Automatic Feeder

[reefmongrel]

Anyone have experience or recommendation for an automatic feeder? May need one for 3 days/week. If you have a dry food recommendation for use on my reef tank to run with it - that would be a bonus. Fish are:
2 small Hippos Tangs
1 Medium Kole Tang
1 Chromis
1 Yellow Tang
2 Clowns

Thanks!!

Reefmongrel

 

[Len]

I've tried the Ehiem feeder. While it works fine, there are some cavaets. First, it took a long time to get my fish to even nibble at dry foods. OSI and Ocean Nutrition Prime Reef were the only two that worked, and they still did not enjoy these feeds. If you're going to feed dry foods, prepare for a lot of experimenting and coaxing to get your fish to eat it. Second, while the Eheim feeder worked fine, what happened was the food had a tendancy to absorb moisture and clump up. The high heat/high humidity environment over marine tanks makes the situation problematic.

If possible stick with frozen or live foods.

 

[Anonymous]

Are theses 3 day in a row or 3 odd days a week? The fish can be feed every other day.

 

[Tackett]

You might try the Sally's freeze dried plankton. Though they dont freak out about it like they do the frozen squid, they still eat it up.

 

[reefmongrel]

Len/Wazzel/Tackett:

Thanks for your feedback. It will be for 3 consecutive days. I did check out the Eheim online. I have been occasionally feeding them some small dry pellets - although it is not their mainstay - they do consume it. I definitely do not over feed because I like the mix of fish, LR, and corals - and I have great numbers with a 30g refugium and 30% water change monthly. (90 gal display) I just feel 3 days is a bit long not to feed highly active fish. Thanks again - any other thoughts are appreciated.

Reefmongrel

 

[Anonymous]

Have any neighbors you trust? When we are going to be away, I'll get one of my neighbors to stop by and feed them. I usually get one of those weekly pill conatiners, put what I want them to feed for that day in each compartment, and throw it in the freezer. They don't have to think about anything but thawing and feeding that way.

 

[Anonymous]

When I had an auto feeder, I had a terrible time with the dry food floating on the top of the water and then going right down the overflow.

I tried some sinking pellets, but of course the fish wouldn't eat them.

What I eventually did was put the feeder on my sump, then as the food got saturated with water it got sucked through the return pump and spit into the tank. I had baffles in my sump and they also kept the food from going into the skimmer. I don't know how good that was for the pump, it never seemed to cause any problems, but I did not do this for more than several months. My husband eventually dropped the auto feeder into the sump, so that was the end of the auto feeder saga.

 

[Anonymous]

Have any neighbors you trust? When we are going to be away, I'll get one of my neighbors to stop by and feed them. I usually get one of those weekly pill conatiners, put what I want them to feed for that day in each compartment, and throw it in the freezer. They don't have to think about anything but thawing and feeding that way.

Last time I went away, I took a bunch of coffee cups and put an appropriate frozen food meal in each one. Then, I filled them half full with RO water, as I was worried if they were just sitting open in the freezer they would dry out or pick up icky flavors and the fish would not eat them. I thought that the water would make the food pour better into the tank too, rather than have an icky blob of defrosted food stuck to the bottom.

I put all the cups in the freezer, except one in the fridge. Instuction to fish sitter went: Take cup from refrigerator, pour into tank. Take another cup from freezer and put into the fridge before you leave. That way it was defrosted when she came next.

It seemed to work well. I have also left dry food portioned out in those little cups you get for condiments if you eat at a fast food place, but I really prefer my fish to eat frozen.

 

[Tarasco]

Laura, that's a great idea (except for the dropping it in the sump part). Somthing to remember.