Introduction

Precise feeding of aquatic laboratory animals is crucial for their welfare and for the quality of research results. Since food released in water dissolves and degrades very quickly, aquatic animals need to be fed several times a day. This invention allows operators to feed multiple fish tanks with a precise amount of food, in a precise amount of time.

Technical features

Many  research institutions, companies and universities are using fish for biological and medical research. Feeding hundreds or thousands of small aquaria arrayed in cabinets is a challenging technical problem. Animals need to be properly fed several times a day and the amount of food has to be precisely delivered to avoid waste, as well as over and underfeeding. Most laboratories currently feed the fish tanks manually by taking a pinch of food and releasing it in a small hole in the lid of the aquaria. This process is imprecise and the amount of food can vary greatly from pinch to pinch.

The patent describes a small and practical pneumatic device that delivers pulsated amounts of fish food. The device enables the operator to feed a fish tank with a precise amount of food in one second, thus allowing the delivery of food to thousands of tanks, arrayed in racks, in a precise amount of time.

Possible Applications

• Multiple fish tank feeding;
• Precise dosage of feed for aquatic animals.

Advantages

• Fast feeding;
• Precise amount of food delivered;
• Avoids waste;
• Avoids over or under feeding of fish;
• Limits the variability due to the operator.