DIY Automatic Fish Feeder

One of the most important aspects of keeping aquarium fish happy and healthy is to feed them a varied and nutritious diet. If you work during the day or frequently are away from home, it's difficult to maintain a regular feeding schedule for your fish. Solve this problem by making your own automatic fish feeder. This automatic fish feeder helps to supplement the diets of your fish by releasing live, flake or frozen foods into the tank automatically once a day.

Things You'll Need

  • Stiff plastic bottle
  • Hand drill
  • Plastic airline tubing
  • Hot glue gun
  • Air pump
  • Automatic timer
  • Dechlorinating solution
  • Live or frozen fish food
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Instructions

    • 1

      Clean out a stiff plastic bottle with a screw-on cap. Make sure the bottle is large enough to hold about 24 oz. of water.

    • 2

      Drill two separate holes in the top of the bottle cap using a drill bit the approximate diameter of the airline tubing.

    • 3

      Cut two pieces of airline tubing and insert one into each of the holes drilled into the bottle cap. Glue the airline tubing in place with hot glue on the outside of the bottle cap. The length of the airline tubing is up to you, but make sure one piece is long enough to connect to the air pump, wherever you decide to place it. The other piece reaches from the bottle into the tank.

    • 4

      Connect one of the pieces of airline tubing to the outlet valve on the air pump and position the air pump on a flat, stable surface near the fish tank.

    • 5

      Attach the bottle to the top of the fish tank upside down. Position the second piece of airline tubing so the water released through the tube flows into the tank. To attach the bottle to the tank, create a brace for it from a loop of wire secured to the hood of the tank. To make a wooden bracket, drill a hole through a piece of wood wide enough to hold the bottle cap while the bottle is upside down.

    • 6

      Connect the air pump to the automatic timer and set it to run for one minute at the desired time.

    • 7

      Fill the plastic bottle with water and add the appropriate amount of dechlorinating solution by following the instructions on the packaging.

    • 8

      Add your choice of live, frozen or flake food to the water in the bottle, and place the bottle upside down in position over the tank. When the automatic timer turns on the air pump, the bubbles released by the pump force the water in the bottle through the other piece of airline tubing and into the tank, taking the food with it.