ON DEMAND FEEDER

[Michael Quinones]

I found this on demand feeder for deer but i thought it may work for fish.  It is realy cost effective and if it can be used for fish we could all benefit greatly.

http://www.sportsmansguide.com/net/cb/Hunten-Outdoors-6-1-2-gal-Buc...

They have used a PVC bucket and I don't know if there is a funnel on the inside bottom to direct the feed to the bottom center openind or did they just leave the bucket with a flat bottom.  Has anyone tried this particular one for fish?

[RupertofOZ]

Plenty of such designs implemented....

 

You have to train your fish to use them... and the danger is... that some fish... will over eat...

 

And/or the feeder may drop excess feed into the tank...

 

I wouldn't recommend people with backyard systems use feeders... it is much better to observe your fish and feed response.. and adapt your feed amount accordingly...

[TCLynx]

I've tried a similar feeder before.  it drops way too much food.  A bit of wind or a squirrel shaking it will dump it and foul your tank.

[Jon Parr]

The salmon hatchery on the Trinity river in NorCal has a similar feeder. I'm sure it made specific for the purpose and sure to be calibrated more carefully, but I've watched them feed from it. It seems like only a few fingerlings figure it out, and there is a pack of hungry dumb ones waiting for the smart one to come ring the bell. I've never tried one, but TC and Rupe's experience is tough to challenge. Still, less than $20 to give it trial.

[Michael Quinones]

Thank you John Parr ........ I was hoping for shared experience (thank you) from some one that had seen one being used.  Everything I have read and seen on you tube echos the same thing a few are the ones that activate the padle not all.  If the water fouls because of to much feed they will stop eating.   At least tha's the way it is suposed to work.  I'm leaning toward a test since there is only a small investment at risk.... and the fish.
 
Jon Parr said:

The salmon hatchery on the Trinity river in NorCal has a similar feeder. I'm sure it made specific for the purpose and sure to be calibrated more carefully, but I've watched them feed from it. It seems like only a few fingerlings figure it out, and there is a pack of hungry dumb ones waiting for the smart one to come ring the bell. I've never tried one, but TC and Rupe's experience is tough to challenge. Still, less than $20 to give it trial.

[TCLynx]

In a big pond, I wouldn't be as worried with such a demand feeder as long as it is only loaded with a couple days worth of food at a time.

In a smaller aquaponics system where it is likely possible to load the feeder with a months worth of food, well if too much food falls into the system it won't be as simple as the fish quit eating, it will be more like the fish die.

As I noted, it probably won't be the fish causing excess food to fall into the tank, it could well be critters or wind shaking the thing and they don't care if the water gets fouled and your fish die.

And inside the bucket, there is no funnel so the feed around the outside in the bottom of the bucket doesn't get sent down the shoot so it is difficult to only load the feeder with just a day or two worth of food and have it still work.  That food around the outside tends to get moist and stuck and eventually go rancid. 

Even with automatic feeders that have a funnel shape bottom and a way to control how much food is dropped per day, automatic feeders are dangerous and you should be very careful with them.  My only complete fish kill ever was because I left town with an automatic feeder active and the weather changed, the feeder kept dropping feed but the fish were not eating it.  I cam home to a tank of 30 dead catfish.

It is also easy to make mistakes when setting the timers on automatic feeders.  I once wasted a huge amount of food when I miss set a timer, luckily I was home and came out the next morning to find the gross overfeeding incident and be able to net out all the wasted food to the compost bin but had I not checked the tank that next morning, I would probably have had a tank full of dead fish by the next day.  I'm not the only one who has experienced such mistakes either, I'm just lucky that my system had an overabundance of filtration so the ammonia/nitrite spike didn't hurt my fish since I was able to get the excess food out while it was still floating.  I've heard of incidents where huge numbers of fish died because of such mistakes because the system was teetering on the edge with not enough filtration for the fish load/size of fish tank.

Anyway, I won't say not to try it but be warned to be careful and make sure you are around and checking on things a lot for the first few months of use and you probably want to limit the amount of feed in it if you won't be around to keep an eye on things.

[Michael Quinones]

TC thank you for the input ..... any input is better than non.  I'm aware you are going on an assumption that one our stock tanks are in the open.  They are not they are in a green house that only bees have easy acxess.  The grow beds per sq. ft. ratio of grow beds exceeds the recomended amt.   Two That perhaps the feeder will not be chacked daily it will.  Or that a large ammount of feed would be placed in the feeder ..... that is not what a prudent person would do = who would put  a month worth of food .... not likely.  But as I said to start with I will heed your warning, concern.   Thank you
 
TCLynx said:

In a big pond, I wouldn't be as worried with such a demand feeder as long as it is only loaded with a couple days worth of food at a time.

In a smaller aquaponics system where it is likely possible to load the feeder with a months worth of food, well if too much food falls into the system it won't be as simple as the fish quit eating, it will be more like the fish die.

As I noted, it probably won't be the fish causing excess food to fall into the tank, it could well be critters or wind shaking the thing and they don't care if the water gets fouled and your fish die.

And inside the bucket, there is no funnel so the feed around the outside in the bottom of the bucket doesn't get sent down the shoot so it is difficult to only load the feeder with just a day or two worth of food and have it still work.  That food around the outside tends to get moist and stuck and eventually go rancid. 

Even with automatic feeders that have a funnel shape bottom and a way to control how much food is dropped per day, automatic feeders are dangerous and you should be very careful with them.  My only complete fish kill ever was because I left town with an automatic feeder active and the weather changed, the feeder kept dropping feed but the fish were not eating it.  I cam home to a tank of 30 dead catfish.

It is also easy to make mistakes when setting the timers on automatic feeders.  I once wasted a huge amount of food when I miss set a timer, luckily I was home and came out the next morning to find the gross overfeeding incident and be able to net out all the wasted food to the compost bin but had I not checked the tank that next morning, I would probably have had a tank full of dead fish by the next day.  I'm not the only one who has experienced such mistakes either, I'm just lucky that my system had an overabundance of filtration so the ammonia/nitrite spike didn't hurt my fish since I was able to get the excess food out while it was still floating.  I've heard of incidents where huge numbers of fish died because of such mistakes because the system was teetering on the edge with not enough filtration for the fish load/size of fish tank.

Anyway, I won't say not to try it but be warned to be careful and make sure you are around and checking on things a lot for the first few months of use and you probably want to limit the amount of feed in it if you won't be around to keep an eye on things.