This Fish Mate F14 Review will help make an informed choice as you shop for an automatic fish feeder. This feeder is able to comfortably feed the most popular types of Tropical and cold water food.
The 14 individual meal portions settings available are useful as they enable you to give the fish different diets even if you are on holiday. It also allows you to adopt the method of feeding the fish with different small meals a day, than depending on a single diet.
This kind of feeding is recommended by nutritionists. It is reliable for feeding your Aquarium fish even while busy or engaged in something elsewhere. As recommended by a Pet nutritionist, it is best to use granular or pelleted food types than flakes.
Fish Mate F14 Review
Fish Mate F14 automatic feeder
This feeder is ideal for Aquaculture farmers who are either on holiday or when held up somewhere else.
You can mount the feeder differently in three ways;
- Mounting on a condensation tray.
- Mounting on the aquarium hood or
- Mount it on the edge of the tank.
Fittings are included in mounting the F14 feeder. With the help of a reliable and accurate quartz timer, the feeder will dispense all the dry foods on a two-week break. This feeder can dispense up to 14 days worth of food.
Pros
- This automatic Fish feeder is the most preferred product for use because it is accurate that it feeds all fish food including the flakes.
- It has a battery condition indicator
- It serves up to 14 individual meals when on holiday
- The 1 × AA/LR6 battery can be used continuously for a year and above. With this single AA battery, the fish is able to feed when the power goes out but will not feed if the battery is low. If you have no time to monitor your fish, always remember to replace a new battery. What should be noted is that a good Duracell MN 1500 should last a year.
- It has a guarantee of one year
- Feeding the Fish for several hours by use of this feeder keeps them vibrant hence reducing the overfeeding behavior.
- The easy use of this timer provides 1 to 4 meals daily.
- It is easy to set up the feeder because of its simple mechanics.
Con
With all the pros, the fish Mate F14 Aquarium automatic feeder’s wheel positioning is not 100% accurate.
Fish Mate F14 Aquarium Fish Feeder
The feeder has brackets to enable it either be mounted on the glass edge of the aquarium or the aquarium hood. Fish Mate F14 suitably feeds the most popular Tropical fish types and cold water fish foods.
With the 14 chamber meal portions, a variety of meals can be served while on holiday. The fish nutritionists recommend that you feed the fish with various small diets than one large food. This can only be facilitated by the F14 feeder.
Alternatively, an airline can be attached from a small aquarium air pump to blow dry air through the feeder to prevent the food from going stale and clogging as well.
The aquarium F14 automatic feeder fits up to 15 litres probably for larger or heavily stocked tanks for they use more than one feeder. The feeder is fitted by entering your model number, something you have to always remember.
Other Features
- The feeder has 14 Chambers for serving different meals.
- Fish Mate F14 Aquarium feeds all the fish foods including the flakes.
- It has a battery condition indicator.
- The feeder is reliable with an accurate quartz timer and,
- It has an easy-use timer providing 1 to 4 meals a day.
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Fish feeder, Fish Mate F14 Instructions
The fish feeder helps to programme up to 3 meals daily, serving individual meals in approximate units of 15 ml equivalent to 3 teaspoons. The feeder also serves meals in advance of their programmed period.
To ensure that your settings are not interrupted, control buttons are needed to be pressed firmly for their operation. In the setting up of the process and you may seemingly want to leave it before its completion, the operating system “times out” after a minute displaying the current time.
Before this, you have to supervise the use of a fish mate feeder, you have to supervise its correct operation for a period of not less than 3 days. The reason is that the feeder is manufactured from top-quality materials and then assembled to comply with rigorous quality standards.
The feeder makes some noise during operation which indicates that the feeder is correctly functioning. The fish Mate F14 however looks irregularly large but it is only meant for use of dry foods of a maximum size of 16mm.
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How are batteries fitted?
- They are fitted by lifting the hopper out of the base
- Inverting the base unit and removing the battery cover by releasing the retaining clip
- Inserting 4 good quality alkaline “C” batteries using the orientation symbols marked at the bottom of the battery compartment.
- The battery cover is replaced.
Good quality alkaline batteries should last up to 24 months depending on how you use them. Popular batteries with rechargeable and 1.5 V lithium batteries may also be used. The low battery indicator only works best with standard alkaline batteries.
The setting of the clock
- Press and hold the ‘time’ button for 5 seconds until the hour figure on the clock starts to flash
- Press the +ve and -ve buttons to adjust the clock to the correct hour. Apparently,, hold down either the +be or -ve button for longer than 3 seconds to scroll through.
- Press the ‘time’ button to save the setting
- If you want to save the 12-hour clock format and 24-hour, press and hold the time button and within 3 secs, press the +be button.
Be patient for about a minute until the display stops flashing and the clock is set. There must be the correct location with the noble opening turned downwards.
You have also to be careful when inserting the feeding mechanism into the rear aperture at the base of the hopper until the retaining clip clicks into the position.
The setting of the meal sizes
Sized meals are recommended for feeding, not more than your fish will consume within a few minutes. It is expensive and detrimental to overfeed the fish, which is not good for their health.
Feed your fish once, twice or thrice daily depending on their requirements.
Turning the feeder on and off
In long-term periods of low water temperature, the time your fish requires less feeding, switch off the feeder. As soon as the optimal temperature is regained, turn it on with programmed settings.
Cleaning
Clean the base unit of the hopper, the hopper lid and the feeding mechanism. The hopper, hopper lid and feeding mechanisms are made from food-safe materials to be washed in dishwater.
During the washing, remove the feeding mechanism to release the retaining clip.
Assembling of the fish feeder
While assembling the feeder;
- You have to first open the hopper lid and then remove the feeding nozzle and feeding mechanism.
- Secondly, push the nozzle into the front aperture at the base of the hopper. While doing this ensure the correct location with the nozzle opening turned downwards.
- Be keen when inserting the feeding mechanism into the rear aperture at the base of the hopper until the retaining clip clicks into position.
- Thereafter, fit the assembled hopper to the base unit.
Advance feed
If interested in bringing the programmed set meals forward, hold the feed button and the -ve buttons at the same time. In this process, the feeder dispenses the next programmed meal. The indicator flashes on the display and food is dispensed for the set time.
In manual feeding, you can serve the predetermined food amount without the need for programming the times. During this process;
calculate the number of feed units you would like to be served per meal.
Then set the meal ‘1’ with the number of feed units and then press the ‘FEED’ button. While the meal button is flashing, press and hold the +ve and -ve buttons altogether for 5 seconds until the ‘OFF’ is displayed.
For frequent feeding, the meals are served during the course of the day. There is dispensing of a single feed at regular intervals between the programmed and the finish time. This function is meant for professional Aquaculture farmers who are using professional feeding methods.
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Fish Mate F14 Review
This feeder rarely fails. If using a flake, you are recommended to raise the feeder about 4-6 inches above the opening in your fish lid and leave the Fish Mate lid open to prevent condensation from building up.
The condensation that is building up makes the flake food more sticky and less likely to drop the feeder out. Easily raise the feeder up through placement on some small empty light cardboard boxes.
Fish Mate F14 has got no air inlet to hook up your air pump, keeping the condensation down. With this feeder, you can feed your fish to four times a day.
The feeder is as well, efficient for feeding the fish while on holiday.
You are all aware that anything good has its own faults. For this feeder which is otherwise quite reliable, its cons include;
Cons of Fish Mate F14
- The flake food doesn’t work best in this feeder as the flakes will tend to settle flat against the surface of the feeder and then slide under the sides of the ring.
- The feeder is also bigger in size than most customers’ expectations.
Reference
PET MATE: FISH MATE F14