Automatic Fish Feeder

[kaneda33]

So, I finally got my tank cycled and my bloodfin tetras appear to be enjoying themselves. But I'm going to France for a couple weeks on the 21st, and am looking to purchase some type of automatic fish feeder to feed them while I am away. Does anyone here have any recommendations?

Oh, and on an unrelated note, will different "breeds" of tetras school with one another?

 

[epond83]

not sure on the feeder but the schooling thing, they will some times if they are same size and body shape, black skirts schooling with blue skirts.

 

[Firebug]

I would advise that you stay away from automatic feeders. They tend to do more harm than good. You'd be better off leaving them without food for the two weeks IMO. If you have a friend or a family member that can feed them, I'd opt for that instead. To minimize the risk of another person over-feeding them, you can put a day's worth of food in a zip-loc. I have done this on several occasions and since fish don't need to be fed every day, you can have the friend/family member feed them every other day or every few days.

 

[brian1973]

I would advise that you stay away from automatic feeders. They tend to do more harm than good. You'd be better off leaving them without food for the two weeks IMO. If you have a friend or a family member that can feed them, I'd opt for that instead. To minimize the risk of another person over-feeding them, you can put a day's worth of food in a zip-loc. I have done this on several occasions and since fish don't need to be fed every day, you can have the friend/family member feed them every other day or every few days.

Agreed..below is my experience with automatic feeders kinda lengthy but before you buy I would read it. I would not recommend them.

I had to leave town for an emergency, I went out and bought 2 auto feeders because the friend that agreed to come by and feed my fish wasnt able to come over before i left. I set up the feeders, filled one with flakes and installed it on my community tank and the other with pellets that I installed on my oscar tank. I ran a test run before I went to bed..worked fine.
I set them up to feed right before the lights came on. I woke up at 4am to leave and found my oscar tanks so cloudy I couldnt see the back of the tank. I did a 90% water change, changed filter media and REMOVED the auto feeder. I wrote out feeding instructions for the oscar tank. I left the feeder on the community tank as it seemed to work fine. I was now over an hour late in leaving. Jump ahead a week later I walked into the house and it smelled like something died. I quickly went to the tanks, no fish were dead but the evaporation from the tank caused the flake food to get wet and became a breeding area for mold or fungus. I opened it up and almost threw up from the mass of stuff that had grown in it in just a week.

 

[Lotus]

I use a Hydor one that works pretty well. It has a place where you can stick an airline to prevent the food getting wet from moisture, and you can adjust the amount it feeds, and how many times a day. I've only used it for four days at a time, but I've been happy with it.

If you do decide to use one, test it for as long as possible before you leave.

 

[kaneda33]

Just to share my results with everyone:

I went to my local fish store and he recommended this:
TETRA VACATION 14DAY FEEDER

So I bought it and threw it in my tank. When I got back to my place two weeks later, all my fish were alive (only tetras), but there was a brown substance (algae or bacteria?) growing in some places on the walls of my tank and on my air tubing. I did about a 30% water change and wiped off the parts of the tank wherever I saw the brown substance. The feeder itself looked almost moldy.
I haven't had any problems with the fish I have, they seem to be acting the same way before I went on vacation. But I don't know how one of these things would affect less hardy fish...maybe that's why the feeder is named "Tetra Vacation".

 

[MadridKid]

I just went away on a trip for 5 days. came back, my fish looked like crap. and guess who fed them, a stupid automatic fish feeder. They overfeed or underfeed to the extreme, and if they break, ur fish die. its as easy as that. I recomend getting one of ur buddies to come over to ur house every 5 days and drop in a "self-releasing tablet" by tetra. go to your local fish store, and grab a pack... they are like $4-5$ and they apparenlt work just fine.

 

[TabMorte]

Your fish can survive for a while with out food if they're healthy and considering they won't be getting water changes it's almost for the best that if you're gone two weeks or less you just leave them be. Instead, invest the money for some timers for your tank lights so your plants survive while you're gone.

 

[FishGeek]

I would never trust an auto fish feeder. Heard too many bad things and when you dont feed the fish they will clean up whatever was left should some slip by. It wont hurt them to go a few days without food.