Best Automatic Feeder?

[becrac16]

Hey all,

I was wondering what you guys liked in automatic fish feeders. I have a 55 gal which is sparsely inhabited by 3 corys, a tiny bristlenose and 6 rummynose tetras. I am in college and I am leaving the area tomorrow until the 3rd of January (with trips back every so often maybe). When I left for Thanksgiving break- a week- I left my fish with the "The Daily Double II Automatic Fish Feeder" and plenty of flakes mixed with the different kinds of sinking pellets my corys and bristlenose need. I come back in a week and there are 2 dead rummy noses and 2 dead corys (which were getting over a case of fin rot).

Anyway, I was wondering what you guys do for feeding a community tank while gone. I would love to get someone to do it, but since this is a college town, nobody is sticking around over the break. Seeing as I leave tomorrow, quick advice is well appreciated! Thanks!

 

[uscamaro]

I bought mine from Drs. F&S for about $25 when I was on my break in college; not sure why this one is so expensive though. Anyway, I used it for a little over 2 weeks and all my fish are fine with food left over. The box claims to work for over 30 days, but IMO, if you're going to be gone for that long, get rid of them.

Oh, and I had about twice the amount fish in my tank than you do.

 

[gil]

Perhaps the automatic feeder overfed your fish? I dont think a week is bad to leave them without food if they are healthy, I'd rather leave my fish without food for a week than have either the feeder or someone overfeed them.
Can you set the autofeeder to feed your fish every two days rather than twice a day?

 

[becrac16]

I don't think i can set the dates, but I can set the amount that is let out. The issue with that is that rummy noses stick close to the bottom, and I'm not sure enough would get down to them.

Maybe it wasn't the feeding that killed them, I think the tiny corys that died were recovering from fin rot (and so was the rest of the tank) and they were babies. Maybe they were just fin rot + wierd feeding casualties. P.S. everyone in the tank is healthy now.

 

[BigJim]

Fry can't go as long as adults without food. I lost a bunch of panda cory fry when I went on vacation for a few days. Only the largest fry survived.

I'd caution against setting up an automatic feeder and leaving without testing it for a few days. The automatic feeders are notorious for not working right and dumping tons of food or no food at all.

Tetramin, I think, makes a gel-based vacation feeder that looks promising. It has flakes suspended in a gel instead of plaster and claims not to affect your water quality. Since you're in a tight spot, I'd try that.

 

[uscamaro]

I just realized that I completely forgot the link:

http://mysiteh1.com/~u815752/shopping/pgm-more_information.php?id=871&=SID

 

[uscamaro]

I know a lot of people have heard negative things, but honestly, I used mine on multiple occasions for 5-10 days and I always came back to healthy fish. I just turned it to spin every 24hrs.

 

[becrac16]

Well, i left them with the same automatic feeder. I'm stopping by there on the 25th so we'll see how it goes. There doesn't seem to be any magic fixes for this kinda stuff so i'll just have to wait and see!