Tetra Holiday Sticks are intended to provide you with an alternative to the plaster based weekend food feeders. Though well-intentioned the food fell very short in my tests, though it may provide a perfectly good alternative for some beginners, or those with small "bread & butter" fish.

	Instead of the normal plaster saucers that have been used for some time as weekend feeders, Holiday sticks use a new unique design that does not affect the pH of a tank the way plaster does. (Plaster is known to raise the pH level. The amount the pH would be raised is directly proportional to the tank size and the amount of plaster put into the tank)
	Holiday sticks also claim that they contain mold inhibitors. Though this might be a nice feature if you were feeding them to terrestrial animals, this feature may not be as valuable to underwater animals.
	Tetra claims that the food is very nutritious, but hey, what did you expect them to say.
	I e-mailed Tetra twice about the product and received very timely frank responses. When I mentioned some of the trouble I had, they agreed that I might experience such trouble, but disagreed with me on the need for a snail food warning on the package.

	With large fish, you won’t see the sticks for more than a few minutes. They become quick chump food, so if you have cichlids, look for something else.
	Snails will eliminate the sticks in a matter of hours.
	Loaches will also eat the sticks faster than you can reach your weekend destination.

Though I was excited to try the Tetra Holiday Sticks, I found them incompatible with my aquariums. I do believe they would be of use to beginners who have tetras and live bearers, but feel that larger fish, catfish, and snail will render them useless as a food for a weekend journey. The good news of course is that most of your fish can survive a weekend without food. If you’re going to be gone more than a couple of days, I’d suggest you hire someone to feed your fish while you are gone. You might check with a local aquarium society to find someone qualified or just leave detailed notes with daily portions left out for each day. It might take a little more time to prepare, but the overall cost won’t be too different if you have several tanks. In the end taking care of the fish is the most important thing.