What a feeder does well — and its failure modes
For a week, an automatic feeder covers the one job that can't be skipped, and it never forgets, gets stuck in traffic, or feeds generously out of kindness. Modern units portion consistently and run happily for far longer than a week. Its failure modes are mechanical and silent, though: a jammed rotor, food clumping in humidity, batteries dying midweek, a unit knocked askew so portions land on the lid instead of in the water. A feeder also reports nothing — it cannot tell you the filter stopped on Tuesday, or that one fish hasn't eaten in days. For healthy adult fish in a stable tank those are acceptable risks; the calculation changes with the fish.
When only a person will do
Choose the sitter when any fish in the tank is young and feeding-hungry, old and needing watching, recovering from illness, or on a varied diet — frozen and fresh foods, target feeding, different items for different fish — that a feeder simply cannot deliver. Choose the sitter, too, when the tank itself needs eyes: a filter with a temper, a history of leaks, evaporation that needs topping up, plants that must be checked. And a sitter brings the one thing no device offers: judgment. They can see the fish who looks wrong and phone you while something can still be done.
Testing the feeder before you trust it
Never let a feeder's first working day be the day you leave. Set it up at least several days ahead, run it on the tank, and check the portion that lands each time — feeders routinely deliver double or half what the dial suggests, and a week of double portions in an unattended tank is a genuine water-quality emergency. Confirm it clears the food you actually use without bridging or jamming, fit fresh batteries regardless of what the current set claims, and position it so condensation from the tank can't reach the food store. A tested feeder is equipment; an untested one is a hope.
Briefing a sitter for a week
If you go the sitter route, make the job small and clear: pre-measured daily portions so no judgment about amounts is needed, a one-page routine in the order they'll do it, and a short call-me list — fish not eating, water cloudy, equipment silent, anything found dead. Ask for a photo or short message each visit; it reassures you, and it keeps the visits honest. Show them the tank running normally before you leave if you possibly can, so 'the filter sounds different' means something to them.
The belt-and-braces option
Many keepers combine both: the feeder handles routine dry food on schedule, and a sitter calls in once or twice midweek to check water, equipment and appetites, top up evaporation, and confirm the feeder is doing its job. For a week's absence that pairing covers the mechanical risk and the invisible risk at once, at the cost of one favour rather than seven. Which side you weight more heavily should follow the fish: the younger, older or more delicate they are, the more the balance tips toward human visits.
Whichever way you split the week, the handover works best written down in one place, and KinsLe's Care Pass lets your sitter step in with temporary access to the feeding routine and tank details for exactly the days you're gone.