Fish Mate 14-feed Automatic Aquarium Fish Feeder (F14) - Timer Controlled for Precise Reliable Feeding, Vacation or Daily Use with Included Clamps, Serves Up to 14 Meals

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 was going on a 2 week vacation, so some sort of auto-feeder was essential. The problem is, which one? The reviews are nearly universally bad, for all of them out there. Drilling into the detailed review shows clogged feeders, feeders dumping too much food, broken mechanisms... EVERY design seems to have some sort of major issue. But the biggest issues seem to lie with RELIABLY feeding a precise amount of flake food, especially if you only need a SMALL amount (for a small tank). With a any tank, no food is obviously bad. But with a small tank, too much food can be just as bad. Two weeks unattended, dumping too much food, can destroy your tank water quality far worse than going two weeks without food will. (In fact, most fish CAN go two weeks without feeding, although there are exceptions, so do your research!) This design has great promise. Each compartment is individually loaded, in advance, with the EXACT amount of food you want to be delivered per feeding. There are 15 compartments, but one is over the opening at any given time, you have up to 14 feedings. That's 14 days of food, if you only feed once per day. Less, obviously, the more times you feed per day. (7 days worth for 2x per day, etc.) No danger of overfeeding. Any mechanism can risk getting jammed, of course, but this unit does not seem any more prone to it than over auto-feeders on the market, and arguably less likely. As far as imperfections, well, there are many. 1) It's bigger than you would expect, although that makes sense once you see how it works, and of course you can't really make a ring like this any smaller without making the compartments too small to be useable. As it is: 2) The compartments are small enough that it's a little fiddly to get them loaded, but that's down to individual dexterity. (How big do you want this thing to be, after all? See point #1!) Another review suggested using a simple piece of paper while loading it, to help "funnel" the food into the compartment, which is a great idea. 3) The timer mechanism is confusing and a bit bizarre. Using the tiny red pegs to indicate feeding time is weird, and it's disturbingly easy to accidentally knock a peg out of place, which prevents things from working correctly. It works, but it's definitely a bit odd. Ergonomics could definitely be improved, although once you get it, it does work well enough. 4) I've read complaints about the mounting methods provided, but anyone with a reasonable amount of ingenuity should be able to work with that they have, or jury rig an alternative. Mine sits perfectly on top of my tank light, and just dumps food to the water below. 5) I've read complaints about moisture causing sticking, and while it didn't happen to me (in a problematic sense, at least), I didn't bother connecting an air pump as recommended in the manual, either. Based on reports, that goes a long way to helping reduce moisture within the feeder. I think the people complaining of the issue didn't bother, either, which I consider a user error. Only a few feeder models offer this option, and it's a great idea, so I'm glad this one gives the option. So clearly there are issues, but, IMO, they are all manageable issues, or user issues that aren't really the fault of the unit. And many of the issues would apply to other feeders as well, so pick your poison! For me, the fear of dumping too much food and causing a large nitrate spike was far worse than other concerns, so the ability to pre-measure each meal was key. The competing "drum-style" designs are simply asking for trouble, IMO. For really large tanks, with tons of fish, where larger portions are being measured out, it's less of an issue, but it's really hard to accurately measure small amounts of flake food with in person with functioning fingers! So it's hardly surprising that cheap drum mechanisms struggle with it. After my vacation, I came back to a nearly empty feeder. Just a few stray flakes here and there that were stuck under the wheel, but not enough to cause a problem. The rest of the food was all properly emptied, on schedule. I did have a friend stop by the house once, during my trip, just to make sure things seemed shipshape, and they were. I also tested the feeder for the two weeks leading up to my vacation to be sure of the operation, and I'm glad I did. Overall, however, I'm pleased to report that it worked splendidly. Next time I'll hook up the air pump to help keep the flake from sticking (even though it wasn't a problem), but I'm going to be a LOT more confident next time I go on vacation. (I'll still test it to be sure, about a month before I go, so I can address any problems with time to correct them if needed.)

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.)

First off one caveat wasn't mentioned by anyone yet: The food gets dispensed very slowly for over an hour due to the way the mechanism works (more about it below). In certain cases of fish combinations this causes problems where some fish get more food while others none and you should really know how your fish function in the community tank before getting this type of feeder. In my case I have a Black Moor (well not black anymore since it went all red earlier this year being a mass-market genetic cull from Petco) which is known to have a poor vision and is always behind the other two fancy goldfish in finding the food. Thus normally when I feed them I make sure to drop more pellets then the other fish can catch as the pellets sinks to the bottom thus making sure that Black Moor gets a chance. This works. However the feeder only dispenses a few pellets at a time due to it's design. This feeder is very unique from EVERY OTHER feeder I have seen on the market today in a way that it does NOT use a digital clock and electronic circuitry with servo motor to drive some kind of a drum. This feeder uses a very basic quartz clock mechanism similar to one found in every one-AA-battery powered wall clock except this one is a 24h cycle (not the usual 12h). Effectively as the clock rotates one of the four removable little red notches (you see in the product photo) catches onto one of the 15 slots (14 available for food and one is always empty) and starts to slowwwwwwly drag the food carousel around. As the next pre-loaded slot moves over the opening the food starts falling down into the fish tank. Depending on the granularity and "flowability" of the food it will be dispensed over one and a half hour time (24h / 15 = 1.6h). This simplicity of the mechanism has it's cons and pros: Cons: - Very slow dispensing of certain foods especially small qualities (e.g a bit of small granulated pellets) so if you have many fish some may get it all and overeat while others get none - If any of the foods or has tiny particles (dust from dried shrimp or flakes) and gets sticky the feeder with clog and stall. The driving force of the clock mechanism seems pretty limited - The device is more sensitive to humidity. See above point. - You are limited to 14 days at 1 meal per day MAX load capacity - Loading food needs practice as to fit it into each of the 14 compartment and not to spill it onto the rotating clock PROS: - Simplicity of mechanics and electronics makes it beautiful design and easy to program - Allows you to think in terms of means and not foods. You can mix and match foods that goes into each meal compartment and/or alternate foods each meal. Basically if it fits it feeds. - Can take almost any kinds of foods. See point above and also the CONS section. - There are very little limitation on how large each food item can be. I can fit massive dried shrimp in it (especially if I don;t close the top lid. Something that would never fit into a drum feeder. - Runs on one AA battery what looks like forever! I had a Petco digital timer drum feeder drain fresh brand new AA in under two weeks. This thing keeps going and going. Bonus thought: - This one looks like it works best in cold-water tanks where humidity is less of an issue. - Two to mount it high enough where it;s out of the reach of evaporation while the food still drops into the water. I have mine on top of the lights about 10 inches above water level. - AMA in the comments and I will try to help you out

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.

This automatic feeder works great for vacations or just daily feeding. I know some reviews have mentioned moisture building up. Because I read those reviews we do not use the cover and we have had no problem with moisture. I would imagine moisture buildup in the feeder is also a function of how warm your water is in your fish tank. We do not heat our tank water so maybe that is another reason we do not have a moisture problem. If I had to critique it, I wish there were more than 14 individual feedings, I would definitely purchase one that fed a little bit more than 14 times. Setting the feeder up was fairly intuitive. We went on a vacation that was over a month long and the battery had no problem (we did have to have a neighbor come and replenished the food though).

Preparing for a vacation and wanted to make sure our turtles can survive the week or so without us. We had ordered less expensive feeders from a Chinese company but those did not work at all. We got one for each turtle tank, and set it to drop food into the water once a day in the morning. It works with the log pellets we use. It looks like it would also work with round pellets or maybe even flake food. You can set it to feed one to four times each day, and you can control the exact timing if you are careful with setup. I have not actually seen it while food was dropping, so I don't know if it all falls in a few seconds or if it takes a few minutes for the mechanism to work through the meal hour selected. You fill each compartment with as much food as you want in that feeding. (ours are equal, but you could alternate big and small feedings, or give a different amount each meal). There are 14 meals you can schedule, the 15th compartment is the one over the empty hole so it will just fall through immediately. We have been testing them for 2 weeks, and are very happy with them, especially after trying the other cheap things which didn't work at all. I have no idea how much battery usage will be, but it seems like it would last for weeks or months on the same battery. It is well worth the price.

I picked up 4 of these since I’ll be doing som traveling soon and will be away from home on and off over the next few months. So far I have each set up on a different tank and have been testing them out for a couple of weeks. They where slightly larger then I initially expected when unboxing. Once I got them installed onto the top of the tanks, the flat semi-low profile isn’t as annoying to look at as I thought it might be. If you have tank lights that sit on top of your rim like the LED style light for example, sliding the lights out of the way for tank maintenance could be a problem, since the feeder hangs over the top. Additionally, I’m not sure if this will work with most tank lids. Since I’ve removed my tank lids for this feeder, water evaporation has nearly tripled. I’m replacing about a gallon of water ever couple of days now. It has been hot where I live, so I’m hoping that as cooler temperatures come, my evaporation amounts will go back down. As far as food goes, it works as expected. I would prefer a unit with a faster food delivery system. This one gradually cycles so the food is released over the course of about 5mins. One of my community tanks houses both tetras and guppies. Since the tetras hang out at the bottom, I’m worried that they won’t get enough food since the guppies swoop in pretty fast to eat. I switched to a blend of mini and micro sized pellets for that feeder. My thought is that the heavier pellets will sink faster and the guppies will be distracted by the lighter pellets floating on top. Other then that, I’ve decided to stay away from using food flakes. They’re to thin, they don’t always get pushed completely out of the feeder, they soak up moisture, and can cause sticking from what I’ve seen. There is an air line connection under the unit, for keeping food dry but I’m not in the mood to purchase more equipment right now. Lastly, I’ll talk about battery life. I started with a set of rechargeable batteries. They all lasted the complete cycle of 14days before I noticed them running out of charge. I have a set of normal brand batteries in now, but I’m assuming that for long term use, it would be worth sticking with the rechargeable batteries and changing them every couple of weeks. Overall, it think it’s a good feeder for the price, but you get what you pay for. If you’re like me and you need a lot of feeders for your home gallery, then this is seems to be a reliable unit.