Nutrafin

Nutrafin is the fish food and water care brand of Hagen, the Canadian company behind Fluval, Marina and Exo Terra, and the Nutra-Matic feeder here is its answer to the weekend away. It runs on two AA batteries, sits on the tank rim or stands on its own, and turns roughly every twelve hours to drop a measured portion of flake, granule or small pellet food, so a tank keeps its routine without a neighbour being asked to help. The portion size is adjustable, and a door closes between feeds to keep the food dry.

Automatic feeders go wrong in two ways, by clumping damp flake and by dropping too much, so run it for a few days while you are home and watch the portion before you trust it. A dry granule works better than fine flake. For more feeds a day, see the programmable Eheim Everyday Feeder.