Master Swarit Acharya, just 9-year-old, had the audience at TEDx event hooked with his innovative way to feed aquarium fishes – even when the keepers are absent.

The project named “Sam”. was presented by Henrich, his guide and Swarit on international platform TEDx.

“I always wanted to have an aquarium but wondered who would feed the fishes during my absence. Especially when the family is out for a vacation. I took help from Mr. Henrich and my mother, Mrs. Manisha Bhargava on the same to design a fish feeder so that fishes don’t starve and the family could have a worry-free vacation. Hence, I came up with Sam,” Master Swarit said.

Usually, aquarium owners would end up giving vacation food to the fishes. Those are nothing but steroids and unhealthy. “Design thinking that consists of the quantity of feed, the interval of food, and metabolism needed to be considered,” he said.

Overfeeding leads to many issues, like undigested food which the fishes spit out when overfed and also an excessive digestive waste.
This is likely to make the tank toxic and increase nitrate levels also bringing down oxygen levels in the water thereby making the water unsuitable for the fishes.

In order to overcome these challenges feeding time is the most important parameter to be considered.

“Time is a vital parameter as fishes usually take 16-24 hours to digest the food,” says Master Swarit

He designed a fish feeder using a servo that rotates for a predetermined time to feed the fish. In order to get this working, he programmed and created an app.
Fish feeder will feed the correct amount of pellets at a predetermined time. Usually fish eats 8 pellets per day. Sam can be programmed to either feed 8 pellets once a day with the timer set for 24 hours or in parts after every few hours as fish keepers would like to set.
Master Swarit would like to create awareness among peers and aquarium lovers on the solution.