I was thinking about getting an automatic fish feeder for my tank. I was wondering has anyone used one of these, and how do they work? Who makes a good model also? I have a 30 gallon eclipse tank, will one even fit on: the tank?
Automatic Feeders
- Thread starter carttman
- Start date
There are some good ones out there and there are some bad ones out there...so do some research (besides this post) before you buy. I bought one from petco (can't think of the brand) but it's basically a tumbler that rotates 1 time every 12 hours. Found the problem with this model was that there's no way to change the timing, and it's hard to get a regular amount dispensed.
I would never use one in place of regular manual feedings. Even the expensive/nice ones can have problems if they get moisture inside of the holding area and the food starts to clump. Most of the also aren't very good for feeding anything besides flake food. My opinion is don't use one unless you have to. If you're going to be gone a few days (3-4), just let the fish fast a little. If you're going to be gone longer, give a friend the key and let them do the feedings.
I would never use one in place of regular manual feedings. Even the expensive/nice ones can have problems if they get moisture inside of the holding area and the food starts to clump. Most of the also aren't very good for feeding anything besides flake food. My opinion is don't use one unless you have to. If you're going to be gone a few days (3-4), just let the fish fast a little. If you're going to be gone longer, give a friend the key and let them do the feedings.
I have this one that I bought a few years ago when we were going on a two+ week vacation.
http://www.drsfostersmith.com/product/prod_Display.cfm?siteid=6&pCatId=4466
It works pretty well but I wouldn't use it on a regular basis - moreso just for vacations. Why - well on the plus side, it is compartmentalized - so you can vary the food for each feeding. On the downside however, moisture (with any of these units) is a problem (causing the food to stick / clump up). Also, while this is supposed to allow you to do more than 1 feeding a day by switching some internal lever, I had real problems with that.
Basically - I tried using on a day to day basis for 2 feedings a day - and came home to find that in 8 hours the unit had dropped about 4 feedings.
So I only use for vacation - one feeding a day - and what I do to beat the moisture is put a mix of food in that days segment, first flakes, then pellts then some heavy shrimp pellets on top. So the weight helps it all drop even if some moisture starts to cause the flakes to stick
http://www.drsfostersmith.com/product/prod_Display.cfm?siteid=6&pCatId=4466
It works pretty well but I wouldn't use it on a regular basis - moreso just for vacations. Why - well on the plus side, it is compartmentalized - so you can vary the food for each feeding. On the downside however, moisture (with any of these units) is a problem (causing the food to stick / clump up). Also, while this is supposed to allow you to do more than 1 feeding a day by switching some internal lever, I had real problems with that.
Basically - I tried using on a day to day basis for 2 feedings a day - and came home to find that in 8 hours the unit had dropped about 4 feedings.
So I only use for vacation - one feeding a day - and what I do to beat the moisture is put a mix of food in that days segment, first flakes, then pellts then some heavy shrimp pellets on top. So the weight helps it all drop even if some moisture starts to cause the flakes to stick
Any feeder that allows moisture near the food is prone to clogging or worse... you could come home to a gloppy, fungusy mess. Two feeders I've used that are reliable and that keep the food dry are Hagen's Nutramatic and Eheim's Air Feeder. Both work well.
The bigger question is whether you need a feeder at all. Unless you're going away for more than 2 weeks, you probably are better off just not feeding the fish.
Jim
The bigger question is whether you need a feeder at all. Unless you're going away for more than 2 weeks, you probably are better off just not feeding the fish.
Jim
I have a Renaissance electric feeder and I like it a lot. At the end of the food 'barrel' you can hook up an air hose to keep the food dry. All digital...pretty cool.