

Just to clarify, @ID2, that it's not that particular brand that's a problem - in fact, I think they're one of the better ones, but generally they do have a reputation for fouling the water as Hampalong describes. (Having said that, I put one in for my goldfish many years ago, hidden behind some decor, but he found it, went into a frenzied attack of it, and consumed it in its entirety within 45mins before I'd even left for the airport.)

I use a Fishmate auto-feeder which is an alternative option [do a search on here for auto-feeders and you'll see various discussions of them] but they're not entirely fool-proof eg food can get clogged up in these devices, especially with the small number of fish you'd be feeding, and they don't always work with modern-day tank lids/hoods and potentially result in a gap from which fish might leap out.

I find an auto-feeder more reliable than humans, though - I've had folk not keeping their promises of calling in or folk panicking because decor has fallen over / they think the fish isn't well, etc, and I can see how a series of idiosyncrasies with the tank could cause a range of problems (eg opening the tank can sometimes knock the filter off the tank wall, but a person unfamiliar with the tank might not realise the need to take care that no tank inhabitants dart behind the filter as it's being re-attached), etc.

In a nutshell, therefore, leave them as they are. If you have a habit of pulling out all plugs before you leave, though, remember to keep everything connected with the tank switched on - think of the filter as the life-support machine of the tank.