PENN-PLAX Daily-Double II Automatic Fish Feeder for Aquariums – Battery Operated (AA) – Great for Vacations, Holidays, and Weekend Travel

As other reviews have noted, this feeder works but its not the best. I'm only giving it 3 stars, because for a few dollars more you can get much better value for your money (see suggested alternatives at the end of my review).How it works:The drum on the front slowly rotates by 360 degrees over 12 hours -- just like the hour hand on a clock -- giving you two feedings a day. You can hear the mechanism ticking fainting (also just like a clock). The feed timing can't be adjusted, except to choose when you want the cycle to begin; it always feeds 12 hours apart.There is an orange tube that runs through the drum with a scoop on one end and an opening on the other; when the opening is at 12 o'clock the scoop will start to pick up food. As the drum continues to rotate the food falls into the tube until it is lifted high enough to start sliding out of the opening by gravity. Depending on the type and amount of food in the tube, it might slide out anytime from 3 o'clock to 6 o'clock, and it could come out a little bit at a time or all at once.You can control the amount dispensed by twisting the tube, which changes the angle that the scoop hits the food (allowing more or less food to enter the tube). In general this isn't a very accurate method of measuring, and the amount per feeding can vary a lot depending on factors such as the type of food and how full the drum is at the time.Food types:It works reliably with granulated food, pellets or crisps. It will work with flake food, but only if you lightly crush it first; whole flakes can easily block the entrance to the scoop and prevent it picking up anything at all. If you are going to use flake food you should monitor it to make sure the fish are actually getting their dinner ...User modifications:I had some issues with moisture collecting in the drum and spoiling the food, so following the advice in other reviews I drilled a few holes in the front to allow ventilation, and I also made sure the battery compartment was properly sealed using some silicone.Alternative feeders:The following feeders are based on a common design that you will see frequently (I think they are probably all made in the same factory in China and then rebranded ... even PetCo sells an "own brand" copy of these). I think it's a superior feeder because you can program the feeding times (up to 4 per day) and the method for pickup up food gives more consistent results. Also, it doesn't have moisture issues, the food is dispensed all at once and it doesn't tick.-  Aquarium Automatic Fish Food Tank Feeder Timer Home BLK -  Hk Small size LCD Automatic Auto Aquarium Tank Fish Food Feeder Feeding 4 Times Timer -  Aquarium Tank LCD Auto Fish Feeder 4 Feeding Times Adjustable

I kept a napkin under it to make sure it was working ...and yes..every 12 hours it feeds.....I actually purchased a 2nd one and use both on my tank and set it up so my fish can eat every 6 hours Plus I feel better knowing that if one stops working for whatever reason I can be assured that the fish will be fed... I have been very happy with them. The problem is that I recently purchased a new tank and now when I went away they were in a position where moisture got in.... The description for this product clearly states not to leave it near bubbling water or moisture of any kind so when I get home after a week there was sludge in both dispensers!!!!...... Sadly I don't know how long my fish were without food but luckily they are alive and they are currently eating so be wary of where you place them.... It is a great item but i'm upset about what happened. I wish that they could make it so that the moisture doesn't get in. That's why I didn't give five stars on review.

I have had this contraption for several years. I have purchased few of these already since they tend to break or stop working after few months of use and while I know that these 'simple clock' type mechanisms work but I do not totally depend on them for feeding my fishes at all times. I use this product only when I know I won't be able to feed my fishes on my own and attach this contraption to my fish tank to automatically feed them. Once the intended period has passed and know I can feed my fishes on my own I remove this contraption dry it with a hair dryer and store it safely for future use.Why? you ask - The problems with this one AA battery operated automatic fish feeder are:1. The moisture build up causes pellets or flakes to stick inside and block the feeding hole or worse is when mold builds up inside and you will have to throw away the fish food.2. The lid is held on by small plastic tabs that can easily break. If you are not careful the top lid tabs break easily and once that happens the kit becomes useless.3. The Quartz clock mechanism fails if there is too much moisture build up and the battery compartment starts to develop rust easily.Nevertheless for the low price when purchased for under 10 dollars I think it is decent enough to know that this contraption will be feeding my fishes automatically when I am gone for brief periods.Overall okay product if you learn to live with the problems mentioned above - 3 stars!

The Penn-Plax Daily Double II is the Old Faithful of the automatic fish feeders. I own a total of five of these fish feeders for four different aquariums. They all work reliably to feed my fish. However, all the other reviewers are correct in that condensation does get into the feeder and spoils the food inside. In my experience, these particular feeder works better with pellets than with flakes. Unless you have time to crush the flakes further, they will most likely clog up the opening, especially if there's condensation. I find that If I don't fill up the feeder all the way and the pellets have room to roll around and "breath," then I avoid ruining the entire batch before it's fed to my fish! There are no timers or other fancy settings with this model. The timer simply spins like a ferris wheel and feeds your finned friends every 12 hours. For the price that I paid for it, an Alexander Hamilton, I'm satisfied with my purchase.

I really like this product and it work really well with granule food.

Doesn't give out enough food out.i had to make the scoop hole bigger and still doesn't work properly

As stated in a few of the other reviews, flake food sticks in this feeder after a few days. That wasn't an issue as we use pellets anyway. The issue I had with it was the mechanism to adjust how much food is released is extremely unreliable, and also can't be adjusted low enough to feed two goldfish twice a day. I mean, by a LONG shot. On the lowest setting, with pellet food, had we had the feeder over the tank instead of testing it out on the table first for a few days, the fish would have been overfed by x3. It is impossible to release fewer than 10+ pellets each time. In the end, we used a mixture of flake and pellets, knowing that the flake would partially clog the machine and therefore stop the release of so much food. We had no choice at this stage because we were going away for two weeks and didn't have time to order another product. Well, the fish survived... but they were pretty hungry when we got back! If you have a lot of fish and use only pellets, this would probably work ok.

Excellent product that solves the holiday problem of feeding fish without using blocks that contaminated the water

The maschine is actually working fine but when we received it the front glass was broken but I did not have time to send it back as we were going on holiday. When we came back from holiday I thought it was too late to return it and I have just left it but my fish had survived two weeks on their own so that was the best part.