Transitioning fish that eat pellets to autofeeder

[javisaman]

Do any of you have tips on using autofeeders? Particularly the Eheim with the feeding ring attachment. Right now I have 3 dispar anthias and 2 clownfish in my tank. I feed 4 times a day, a luxury granted to me from being at home. But I know this is not sustainable. I always turn off my main powerheads. Right now the fish get fed frozen (1/6 cube of frozen whatever plus some canalus) and 3 pellet feedings (large 1mm pellets in afternoon, and twice 0.5 mm pellets in the evening). The main issue is that the clownfish are much more aggressive eaters and will consume approximately 2x 3x as much as the anthias in any of the feedings. Moreover, one of the three anthias usually gets 1/3 the amount of food as the other two. I can control how many pellets I feed at a given time and literally none of them hit the tank bottom because they are all eaten. But I don't know if the autofeeder can do the same.

Are there any suggestions on making the transition?

 

[mike550]

Do any of you have tips on using autofeeders? Particularly the Eheim with the feeding ring attachment. Right now I have 3 dispar anthias and 2 clownfish in my tank. I feed 4 times a day, a luxury granted to me from being at home. But I know this is not sustainable. I always turn off my main powerheads. Right now the fish get fed frozen (1/6 cube of frozen whatever plus some canalus) and 3 pellet feedings (large 1mm pellets in afternoon, and twice 0.5 mm pellets in the evening). The main issue is that the clownfish are much more aggressive eaters and will consume approximately 2x 3x as much as the anthias in any of the feedings. Moreover, one of the three anthias usually gets 1/3 the amount of food as the other two. I can control how many pellets I feed at a given time and literally none of them hit the tank bottom because they are all eaten. But I don't know if the autofeeder can do the same.

Are there any suggestions on making the transition?

When I’m out of town I use an Eheim autofeeder with their feeding tube. I’ve learned a couple of things. First, the fish dont like to swim up the tube so the food naturally disperses a bit before the fish can get to it. So hopefully your Anthias will get a better chance to eat. I set mine to do two revolutions at each feeding so it’s smaller amount each time. Second, I have my powerhead on a Kasa Smart plug which turns off a couple of minutes before feeding and stays off another ten minutes. Since tube gets the food below the water line it doesnt get swept away to the overflow as quickly. The fish have also figured out if the powerheads go off then it’s feeding time. So maybe your anthias will be more aware.

 

[javisaman]

Has anyone encountered a situation where the fish will only swim out in the open if someone is looking at the tank? I purchased quarantined or self quarantined all of my fish. The issue with the auto feeder seems to be that the fish don't even notice food is going into the tank.

 

[Saltyreef]

My fish hang out around the feeding tube. They tell me when to refill the feeder too lol.

My anthias is quite the character staring at me until hes fed lol.

 

[billwill]

My fish seem to know it’s feeding time with my eheim! A feeding tube of some sort helps tremendously, but I’ve been running without one for a year or so since I put on mesh tops. But recently I bought a 3-D printed floating ring that works awesome! I would actually recommend leaving pumps on so that food disperses. It will allow more chance for the anthias to eat.

 

[mike550]

When I switched to my auto feeder I stopped all other methods of feeding. The other "cue" that I gave the fish was that the powerhead turned off for a few minutes before the scheduled feeding and for 10 minutes after. Give it time. As they get hungry, they'll figure it out.