Automatic Feeder Come with Digital Timer Insider the Feeder Feeder with locking cover Feeder in Action Video of Auto-Feeder in action Auto-Feeder in out-door pond Auto-Feeder in out-door pond Part 2

Benefit of automatic feeder

Regular feeding at fixed interval is very important for the health of the koi. It helps in getting the digestive system of the koi to work efficiently. Regular feeding also ensure that the koi get the necessary nutrition they need to keep them healthy and happy. Faster growth rate can be triggered by feeding the koi more times per day at regular interval. Some hobbists feed their koi as many as 12 times per day to achieve super fast growth rate.

Having said that, the capacity of the filter to process the waste is another consideration in terms of how much food you can give to your koi. If you give more than what your filter can process in between the feeding intervals, the water condition can be negatively affected.

Going for long holiday and no one to feed you koi?

The other benefit of auto feeder is that when we need to go for long holidays and there is no one at home to feed our lovely pets or we cannot entrust to someone who is not familiar with koi feeding who might overfeed the koi. Sometimes due to busy work schedule, we may not have the time to feed them everyday, this is where automatic feeder comes in handy.

Type of Automatic feeder

Unfortunately, most automatic feeders available in local aquarium shop are too small in capacity because they are designed for smaller aquarium fish. Although they allow fish owner to program up to 6 times feeding per day, they can only contain small pellets and the volume per feeding is also very limited.

Bigger outdoor, made in Japan Automatic feeders which is powered by solar panel is very good but they are also very costly (usually more than S$1000) which I think is beyond reach for many koi beginners.

Low cost, high capacity automatic feeder

After searching many local aquarium shops for a low cost, high capacity automatic feeder to no avail, I have managed to source for this automatic feeder from China and will be reviewed in this article.

This automatic feeder can contain all sizes of koi pellets up to 3.8 litres.
It can be programmed to feed the fish for up to 4 times per day. For each feeding, it can dispense up to 9 x 50cc cups of pellets. (1 x 50cc cup is about one handful of pellets).
It runs on 4 x "C-size" Alkaline batteries which can last up to 1 year without changing batteries and has a "battery low" indicator.

It comes with a 12 or 24 hour display digital clock. It also comes with a comprehensive instruction manual but I find that the instructions are not so straight forward and requires reading and trying a few times to unstand how to program the feeder.
But once your have learned how to program the feeder, it is pretty straight forward.

You can program the current time, the feed time and the number of feedings per day (up to 4 feedings). You can also set the volume or the number of cups to dispense for each feeding.
The feeder also allow you to manually feed the fish by pressing two of the buttons. The feeder will dispense one cup of pellets when these 2 buttons are pressed.

Pros and Cons of this Low Cost Automatic Pond-Fish Feeder

After using the feeder for 2 weeks, here's the Pros and Cons I think about the feeder.

Pros:
- It performs what it is supposed to do at a comparatively low cost (around S$100 inclusive of delivery).
- Large capacity, which means that I don't have to re-fill the auto-feeder (which I did with the small feeder) every week.
- Adjustable food portion size.
- Weather-resistant, which means it can be used in out-door condition (provided display and battery compartments are protected from water).
- Long battery life, can last up to 1 year without changing batteries (according to the manufacturer).
- The food pellets are fresher compared to bigger feeder as mentioned by one hobbist.

Cons:
- Workmanship still behind those made in South Korea or Japan.
- The instruction manual, though comprehensive, need to read and try a few times to fully understand.
- Maximum 4 times per day may be adequate for most hobbists but not enough for some die hard koi kichi.

Finally, click on this video link to see the auto-feeder in action. It was timed to dispense 2 cups of large and medium pellets which is too much for my few koi. I have since adjusted to dispense 1 cup per feed.

Also click on the last video to see the autofeeder installed in an outdoor pond. It was programmed to dispense 3 cups of food pellets to the hungry kois.

Cheer!