Fish Mate F14 Aquarium Fish Feeder

It's closer to 4.5 stars. I've used the drum autofeeders in the past and hated them because it's so hard to guess the opening for the right amount of food to dispense, and the moisture makes short, moldy work of flake food. I have 4 tanks, I bought one to try out: it was a bit frustrating at first because the tray moves/lifts off so easily that it took me 3 (irritating) tries to get the food in and the feeder situated on the aquarium. I learned it's very helpful to stick a fat pen (sharpie, etc) into the opening to keep it from spinning. The aquarium I tested it out on is 55 gal, and that has the LED light inserts - I just removed one of the lights, pulled back the plastic cover that protects the light, and set the feeder so that the opening was over the exposed water. It was too close to the water for the flake food, and I was not interested in hooking up an air pump, so I elevated it by putting some cut wood paneling pieces under it to raise it about 4". That helped tremendously, but sometimes the flakes still got too moist and wouldn't dispense because it stuck to the sidewalls of the tray. So rather than raise it anymore, I just opened the cover - viola! That did it. I have several different kinds of fish, so in addition to flakes, there are shrimp pellets, freeze-dried bloodworms, and algae tablets (broken into pieces. What makes this great is that it dispenses exactly the amounts of the different foods rather than random mixture from the drum-style feeders and this is what sold me. I have ordered 3 more for my other tanks - all of which I can make work in a very similar fashion. Do test it out before you go on vacation - make sure you've worked any of the bugs out and that you're confident it will work while you're gone. I was ready to get rid of my tanks because it was so stressful trying to arrange someone to come over to feed them while I was out of town, but now this has removed the stress and I'm glad that I can keep my fish tanks:) The cons are the irritation at how easily it is to mess up the food you so carefully distribute into each cell, just by a little bump (thus having to do it all over again), and the price - I don't see how in the world this thing should cost almost $25 - that's highway robbery for such a simple gadget (no LCD display or anything - just a simple clock mechanism and all plastic parts). But I'm obviously willing to pay it because it's a simple solution that works really well. *Update, I'll bump it up to 4.75 stars (still the price factor is ridiculous), but I did order the other 3 and have them all on my tanks. They work so well, I use them as everyday feeders (they were originally intended as vacation feeders only). Using them creates less wasted food because it dispenses a little at a time over an hour, so the fish have time to get it all rather than having some of it get sucked up in the filter. I have it feed them 2x a day - so once a week I fill all the feeders (it's helpful to remove the feeder, set it on a table, stick a fat pen (or something comparable) into the opening to stop the wheel from spinning, and use a small funnel when adding food to the chambers.)

I do like the way it works, it's simple to see if it has fed, or is working. I've used two of the when I e gone on vacation for over a week multiple times. Most issue people have is how it's designed. I have mine up off the tanks about 6 inches from the water line, so I don't have issue with moisture, how ever there is an airline port to remedy this problem if you have it. I'm able to feed all types of food from mine but if you mix in one compartment, make sure you put the lightest food on top. IE flakes on top of pellets, or it will compress the flakes when it spins and then not drop into the tank. One stopped working, but I think Ive had it for over 3 years, use them every day and I dropped it into the tank one time. As for battery life, Ive never had one die, but I replace them right before I go on vacation every time, and I might take one or two per year. It's not louder than water movent or a clock for sure. I don't even notice them which is why it's hard to know if they stopped running. I can tell because I have two, that I stock same day, so if the numbers are off, one isn't working. Now I only have issues with the one I dropped into the tank previously intermittently not running, new batteries, took all the gears apart to dry but still have problems now. I will highly highly highly point out that you NEED to remove the ring and clean underneath it everytime you stock. If anything sits under the ring, other food will do the same and you'll have compounding issues. Make sure the ring is seated properly, and vmbe very careful moving it back to the tank as any bumps could move the ring our of place or bump it up and have food get under it, causing you to dump and start over, stocking it again. That's my biggest gripe. 4 stars for portion size, as it can feed my fully stocked 36 gallon, but that is the max it can do, with flake and pellets. Overall I would recommend this because the portions are controlled. Not possible to dump a complete 100ml container of food into your 10g in 2 days because the door shifted open like the barrel style feeders. I've looked around at others and can't find a better design thats as reliable. Even the updated green version knock off of this one has a attached ring making cleaning a pain and it costs more than this one. Plus it has a door that actuates open and closed which is another addition to fail especially since all the gears are plastic and the motors are as cheap as possible.

The Fish Mate F14 Aquarium Fish Feeder is a fantastic feeder to use when you're away from your fishtank for more than a week at a time. The feeder works very well to dispense pellets, dried bloodworms, and dried brine shrimp to my betta and African dwarf frog. To use, simply set the time on the unit, put in a peg (or multiple pegs if you plan on feeding more than one time a day) at the time you want the food to drop, then let the unit do its thing. The clock works like a kitchen timer - the peg rotates as the minutes tick away, and once it gets the designated feeding time, the peg helps move the large circular feeding tray to drop the food in the water. This unit doesn't work all that well with flake food, although it is advertised as being able to dispense it. This wasn't a huge issue for me as I can use betta pellets to feed my fish, but it would be nice if it worked better for the flake food for the guppies - luckily those greedy guys like betta pellets also. I've been using the unit since I originally ordered it in May - so far, it's run about 2 months on a single battery and it's worked flawlessly. We've refilled the unit every two weeks, and so far everyone is alive and well in the tank. I plan on changing out the battery before we go on vacation to make sure that the battery doesn't run out once we're gone. This feeder has worked so well that I just ordered a second unit for our other tank. One thing to note is that if you plan on feeding your fish twice a day that there's only enough slots for a weeks worth of food. If you feed once a day, this can hold two weeks of food. Overall, this is a really handy feeder to have and it will guarantee your fish will be fed the correct amount for the days that you're gone.

I have two of these for my tanks. They work great for dispensing small quantities of foods such as catfish pellets, but they're definitely not perfect. The circular ring you see in the product picture is divided into sections around its circumference that corral the food. Each time that outer ring rotates one of the sections passes over a hole at the front of the unit, and this permits the food to drop through to your tank. There is a 24hr timer in the center that continuously turns (one revolution per day). Pegs attached to the timer are what cause the outer ring to rotate -- you get 4 pegs, so you can have up to 4 feedings per day if you use them all. It takes about an hour for one of the sections to fully pass over the top of the feeding hole, so the food tends to fall out a little bit at a time over the course of that hour. The sections are not very large and you won't have room for much food in each. Pellets, granules and wafers work well. I usually break pleco wafers in half to make sure they fit with room to spare; the food dispensing hole is not very big and you don't want the wafers to get stuck or it may prevent further feedings. Flake foods do not work well in this feeder; the flakes tend to settle flat against the surface of the feeder and then slide under the sides of the ring. I do sometimes put flakes on top of the granules, because that tends to stop them gumming up the works, but generally I avoid flakes entirely because its not worth the hassle in this feeder (I use a separate drum feeder for flakes). The thing that causes me the most trouble is that the outer ring is not affixed to the body of the unit except for gravity and a tiny raised plastic guide rail. It is thus very easy to nudge or bump the ring out of position when moving the unit. If the ring does get out of position while it has food in it, then some food is likely to get under the edge of the ring and stop it from lying flush in the correct position. At this point you have to completely empty the feeder, re-seat the ring, and then refill it; this can be very frustrating when it happens. I wish they had incorporated a mechanism to hold the outer ring in position a little better. The mounting bracket that it comes with didn't really work for my use-case because the food would have ended up being dispensed on to my glass cover instead of into the water! I perch the feeder on top of my filter instead (this keeps it high enough from the water to avoid getting splashed or damp, and lets the water flow from the filter disperse any food that falls in. I did once drop an entire feeder into my tank because it tipped forward and just slid right in ... After this incident I siliconed some lead weights to the inside/back of the feeder to counter-balance it. On the plus side, after I took it out of the water, removed the battery, shook it out and then left it in a sealed container with some uncooked rice and a few tablespoons of Damp Aid, it dried out and is still working for me to this day.

The item works much like the lamp timers one would use. Very straightforward in that respect. There are a number of hoppers that you place desired food in and it will turn to open those in a Ferris wheel type motion. Flakes, small pellets, and some other thin items are not going to work well since they will both slip below the carousel but also get sticky from humidity and not clear the device. It works well enough to use those items for a few days and doesn't pose the risk of ammonia overload like the dissolve tablets tend to do. For occasional use, far above a tank, or even exploring the air pump option (opening the lid did not work in my case) this is a pretty good device. Cannot recommend as a hands off solution without constant supervision over a few days of from clean use.

I know alot of people don't trust auto-feeders, and for the most part they're right. However, the Fishmate F14 is a different type of feeder. It seems most of the negative reviews revolve around condensation getting their food soggy and preventing the unit from rotating. You know what nearly all of those reviews have in common? They're not hooking an air pump up to the air line attachment (more on that later in the review)! When I first got my unit, I did not use it either and had an issue with moisture after a few days. So I hooked up an air pump and, voila, problem solved! It's there for a reason, use it. Another thing worth mentioning, do NOT put anything on top of the feeder. It seems that any weight on the top cover has a very good chance of catching the rotating wheel and causing it to hang up. This feeder is absolutely fantastic, it's head and shoulders above the "drum" style feeders. As you can see, it's fundamentally different. The feeder has a rotating wheel with 15 compartments in it. At the front of the feeder, there is a hole the size of one of the compartments so that when the food is rotated over it, the food falls into the tank. The main benefit of this style of feeder is that you can put premeasured amounts of food in the unit, as well as different types of food. I need to feed 3 times of food to my community tank (flakes, algae wafers, shrimp pellets) and this feeder allows me to do this. That wouldn't be possible with the drum style feeders. And since each portion is premeasured, there's no worry of the feeder dumping too much or not enough food into the tank. The middle is like an automatic timer for lights, it does one complete rotation in 24 hours. You put the little reg pegs at the time you wish to feed, and when the time arrives, the mechanism rotates the food wheel one space. Instead of dumping the food all at once, it is slowly dispersed over the course of an hour and a half (the wheel slowly rotates every 15 minutes or so for the feeding). I like this, it gives the fish a better opportunity to eat all the food imo. You have the option of feeding anywhere from 1 to 4 times a day, meaning the feeder can feed your fish from anywhere from 3.5 days to 14 days depending on how many times a day you have it set to feed the fish. You only have slots for the red pegs every 3 hours, so your feeding times would could be midnight, 3am, 6am, 9am, noon, 3pm, 6pm, or 9pm. This isn't an issue to me, but something worth noting. If you really want a specific time, you could offset the time of day on the feeder to correspond with your desired feeding times. There is also an air inlet on the bottom of the feeder you can hook an air pump up to. This is to help reduce moisture from entering the unit and getting your food soggy. The air flowing in the unit creates positive pressure and actually helps quite a bit. I use the air pump attachment and have had no issues with food getting wet. My feeder is just inches above the water line, and there is a decent amount of surface agitation from my air stone in the tank. Overall, I'm very pleased with this unit. I've even ordered a second one to feed my shrimp tank. With my job, I'm often away from home a week at a time, so a reliable feeder is of utmost importance to me. I've been using the Fishmate F14 for nearly 4 months now and have not had any issues. The unit is powered by one AA battery. The feeding compartments are small, and it can be difficult to get the food in the compartments when loading it. What I've found works best is to put your food on a piece of paper, and fold the paper once to create a type of "chute" so you can pinpoint where you want the food to go. Since doing that, I've had no issues getting the food exactly where I want it. Wow, that's quite a sales pitch, isn't it! I just want to make sure others know about this feeder since it appears to be the only feeder of this style. There is a similar style feeder, the Grässlin Rondomatic 400, but I can't find any place in the US that carries it, and it's more then twice the price of the Fishmate. So if you're looking for a feeder for your fish, look no further!

This is the second one of these I bought...it was for a family member. I bought my original several years back and it has worked well this whole time. It is great for flakes in particular, but I also put in an algea tablet in each section. It turns really slowly, so it feeds slowly instead of just everything falling in at once. That is ideally better for the fish, but when I am away, my concern is that just some of the fish will get fed...so I set it to twice a day feeding to allow for more chance of everyone getting something. This means it works for 7 days, but that is usually fine. It is also really easy to set the schedule and fill food. It only uses 1 AA battery and it lasts for probably 6+ months. I mostly only use it when I am really busy with work or travel, but I leave the battery in all the time...even when it is in the cabinet. It would probably last more than 6 months, but I like to change it before any out of town trips to be safe...either way, it is going on several years and I have never had any issues with it.

I got this to feed my fish (10 gallon tank) while away on a week vacation. I have had bad luck with slow dissolving feeders and don't know anyone in my area well enough to give my house key while I'm gone. I had read the reviews saying that the biggest issue is that not all of the food goes in, but I only have a few fish so I figured they would be ok if I put a little extra in. I tested it the week before leaving to make sure it worked well enough and found the issue. For starters, the circular piece that holds all of the food is removable and just kind of floats there, so flakes will easily get caught under the dividers. But the gears keep it moving, so you know you will get the feeding. This also means that you will have to clean the feeder every time you have to fill it, which isn't worth it to some people. The other thing is that the size of the peg that makes it spin to feed is not in ratio with the size of the gears and the food compartments. So when it first clicks over it is only going to open about 1/3 to 1/2 of the way. With flake food, this could mean that only a little drops or none drops. As the next half hour or so goes by it finishes spinning, but food falls like it is going through a slow feeder. If you have fish that eat at multiple levels this could be problematic. It worked well enough for me by just adding a bit too much food to each slot to ensure that everyone got their share (I also have a ton of pond snails, so I'm not worried about over feeding). If you need something for a short trip, this will work. But I don't recommend for long term use.

This is a great feeder. With separate compartments, it allows you to customise your feeds. I have a community tank and I like to feed the different species at different times to vary their meals. 14 compartments for 14 daily feeds or twice daily for 7 days etc. Four pegs to set meal times but I only use two. I work shifts so it's great to know that the fish get regular meals even when I'm working. Only complaint is that it turns very slowly, even when it comes to dispensing so the food is released slowly over the hour it is set to, as opposed to all at once. This means my greedy mollies manage to get most of it before the others. So I tend to make sure that each compartment contains some sinking and some floating foods to try and disperse them a little. And follow the advice if your using flakes because they will inevitably stick. I have my feeder a good distance from the tank and I leave the lid open to prevent humidity. I also mix the flakes with other bigger foods to help them drop. Super easy to clean as the whole tray comes out. Would definitely recommend.

Aggiornamento: dopo circa due anni (utilizzato 3 o 4 volte in tutto).ha smesso di funzionare. Sconsiglio Ho acquistato questa mangiatoia simile alla Rondomatic. Ho deciso di prendere questo modello perché permette di inserire vari tipi di mangime: fiocchi, microgranuli, chips e pastiglie per pesci da fondo. Ps di solito metto i microgranuli sopra le chips per pesci da fondo così che cadono insieme e non si disperdano sul rullo. Facile da impostare e sono tranquilla quando devo mancare per più giorni. Nota positiva: è possibile collegare il tubicino dell'areatore per evitare che il cibo diventi umido durante l'estate.

Se fixe efficacement au bord de l'aquarium ou se pose tout simplement. 4 réglages d'heures possible à 3 heures d'intervalle par picot. 15 petits compartiments pour 14 doses de nourriture. Fonctionne vraiment bien. Je recommande ce distributeur de nourriture.

Ich hatte anfangs echt probleme dran zu glauben,das es funktioniert,aber echt klasse mit einer guten aufhängung funktioniert es tadellos,futterportionierung klappt richtig gut.Sollte man aber vorher im haus ausprobieren,dann klappts auch über dem teich

Going on a holiday,? who is going to feed the fish in the pond? This little device works well I use small pellets for goldfish and they survived me going away for 2 weeks.