Recommend Auto Fish Feeder

[kirkwood]

I'm looking for something for when I'm out of town for the holidays. Not a permanent feeding solution.

Right now I'm liking the Fishmate F14 because I can deliver the precise amount each day. I will be feeding ELOS pellets.

Another unit I've seen positive feedback on is the Eheim.

any advice?

 

[cbj25]

how long are you going to be gone? a feeder might not be necessary, depending on your livestock

 

[tsellers]

I have the Eheim feeder and it works great.

 

[jef4y]

eheim & a mixture of pellets & freeze dried mysis.

 

[kirkwood]

Anyone have experience with the Fish Mate?

For the eheim, would it mount easily under a canopy (I have no exposed tank rim to mount to)?? I feed Elos pellets which are tiny. Would this type of food work well in this unit?

 

[jef4y]

Kirkwood;816057 wrote: Anyone have experience with the Fish Mate?

No.

For the eheim, would it mount easily under a canopy (I have no exposed tank rim to mount to)?? I feed Elos pellets which are tiny. Would this type of food work well in this unit?

Yes, Yes.

 

[jj ocean]

Hands down - Ehiem. I've used for food as fine as Otohime A (basically a powder) for clownfish larvae. Just have to close the opening slide way down. No experience on the other.

Just don't let it fall in ... even for a second. You got a paper weight after that!

 

[jef4y]

Also use a little tape on the opening adjuster to make sure it stays put.

 

[cedzaquaddiction]

I was looking at the Fishmate myself, but ended up going Eheim. I feed Sustainable Aquatics pellets (you'd be hard pressed to find pellets smaller than these), and have heard that the eheim unit will dump too much food in at a time. The food door isn't designed too well, and may self-adjust causing too much food to be dumped in. With a little thinking, and waterproof adhesive of some type, I was able to lock mine in place without ever worrying about it re-adjusting. I left my QT with this feeder while I was away, and even the fish that didn't eat these pellets were eating them when I came home.

If you go the fishmate route, I've heard that you will need to put the flakes on the bottom of the tray and the pellets on top so the pellets will weigh the flakes down so they can drop out.

Just a note: My fish wouldn't eat without the light on, so you may want to look into setting your light timer to go with your food timer.

Best of luck!!!

Edit: I'll try to post up some pics tonight of my feeder and the amount of food I have it deliver if that will help...

Also: I had to leave one of my tops off because I didn't have time to cut for the feeder. It has a plastic c-type clamp for mounting...

 

[rasbora]

CedzAquAddiction;816135 wrote: I was looking at the Fishmate myself, but ended up going Eheim. I feed Sustainable Aquatics pellets (you'd be hard pressed to find pellets smaller than these), and have heard that the eheim unit will dump too much food in at a time. The food door isn't designed too well, and may self-adjust causing too much food to be dumped in. With a little thinking, and waterproof adhesive of some type, I was able to lock mine in place without ever worrying about it re-adjusting. I left my QT with this feeder while I was away, and even the fish that didn't eat these pellets were eating them when I came home.

The eheim is a great feeder, ended up buying a few of them over the years. I agree the door isn't that great, sometimes moves a bit. What I did was to stick a piece of velcro on it, so i can adjust it. Best thing about the feeder probably is you can set up to 4 feedings a day at whatever times you like. Also holds a ton of pellets/flake. I tend to use it on a daily basis, makes life a bit easier.