Auto feeder

[bettafishlover86]

So every year I go on a 2 week trip to Maine. I have been looking for a good automatic feeder for when I go on vacation. Two websites said the EHEIM everyday fish feeder was the best choice. Should I buy this one or get a different one?

 

[JuiceBox52]

My immediate thought is "NO!" But thats not explanatory haha. I have had bad experiences with automatic feeders, and so have many other fishkeeoers. They tend to overfeed and foul the water up and lead to ammonia spikes which ultimately can kill the fish. Generally fish (especially in a planted tank) will be fine for uo to two weeks of no food (as long as this isnt a common occurrence, but holiday once a year is fine)

Ultimately what I would do is drop the temp a couple degrees (this slows their metabolism) and feed the day you leave and do a large water change. Leave them without food, or have someone feed them just once or twice for you while you are gone, and feed again when you get back, do another water change and raise the temp back to normal that's just what I would do

 

[AbbeysDad]

I've had great success with Eheim everyday feeders. As a matter of fact I have two running right now feeding fry 4x a day. I crush high quality flake food and you need to adjust for proper output amounts. For adult fish, I'd only set it for delivery once or twice a day...and the everyday feeder would also work well with pelleted foods. Eheim also markets a twin auger type feeder that will better handle almost any commercial dry foods. I have one and it too works great.
Yes, if you don't set it up properly it could deliver more food than your fish need which could degrade water quality. But I've never had a problem with them!

Now having written the above, fish can go up to two weeks without food.

 

[Colin_T]

Save your money and let the fish go hungry for 2 weeks.

Feed the fish 2-3 times a day for a couple of weeks before you go. This will let the fish gain some weight and it can live off the fat reserves.
Don't worry it won't starve. Unlike people that use most of the food we eat to keep warm, most fish take their body temperature from the surrounding water. this means any food they eat goes into growth and moving about. Subsequently, fish can go for weeks or even months without food and suffer no health issues.

Do big (50-75%) water changes and gravel clean the substrate every day when feeding more often. This keeps the tank clean and helps reduce the disease organisms in the water.
Make sure any new water is free of chlorine/ chloramine before it's added to the tank.

Clean your filter a day or two before you go away.

Add some live plants a couple of weeks before you go. They will provide food and shelter to the fish and help keep the water clean while your away.

Increase the lighting times to 14-16 hours a day to encourage algae and plant growth. This will give the fish something to snack on and help keep the water cleaner. Reduce the lighting time when you get home.

Feed the fish before you go and have a nice holiday.

 

[Reema]

Try this.

I have not tried it before , but will soon as I am too going on a holiday. The auto feeder didn't for me too, my fish flakes got stuck and became a paste.

 

[AbbeysDad]

Try this.
View attachment 150549
I have not tried it before , but will soon as I am too going on a holiday. The auto feeder didn't for me too, my fish flakes got stuck and became a paste.

Not just no, But HE$$ NO! These things. in my opinion, are just no good! They provide little if any nutrition and only serve to cloud water. Either use a real auto-feeder or go without anything.

 

[raylove]

Yeah, don't use those pyramid blocks!
I too use the Ehiem and it works well. I had a really old one and it was rubbish so I tried various other makes before I realised that the Ehiem one had been updated, so I bought one and it's great
I totally agree that fish can survive without food for quite a while but personally I don't like leaving them for more than a week. Practice with the feeder before you go to get a handle on how much food it will dispense - this will differ depending on the type of food and even on how full it is. You can adjust how much it delivers. I set mine at a fairly minimal level and for just one feed per day. I can then be pretty assured that it won't overfeed and of course when I'm not there to do water changes I don't want to introduce too much stuff into the system either.
I'm planning a 5 week trip for 2023 so nearer the time I will probably be asking for advice and opinions on how to manage that! No suggestions yet please - far too early to be fretting over it!

 

[GaryE]

I'm an eternal pessimist. Of all the automatic feeders I've used, the Eheim was the best, after a fair bit of fiddling to convince it not to overfeed. But auto-feeders are like heaters - if they are going to fail, they will always do so when you are far away. I have an acquaintance who feeds every day, all year with an auto feeder. I don't get it, but she likes the set up. The last time she went away for a week, it food dumped her tank.

Two weeks is about the limit for long I'd leave a tank unfed, but they can technically go 3 weeks. I would follow the advice above (to leave the tank unfed) and save my money. You may even save your fish.

I used auto-feeders for school tanks - with Christmas, Easter and March breaks to contend with. In the normal run of life, I avoid them.

 

[Uberhoust]

I have four of the EHiem auto feeders. I crush the flakes to a consistent size, then run the feeder multiple times to see and adjust how much food comes out. I have used them for two vacations and a couple of them over a 6 month period for feeding the downstairs tanks. They worked well in all applications.

For the vacation I set them to slight under feed.

I will say that my last vacation I purposely did not use them and that worked well too.

The EHeim ones worked much better than the clockwork ones I had a number of years ago.