Smarter Feeding, Stronger Farms: How Automatic Fish Feeders Are Transforming Aquaculture

In commercial aquaculture, feeding is everything. It accounts for up to 60% of total production costs, and the difference between efficient feeding and wasteful overfeeding can determine whether a farm is profitable or not. For fish farmers managing dozens — or even hundreds — of tanks, hatcheries, and grow-out systems, the challenge of getting the right feed to the right fish at the right time, consistently, is immense.

That’s where automatic fish feeders come in — and why the Innovaqua Mirafeed system, available through Pure Aquatics, has become a go-to solution for hatcheries, nurseries, research centres, and commercial grow-out operations across Australia and the world.

The Value of Automatic Feeders for Fish Farmers

Manual feeding is labour-intensive, inconsistent, and difficult to scale. A farm employee can only feed so many tanks in a day, and even the most experienced hand-feeder cannot match the precision and repeatability of a well-calibrated automatic system. Here is what automatic feeders genuinely deliver:

• Reduced feed waste — Overfeeding pollutes water, degrades water quality, and increases running costs. Automated dosing delivers precise quantities, reducing uneaten feed settling on tank floors.
• Improved feed conversion ratios (FCR) — Consistent, frequent, smaller meals spread throughout the day more closely mimic natural feeding behaviour, improving growth rates and FCR.
• Labour savings — One or two staff can oversee feeding across a large facility that would otherwise require a full team. Time saved on feeding can be redirected to monitoring, maintenance, and other higher-value tasks.
• Better fish health and uniformity — Regular, scheduled feeding reduces competition and stress within populations, leading to more uniform sizing and reduced mortality.
• Traceability and data — Modern automatic feeders paired with control systems create records of exactly how much feed was dispensed, when, and to which tank — invaluable for production management, research, and biosecurity records.
• 24/7 feeding capability — Night-time and weekend feeding schedules can run unattended, supporting optimal growth without increasing staffing costs.

Introducing the Mirafeed Series by Innovaqua

Designed and manufactured in Europe by Innovaqua, the Mirafeed range is widely regarded as one of the most versatile and accurate dosing feeders available in the aquaculture market. Available through Pure Aquatics, these units have been developed to meet the demanding requirements of professional fish producers — from micro-diet hatchery feeding to high-volume grow-out operations.

The Mirafeed range covers three core models — the 100, 300, and 700 — each engineered for different species, life stages, and feed types. All models operate on safe 24VAC voltage and are built with easy cleaning and simple handling as design priorities.

Mirafeed 100 — Laboratory, Larvae & Fry

The Mirafeed 100 is purpose-built for the most delicate feeding requirements: larvae, fry, and laboratory applications. It handles feed sizes from 50 microns all the way up to 2mm, making it ideal for early-stage fish that require micro-diets, powdered feeds, and microencapsulated diets. A built-in low-pressure air blower keeps fine feed dry in humid hatchery environments, preventing the caking and bridging that plague lesser feeders.

Mirafeed 300 — Laboratory, Fry & Nursery

Stepping up for slightly larger fish and feeds, the Mirafeed 300 covers the 0.5mm to 2mm range and suits fry through to early nursery stages. Available in 0.3g and 1g dose disk configurations, it delivers the same precision dosing as the 100 but for growing fish transitioning beyond the larval stage.

Mirafeed 700 — Nursery & On-Growing

For nursery and commercial grow-out applications, the Mirafeed 700 handles pellets from 0.5mm up to 10mm. With dosing disks available in 5g, 20g, and 45g options, this unit scales to meet the feed volumes required by larger fish populations in production-stage tanks and raceways.

A standout feature of the entire Mirafeed range is its modularity. Conversion kits allow operators to transform between models — a Mirafeed 100 can be upgraded to a 300 or 700 configuration as fish grow, protecting the initial investment and simplifying spare parts management across a facility. A single motor platform supports multiple accessories and dosing disk configurations, giving farmers flexibility without complexity.

Miranda: The Intelligent Control Behind the Mirafeed System

Hardware precision is only part of the equation. The Mirafeed range truly comes into its own when paired with Innovaqua’s Miranda control and monitoring system — the brain that turns individual feeders into a coordinated, data-driven feeding operation.

Miranda is an integral aquaculture facility control system that allows operators to monitor and manage parameters in real time, whether on-site or remotely via the internet. For Mirafeed users, Miranda’s dedicated Feeder Module provides a level of control that was previously only available at the largest commercial operations.

With Miranda managing your Mirafeed units, you can:

• Remotely program feeding schedules for every feeder across your facility from a single interface.
• Set individual feeding windows, number of doses, and dose duration (to 0.1 second resolution) or gram-based dosing per feeder.
• Use custom-built growing tables to automatically calculate and adjust feed rations as fish biomass changes — no manual recalculation required.
• Integrate probe data such as water temperature and dissolved oxygen to dynamically adjust feeding rates based on real-time conditions.
• Apply special larvae feeding protocols that calculate rations using tank volume and days post-hatching (dph), critical for hatchery managers working with sensitive species.
• Correct feed amounts for events like sampling, grading, or mortality without disrupting the automated schedule.
• Access complete historical feeding data through graphical reports, track trends, and export records in CSV format.
• Receive alarm notifications via SMS or email if something goes wrong, and manage the system remotely without needing to be on-site.

Miranda scales with your operation. Controllers are available to manage anywhere from a single feeder up to 300 units, with extension modules allowing the system to grow as your farm expands. Whether you are running a boutique hatchery or a large-scale recirculating aquaculture system (RAS), there is a Miranda configuration to suit.

The combination of Mirafeed’s mechanical precision and Miranda’s intelligent control creates a feeding management system that reduces waste, improves production outcomes, and gives farmers the data they need to continuously improve performance.