Fish Mate P21 Automatic Pond Fish Feeder

Great value easy to set up worked perfectly

The limitation is that it only does one feed (over several hours) a day. It is also a bit complicated in getting the right amount of food dispensed, this is because of the variation in pellet sizes etc. One has to do a fair bit of trial and error before leaving it to do its job. This is essential if you don’t want your fish to starve of be over fed! However when you look at the cost compared to more sophisticated systems it is good value for money. If like me you normally feed direct and only need a feeder when going away for a few days, or a week or two its fine. I was away for two weeks and it was still working okay when I came back. Obviously if you have expensive fish, or you are away regularly, you may need something more sophisticated. I did also use a bottom feeding tablet just to be on the safe side but it was probably unnecessary in the end.

Test it first over a bowl to get the setting right before putting in place. Works well. I used for a fish pond for gold fish. Went on holiday for two weeks. Fish ok was empty.

This gadget is much bigger than I anticipated and looks ugly when installed hanging over the pond. It is difficult to check whether it works as mine seems to do all the feeding at night. I anticipated using it all the time but will only use it when I'm away from home.

Takes a bit of practice to set the measure depending on the type of food you use.I also put mine into an ice cream tub on its side suspended over the pond with a cut out in the side for the food to drop this is just to keep the wind and weather off and works well for me.

Easy to set up and work you just need to make up a suitable rig over your pond

Not the best if going away for a week. would not be enough food to feed my fish. It also only feeds in a 2 hr window and you either get hardly any food or too much

This is quite a simple device, designed around the mechanism of a battery powered clock you might have on your wall. This means that it will feed once every 24 hours over the course of a few hours (as pellets slowly fall out). The device functions well when it is running, but beware of easy it is for it to stop working.Within about a week after beginning to operate it got stuck (I know it must have been about a week for unrelated reasons). Upon returning from my trip, I had found that a piece of packing foam had gotten stuck between the wheel of the feeder and the inside of the casing. I don't know if this was part of the transportation packaging or just some random piece of foam which was left in during the manufacturing process. I could not see this foam when I unpacked and set up the device so it was not very obvious that it was there.I would recommend running this device for a week or two before you intend to leave it unattended to ensure that it continues to operate. As I have quite a large pond compared to the number of fish, I think there were enough natural sources of food (insect eggs, etc.) that my fish were able to survive. But my fish have been hiding so far, although they appear to eat as pellets do disappear quicker than they would if they were left to sink.

Aquariums only

My original purchase was received damaged. My recollection is that that package was damaged, and the feeder itself inside was therefore damaged. That could have happened anywhere in the assignment and delivery process. So, I am not immediately blaming the vendor.A replacement was sent, and sent quickly, which was in good condition.I had to go online for setup instructions. Which is a slight knock against the product. However, once I got all of it down, I was ready to use it.I purchased this to feed an Oscar, along with a silver dollar, two angels, and one gourami, in a 75 gallon tank. I use large cichlid sticks. The short version is, after setting the slide bar to the 17 opening size, it works like a champ. We were absent for 27 days, and our fish were all in perfect health when we returned. And there was still food in the hopper.Other than the lack of proper instructions, the only other drawback is that this has no method of attaching to the side of an aquarium. You cannot simply hang it over the edge of the lid. It won’t be stable. So, I had to construct a stand for it out of left-over lumber. The appearance of my stand is not professional. But, after affixing the mount attachment to an arm of the stand, I made it work.The current price is less than what I purchased it for. So, this product is definitely worth the price.

Funziona bene

Excellent

I've lost two of these to my local raccoons now, after purchasing to feed our fish in our small trough-pond on the front porch while we go on vacation.The first time, I mounted the until to a plank - the 'coons pulled it off and it fell into the water.The second time, I mounted it to a plank -and- added extra screws so they couldn't pry it off. Nope - this time the ripped the front door and food spool off.Prior to raccoons destroying them, the units worked great. Best NOT to use flakes, though - micro-pellets seemed to work best.