Best automatic feeder for a small tank

[JadeRaven]

Howdy

I'm looking to get a couple few guppies, but my only problem is that every other week I will be gone for three days and occasionally up to two and a half weeks. I'm thinking my best option is an automatic feeder so I can feed them while I am gone and also keep on a more regular feeding schedule.

My problem is, though. . .

Most all of them appear to be made for larger tanks with more fish. I plan on only having two to maybe five at the most male guppies, and I don't want to overfeed them or have some eighty dollar mammoth feeder on the top of my tank.

I don't mind spending extra money on something that will work well for my purposes. . . but I don't want to overdo it either

If anyone has any suggestions I would greatly appreciate it!

Thanks y'all!

[foehammer306]

Just pick up the 10-15 dollar one at walmart, it works fine for my 23 gal

[JustOneMore20]

The times that you are away for 3 days or so, it will be fine not to feed them. For the 2.5 week trips could you get someone to feed them every few days?

I don't have experience with automatic feeders, but doing some searching, it seems that with this one: http://www.bigalsonline.com/BigAlsUS...riumfishfeeder you can adjust the amount of food that is dispensed at each meal. So, you could put in a minimal amount of food to be dispensed.

[swordtailbreedr]

why not just get a neighbor kid to come over each day or how ever often you want and feed a pinch of food? my prob is if somthing went wrong with those it would be really bad...i sit for a tank (55g) tat had one of those and it jammed and would not have given food.

if you are worried about the amount the person would feed (over feeding is a prob with alot of people) you could put a pinch of foos in an ice cube tray and then water and freeze it and have the kid just drop the food in plus that way u could control the types of foods for a varied died (adding some spirulina would be good for guppies)

paying a kid to do that wouldnt be expensive it only takes a second...

[cbfishman]

I agree with swordtailbreedr. Paying a neighbor kid seems like the best option to me. If you don't want to bother with the ice cube tray method though, just take a couple minutes to teach the kid how much food is a safe amount. Automatic feeders will end up costing you more than having someone feed them for you, and with an automatic feeder it can be risky if they malfunction. It would be cheaper to hire the neighbor kid.

[David-P]

i like having fish that eat other fish!

i can't wait until i have to go out of town, put some feeders and ghost shrimp in, and i am good.

people will say "those minnows will be dead before you are 5 miles down the road" they are wrong, my fish do not kill the feeders i put in there until they are hungry. they will all eat one, or in the case of the smaller ones share one, then let the rest of the feeders live until they want a snack.


***i do not feed my fish feeders on a regular basis, about once a week, the rest of the time i feed them species specific pellet and flake food....and no i am not going to stop feeding my sichlids feeders, they love eating them, and i love watching***