Feeding Pond fish when away

romany

romany

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As title suggest having had a few disaster with a 30 year old son who seems incapable of remembering to feed our fish when away for any length of time we are looking for some kind of reliable automatic feeder, as with all things made for a specific market we have seen some horrendously expensive fish feeders but have seen some reasonable dog and cat feeders we believe could do for our fish.
so was wondering if any one on here has had and solved this problem (y)
 
Can't help with the feeder, but I can relate to your problem. We have a forty year old son that lives at home and he still forgets to feed the fish or water the plants while we are away !!
 
Here's an 'off the wall' Idea.

I have recently fitted a Google Nest heating thermostat, basically it means I can control the heating in my house from anywhere where there is a phone/wifi connection, it works simply by turning the boiler on and off... (or via the thermostat)

Now.. (bear with me o_O).. if instead of wiring it into the boiler system it was wired into some sort of 240v powered container that opened and closed with a switch, I think a remote feeder could be cobbled made.

Cost of the Nest system about £160..
 
romany said:
As title suggest having had a few disaster with a 30 year old son who seems incapable of remembering to feed our fish when away for any length of time we are looking for some kind of reliable automatic feeder, as with all things made for a specific market we have seen some horrendously expensive fish feeders but have seen some reasonable dog and cat feeders we believe could do for our fish.
so was wondering if any one on here has had and solved this problem (y)
Click to expand...
Fresh ,tropical,pond marine ?
 
LesW said:
Here's an 'off the wall' Idea.

I have recently fitted a Google Nest heating thermostat, basically it means I can control the heating in my house from anywhere where there is a phone/wifi connection, it works simply by turning the boiler on and off... (or via the thermostat)

Now.. (bear with me o_O).. if instead of wiring it into the boiler system it was wired into some sort of 240v powered container that opened and closed with a switch, I think a remote feeder could be cobbled made.

Cost of the Nest system about £160..
Click to expand...


Better still, wire it to turn off the TV/ computer and flash the lights till the fish are fed (y)

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LesW said:
Here's an 'off the wall' Idea.

I have recently fitted a Google Nest heating thermostat, basically it means I can control the heating in my house from anywhere where there is a phone/wifi connection, it works simply by turning the boiler on and off... (or via the thermostat)

Now.. (bear with me o_O).. if instead of wiring it into the boiler system it was wired into some sort of 240v powered container that opened and closed with a switch, I think a remote feeder could be cobbled made.

Cost of the Nest system about £160..
Click to expand...
May aswell get a smart socket to do what you ask £20?
 
Screenshot_20200226-123936.png
 
romany said:
As title suggest having had a few disaster with a 30 year old son who seems incapable of remembering to feed our fish when away for any length of time we are looking for some kind of reliable automatic feeder, as with all things made for a specific market we have seen some horrendously expensive fish feeders but have seen some reasonable dog and cat feeders we believe could do for our fish.
so was wondering if any one on here has had and solved this problem (y)
Click to expand...
Sorry just read thread title properly :ROFLMAO:
 
Your solution may depend on how long you are away, and how much food your fish need. Having a feeder with capacity for more than a week may be a challenge. Also what type of food, small little round pellets, flakes, little sticks? Pellets are perhaps the easiest to handle in a feeder as they will be able to roll around.

Many feeders are cheap and poorly designed. Feeders for cat's dogs and such like probably can't work as they'll need a chute from which the dispenser can discharge the food into the water. And any feeder needs to be able to keep the the chute dry or the food get's stuck.

I did have some success a couple of years ago with Amazon product ASIN B01MU5T2FT Cheaper similar ones may now be available.
 
ah a 30 year old just keep sending him texts if is anything like other young people he will be looking at his phone constantly

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Have a similar issue with watering plants in pots. I use a pump submerged in connected water butts controlled by Kasa Smart Plug available from Argos for £14.99. Does the job, program or control from anywhere. Just link to whatever electrical device you have to dispense the feed.
 
pagey said:
ah a 30 year old just keep sending him texts if is anything like other young people he will be looking at his phone constantly
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are you familiar with I have you blocked because all mum does is nag me or words to that affect we feed our fish floating sticks (basically pellets) looking for about a 3 to 4 week feed time hopefully son will at least remember to top that up or he will be looking for somewhere else to stay;)
was looking at something like this know ill have to keep it dry and possible extend the shute
 
Gone are the days when we knew our neighbours....?

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Just smiffy said:
Gone are the days when we knew our neighbours....?
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Actually our neighbors are very good bu they have just had a baby born with a few unexpected problems thankfully all fixable and on the mend now but did not want to impose on them at this trying time(y)
 
romany said:
Actually our neighbors are very good bu they have just had a baby born with a few unexpected problems thankfully all fixable and on the mend now but did not want to impose on them at this trying time(y)
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Good chance that all your neighbours will be self-isolating while you’re away!
 
3-4 week period? That's a loooong time. Very few feeders will have that sort of capacity. Unless mains powered they may also be vulnerable to running out of steam. You may need a couple of feeders so you can get one to do morning, one evening.

What sort of capacity of food do you need to dispense per feed? A cat type feeder many not be able to deal with the smaller handful quantities.

And if you are having this sort of problem with feeding, how are you dealing with pond filtration systems that probably need checking / cleaning during that sort of period?
 
I have one of the above works a treat. You can enter in feed times and amounts. Just need a Herron alarm now.

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I don't know of anything that would be good for the length of time you are asking about, however we have had a similar situation in the past. We have both a medium sized dog as well as two ferrets. It was impossible to take our dog with us on one of our holidays, so we arranged for a friend to stay with him and for a dog walker to come each day to walk the dog. unfortunately our friend quite severely injured her back and so couldn't bend down to let our ferrets out or clean their cage. We spoke to the dog walker and offered her a bit of additional cash to do the ferrets as well.

If there are any dog walkers advertising in your area, it might be worth phoning to see if they could pop into the garden once a day on one of their walks a give the fish a handful or two of food. They may well see it as a quick and easy way to make a bit extra cash?? Worth a try maybe?
 
I dont feed mine at all they get everything they need in our pond mind you they are only goldfish,the terrapins dont get fed in the pond either all still alive!
 
we had ferrets they were no problem as son was interested in them (y)

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Check out trusted house-sitter.com. I am a sitter and can highly recommend it. No charges.....all free!!
 
matt34 said:
I dont feed mine at all they get everything they need in our pond mind you they are only goldfish,the terrapins dont get fed in the pond either all still alive!
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I have a tendency to agree with you Matt34 but because they have been fed by her who must be obeyed and the pond is probably overstocked along with all the newts frogs and toads that are already spawning as well I have been Told I want an auto;):unsure: feeder
 
Southdowners said:
We bought an automatic fish feeder for our Koi. Like this one https://www.onbuy.com/gb/p7000-automatic-fish-food-dispenser~c7754~p6552691/

It has a big hopper so only needs topping up once a week. It worked well, although we did put a cover over it to protect it from the wind and rain as we live in a quite exposed area.
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have now been ordered will let you know how we get on with it, if it doesn't work out I have told dearly beloved she will just have to stay home while i'm away:devil:

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