Review on Convenient and Reliable Fish Mate F14 Aquarium Fish Feeder for Hassle-Free Feeding by Mary Marie

I know a lot of people don't trust automatic feeders and most of the time they are right. However, the Fishmate F14 is a different type of feeder. It seems that most of the negative reviews are related to condensation, due to which the food soaks and prevents the device from rotating. Do you know what almost all of these reviews have in common? You don't connect an air pump to an air line nozzle (more on that later in the review)! When I first received my device I didn't use it either and after a few days I had a moisture problem. So I connected the air pump and voila, problem solved! It's not just that, use it. Another thing to mention, don't put anything on the feeder. Any weight on the top cap seems to have a very good chance of snagging on the spinning wheel and causing it to hang. This feeder is awesome, head and shoulders over drum style feeders. As you can see, this is fundamentally different. The feeder has a rotating wheel with 15 compartments. There is a hole in the front of the feeder the size of one of the compartments so when the feed spins in it it goes into the tank. The main benefit of this type of feed is that you can put a pre-measured amount of feed as well as different types of feed into the block. I need to feed my community aquarium three times (flakes, seaweed waffles, shrimp pellets) and this feeder allows me to do that. This would not be possible with drum feeders. And since each serving is pre-measured, you don't have to worry about the feeder putting too much or too little food in the tank. The middle part is like an automatic lighting timer, it makes a full rotation every 24 hours. You place small pins at the time you want to feed, and when that time comes, the mechanism turns the feed wheel one step. Instead of discarding all the food at once, it is slowly spread out over an hour and a half (the wheel rotates slowly for feeding about every 15 minutes). I like it, it gives the fish more opportunities to eat all the food. You have the option of feeding 1 to 4 times a day, which means the feeder can feed your fish for 3.5 to 14 days depending on how many times you want to feed the fish in a day. They only have red slots every 3 hours so feeding times could be midnight, 3am, 6am, 9am, noon, 3pm, 6pm or 9pm. It's not a problem for me, but it's worth mentioning. If you really need a specific time, you can shift the time of day on the feeder to match your desired feeding time. There is also an air inlet on the underside of the feeder to which an air pump can be connected. This helps reduce moisture penetration into the device and food soaking. Air entering the device creates an overpressure and actually helps a little. I use an air pump attachment and have had no trouble getting my food wet. My feeder is only a few inches from the waterline and my air stone in the tank is causing decent surface roughness. Overall I am very satisfied with this device. I even ordered a second one to feed my shrimp tank. Because of my work, I am often away from home for a week, so a reliable feeder is very important to me. I've been using the Fishmate F14 for almost 4 months now and haven't had any problems. The device is powered by one AA battery. The feed compartments are small and it can be difficult to get feed into the compartments when loading. I've found that it's best to place food on a piece of paper and fold the paper once to create a sort of "tray" so you can pinpoint where the food should go. Since then I have had no problem getting the food exactly where I want it. Just want to make sure others know about this feeder as it appears to be the only feeder of this style. There is a similar feeder, the Grässlin Rondomatic 400, but I can't find anywhere in the US that sells it, and it's more than double the price of the Fishmate. So if you are looking for an automatic feeder for your fish, look no further!