Hello,

I'll be going on holiday soon for between a week and two weeks and wanted some advice on the best automatic fish feeder to use as I don't want to use the chalky "holiday blocks". I've looked at several makes and models ranging from very cheap looking ones for around a fiver to very complicated looking ones for nearly 40. The one I'm thinking about getting the most is the Fish Mate F14 which seems to range from 15 to 20 quid. Can anyone advise on this? It's the only one I've seen that looks like it "works" if you know what I mean and I cannot see how the other "twisty" types work, like the Jewel one, for example. For what it's worth the Jewel one looks ok but I don't see how it can work and I don't have a jewel tank or hood.

Thanks for any advice.

Cheers.

I had a Juwel one previously and it worked well. As far as I remember it had an opening in the transparent part which you filled with food. At feeding time the transparent part rotated round and dispensed an amount of food, which you could regulate. The good thing about the fish mate is you can plan what goes into each portion and therefore mix pellets and flake or whatever. But I dont like the way it just sits on my aquarium lid. If it gets knocked out of place thats it. I am currently using a nutrafin one just because it fits in the hood of my current Fluval tank very conveniently. It was hard at first to find the correct portion size and its noisy when it works, but its adequate. The only good thing about it really is that it fits!

Another thought, do you have friends or family that can pop by once a day/every other day perhaps?

Most fish will be fine for up to a week with no feeding but I know this still worries us keepers/owners.

Weekly pill boxes (see Boots) are fab for storing weeks worth of pellets/algae wafers, dosed by you before you leave. They even have the days of the week printed on them for non fish keepers. Flake food doesn't fair well in these though due to drying out.

I rely on family to feed, putting a mixture of flake and pellets in small twisted foil parcels in a long line on the kitchen worktop (1 per day), the day before I leave. Then hide the food tubs lol

Nothing like a non fish keeper to think they still look hungry!

A good bottle of plonk when you get back, seems to work wonders

Ive got one of these:

linky

Its got really flexible programming. So far very pleased with it.

Onyxia - have you had any issues with it over feeding, or moisture getting in? From reviews I've read of some of the popular brands (lower budget ones) that seems to be some of the more common complaints. The one I was looking in to was the Eheim - but the cheapest I ever saw it was £30.

I tried a feeding block last time I went away, but it looked like the only things that ate it were the snails! I had a population explosion of the little "wonders" a few weeks later - assassins loved it

I've got a couple of fish mate F14 s and they work very well with pellets if you have the kind of tank where you can sit them on a nice dry warm (from lighting) tank lid with a feeding hole so that they cn deliver pellets straight into water. I think they would be less successful if you hd to use them under lid on condensation cover.

No problems so far. I did mount it a long way above the water line though so its not getting much humidity.

Ive only had it for a few weeks because Im going on holiday myself soon. I wanted to test it before I left so ATM its only doing a very small lunchtime feed. Ive never noticed it drastically overfeeding but it does seem to feed a little more when underfilled.

I think for that price, I might give it a try

I decided to go with the Fish Mate F14 in the end and I got a nice deal on 2 litres of Nutrafin water treatment at the same time :) The reason I went for it was the quality-looking timer and the bit you can connect the air hose to to stop the insides getting gummed up. I wasn't planning on keeping it on the tank full-time but I haven't got a problem cutting a small hole in the hood flap for it either. I appreciate that fish can go a little while without feeding but it'll give me peace of mind if I can at least give them something while I'm away and they can go on a bit of a diet.

Quote:

Before I went away I bought the one onyxia has and a more expensive juwel one and used one on each tank. I ran them in pots for a few days before I went to check they were ok and I actually found the cheaper LCD one you're looking at much better. It was much easier to program and more accurate at feeding. I only used pellets and crisps in them mixed together but the juwel struggled to control it to a small portion and when I got home the tank was full of snails . The only problem with the LCD one was attaching it to my smaller tank but with a peg and some cardboard I got it to stay put!