Will Billy Posted January 25, 2021 Share Posted January 25, 2021 (edited) I have never used an auto feeder before, and was just looking at some online and on amazon. I was wondering if anyone has ever used these devices before? Did they work well? Are there features i should look for in a good model vs a more mediocre model? Or are they even worth the time or money? Any thoughts and opinions are more than welcome. *oops, i thought i was in the general thread, didnt mean to post it to the plants thread. * Edited January 25, 2021 by Will Billy Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
OceanTruth Posted January 25, 2021 Share Posted January 25, 2021 I've only used the Fish Mate F14 auto feeder. I loved it, because I could control exactly how much food was being dispensed. Each little compartment is one feeding. Also, it slowly released the food as opposed to dumping it in all at once. You can load it with flakes or pellets. The negatives are that you are limited to the 14 compartments. So once a day you can feed for 14 days. Twice a day only 7 days and so forth. Also, if you have monster fish or monster tanks with tons of fish this feeder wouldn't be for you, because the compartments only hold a small amount. If you want an auto feeder for a small or nano tank I would recommend it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Will Billy Posted January 25, 2021 Author Share Posted January 25, 2021 Hmm, interesting. I was looking at that one because i have flakes and crumbles for my nano fish, and i use bottom feeder pellets and algae wafers for my cleaning crew. I thought that one would be best for mixing different types of food vs the rotating cylinder looking ones. My only concern now is that i have nearly max stocked 55 gallon of nano fish plus 2 dojo loaches. Now im not sure each chamber would hold enough food for everybody. ( especially the dojos, they are glutenous pigs lol) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
OceanTruth Posted January 25, 2021 Share Posted January 25, 2021 12 minutes ago, Will Billy said: Hmm, interesting. I was looking at that one because i have flakes and crumbles for my nano fish, and i use bottom feeder pellets and algae wafers for my cleaning crew. I thought that one would be best for mixing different types of food vs the rotating cylinder looking ones. My only concern now is that i have nearly max stocked 55 gallon of nano fish plus 2 dojo loaches. Now im not sure each chamber would hold enough food for everybody. ( especially the dojos, they are glutenous pigs lol) Sorry, you definitely wouldn't want the Fish Mate then. I don't know if they sell them in the U.S. anymore, but it seemed like the Eheim auto feeder was well regarded by most people. I've never used it before so I can't say. I'm sure there will be other opinions, a lot of people seem to use auto feeders. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fonske Posted January 25, 2021 Share Posted January 25, 2021 I used these two types of rotating cylinder auto-feeders (pictures from the internet) for my nano-tanks and in general, they worked fine for me. I initially set them for a 3 weeks vacation and then left them on just to see how long and reliable they would work. Both feeders were used to deliver tiny amounts of powdered food. Both worked reliably for more than 5 months on a single battery pack, with two rotations per day. I dismantled them before the batteries died, so the maximum time period might be limited by the food container rather than power (and the number of feedings and rotations per feeding, of course). The programming was quite easy and manual feeding was possible too. Both feeders had to be placed well above the tanks to avoid moisture absorption, otherwise the food would get clumpy and clog the auto-feeder opening. Their mounting options were not really suited for tanks filled almost up to the brim, so I had to find a workaround. The food container of the first feeder had to be connected carefully, otherwise it could get stuck (or fall off if knocked accidentally). The second feeder did not have this issue but its opening was much larger, more difficult to get a small and consistent amount of food in each rotation. I had to experiment "on a dry land" (i.e. holding the feeders over a piece of paper rather than over the fish tanks) quite a bit before getting it right. I still have the auto-feeders and I would use them if long vacations become an option again. I would use them too if I had a lot of "working" tanks fed mostly with dry food. For the moment, I enjoy feeding live and frozen food so the auto-feeders don't have much use. And I like my fish to anticipate my face and the sound of my steps rather than the time schedule and the sound of the rotating auto-feeder. :) 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AdamTill Posted January 25, 2021 Share Posted January 25, 2021 Heartily recommend the Eheim Everyday feeder. Not only does it work well but it’s sort of subdued and classy rather than being colourful and distracting like some. There are Chinese knockoffs as well that work, but are a huge step down in quality from the name brand version. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lemon Posted January 25, 2021 Share Posted January 25, 2021 what happened to aquarium co ops feeder? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FrozenFins Posted January 25, 2021 Share Posted January 25, 2021 37 minutes ago, quirkylemon103 said: what happened to aquarium co ops feeder? they discontinued them Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Create an account or sign in to comment
You need to be a member in order to leave a comment
Create an account
Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!
Register a new accountSign in
Already have an account? Sign in here.
Sign In Now