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Feeding Stations

Paul B

Paul B

NJRC Member
I built the thing mainly for this young skinny female mandarin. Up unitl now she has been afraid to go on top of it and would just suck up the shrimp around the edges but now she hangs out on top of it and sucks out dozens of shrimp. I need her to grow a little so she can mate.
IMG_1697.jpg
 
malulu

malulu

NJRC Member
Paul B said:
OK, whos'e building them?
Click to expand...

in the past, we some time get some DIY group buy and build it during the monthly meeting...

normally, someone would need to build it first, and make sure it works, then group buy the material and supervise the build in monthly meeting. (if there were enough member interested in it.)

two projects on top of my heads in the past:
- Calcium reactor (the final product end ups not really work that well, and mine still sitting in my basement correcting dust - never used)
- fish foods (we buy all types of foods, and then mix them, OMG, it was stink like hell in the garage afterward)
:p
 
TanksNStuff

TanksNStuff

Officer Emeritus
Officer Emeritus
Looks like it works pretty good. Thankfully, my mandarin does fine finding food on his own so I'm not planning on making any of these yet.
 
F

Flare1185

I will need to adopt this design for my Mandarin also, hes getting kinda skinny to my liking. Can I get the fish net at like a local Walmart or do I need to go to a sport fishing store? Also what should I ask if I need help locating the type of fish net? Is it measured in micron size?
 
Paul B

Paul B

NJRC Member
my mandarin does fine finding food on his own so I'm not planning on making any of these yet.
Click to expand...

I got her much skinnier and she was doing fine but I just had an idea to build this thing so there it is. I also have a large fat male who I got skinny like that as a baby. My tank is also full of pods. If it doesn't have pods by now, it never will.
I also have a bluestripe pipefish that eats from this feeder.
I took a guess on the net and tried a few old nets that I had. It has to let the shrimp through but not all at once. It needs to restrict them a little. As the shrimp struggle to get through, the fish suck them through.
 
Brando457

Brando457

Would it be possible to make one for like pellets/frozen food? I notice that often the pellets drop straight down to the sand and get swept up by the vortech, it'd be a cool idea.
 
Paul B

Paul B

NJRC Member
Actually I made something like that for my moorish Idol. It was a small dish that sat on the bottom with a rigid tube going to the surface with a funnel on top just like this thing only the tube was larger. Above that was an automatic feeder that would deposit some pellets in the funnel a few times a day. There was also an airline tube carrying a little water into the funnel to help the pellets go down. The thing worked great for years and the Idol checked out the dish on every trip around the tank. He would hear the auto fish feeder running and immediatly go to the feeder and watch the pellets come down. As soon as they hit the dish, he would suck them up before any other fish got them. That is one reason I kept him for 5 years which is good for an Idol.
 
TanksNStuff

TanksNStuff

Officer Emeritus
Officer Emeritus
Paul, I didn't mean that I have enough pods in my tank (nor that you didn't... you certainly should in your tank). I just meant that my mandarin gets enough from hunting them on his own (without the need for a feeder). He also gets his share of blackworms and/or brine shrimp whenever I feed those to the tank. Don't get me wrong, I'm sure if I made one of these he'd find it and enjoy the buffet... but he's doing well enough on his own so I'd rather not domesticate him any more than he already is. :grin:
 
Paul B

Paul B

NJRC Member
hmm I may attempt to copy that somehow
Click to expand...

Copy away

Paul, I didn't mean that I have enough pods in my tank (nor that you didn't.
Click to expand...

TanksNStuff, You are assuming that I pay attention to what I write or read. I am sure we both have pods coming out the gazoo. I just built the thing because I like designing and building things. If I had a moose I would build a feeder for him.
What do mooses eat anyway?

If I run out of pods I call "Pods R Us" and have them delivered by tractor trailer.

moving1.jpg
 
Paul B

Paul B

NJRC Member
Looks cool. now you just need to make one with smaller holes. The one I built years ago for adult brine shrimp used plastic window screen and that worked so well I got a patent. But the patent is expired now and I don't make them any more.
Window screen is the way to go with adult brine.
 
malulu

malulu

NJRC Member
i think that mesh size are fine, it is just when they bended the shape like that, the holes got stretch and became bigger...
i might try to squeeze the shape down to a smaller size, the holes may be shrinking a bit...
thx
 
Paul B

Paul B

NJRC Member
With the correct size mesh, the shrimp try to get through but get stuck so the fish just suck them through the net. Almost no shrimp get lost because they can't get out on their own and the seahorses could eat all day.
 
TanksNStuff

TanksNStuff

Officer Emeritus
Officer Emeritus
I think Paul's right though David. If you use the fiberglass mesh they sell at HD or Lowes, you would be able to have a non-metallic (no rust) flat piece (no bends to stretch the holes) and would glue onto your lid just as easy.

I think you should check it out. I think they come in different mesh sizes, so take your metal one with you to compare and get one that's the same or slightly smaller size holes.

Good job by the way!
 
Paul B

Paul B

NJRC Member
The ones that I made with the window screen worked great. I sold over 6,000 of them so I know they work :eek:
 
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