Fish Mate F14 Aquarium Fish Feeder

I have owned one of these units for over two years and use it to dispense food when I am away for short periods. The primary advantage of this unit over others that I own ie Eheim, Aquachef and Rena is the ability to dispense the precise amount of food you desire and even alternate the type of food between feedings.

Filling the small compartments was somewhat problematic until I began using a 1/8 tps measure for that purpose.

Care must be taken to ensure that the food compartment unit is positioned right side up. Failure to do so results in no food being dispensed.

I spent over a week mulling over which feeder to buy. Most of them out there don't deal with pellet food well at all based on the reviews. This feeder came with some caveats based on the reviews too. But knowing what I got into made everything easy and I have to admit that this was the best purchase for my BETA fish (2 beta fish in 2 separate tanks with 2 of these feeders). The caveat that made me worry was that each compartment, when rotating, had a small ridge where all the food didn't go in, or in the case of 1 BETA fish and only 3 pellets, none of it would go in. HOWEVER, it consistently rotates to this same spot (and this was not mentioned). Therefore, when I set up the feeder, I already prepared for the fact that the feeder would essentially miss the first meal. I, therefore, fed them manually when it was first set up. After that first time, both my tanks with only 1 fish in each tank, have been operating automatically flawlessly! The easy of access to fill the individual feeding compartments was a BONUS that I didn't expect nor read about. When there is only 3 compartments left (out of the 14) with food, I go in and easily drop 3-4 pellets in the empty ones, so there is no interruption. I plan on going away for 2 weeks and I will set it to rotate just once a day with 8 pellets in each compartment in that scenario. I expect things will run smoothly.

I full endorse this product for BETA fish with pellet food since it worked well with me.

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The only one I have seen that allows you to vary the amount for each day (e.g. you can put more in the feeder for the weekend but still have a "base" feeding amount during the week). Also, the only feeder I have that reliably delivers the chosen amount on the day chosen.

One problem with other (horizontal-axis rotating) feeders I have found is that the ones I tried did not reliably deliver the chosen amount; large flakes would block delivery altogether or at least reduce it, while small flakes would lead to excessive amounts of feed, unlike the Fishmate F14.

After about a year, the rotating part on the Fishmate F14 would sometimes get stuck, which is why I am awarding only 4 stars. Still, if you want the features mentioned above, it's the only game in town that I have seen (so far).

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Delivery time was much better than expected.

The F14 Unit however is somewhat disappointing. The mechanism is fairly simple, but do not be tempted to load the unit and leave for several days. Try it out before you leave the fish alone. The red "pegs" used for setting the timer do not always engage.

Also, the suction cups on the unit are a joke. I made a bracket to attach it to my lamp which is much more secure.

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I needed an autofeeder because I was going to be gone for close to two weeks. I bought this particular feeder because it gave me the ability to feed different types of foods to my fish while I was gone, rather than one big drum of flakes. It also gave me the ability to occasionally drop a shrimp pellet or algae wafer in the tank for my cleanup crew.

Some patience is required when putting food in this feeder. The sections are small, so it's easy to get food into another compartment or elsewhere on/around the feeder.

I used the air tube attachment to make sure no moisture got in the feeder, which seemed to work well. Granted, I don't know if the food would have been just as dry if I didn't hook the air pump up to it, but decided not to take a chance.

I couldn't find a good way to use the bracket that came with the feeder with my setup, which included a glass aquarium top. I have two female bettas in my tank (it's the males that will fight to the death), so I was reluctant to completely remove the glass top while I was gone. I also didn't want excessive evaporation of my tank water over a two week period. I was able to put my feeder on top of my light (Marineland LED) and remove a plastic filler part of my hood so the food could drop in the tank.

Overall, this product worked very well in my absence.

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