Shrimp & Prawn Feed: Types, Protein Levels & Feeding Tips

Shrimp fish food behaves nothing like fish pellets, and treating it the same way is one of the most common — and most expensive — mistakes new shrimp farmers make. Shrimp feed at the bottom, feed slowly, and are far more sensitive to water fouling from uneaten feed than most finfish. Here is what actually matters when you buy and feed it.

Why shrimp feed is always sinking

Shrimp and prawns are bottom-dwelling scavengers — they pick up feed particles from the pond or tank floor with their mouthparts, not at the surface. So shrimp feed and feed for prawns are always sinking (compressed) pellets, never floating. Pellet stability in water matters more here than for fish: a shrimp pellet has to hold together for at least 2–4 hours without disintegrating, because shrimp feed slowly and graze the same pellet over an extended period rather than eating quickly and moving on.

Vannamei feed: protein and pellet size by stage

Vannamei (whiteleg shrimp) feed protein tracks growth stage closely. Post-larvae and early juveniles need 38–42% protein starter feed in fine crumble form; grow-out vannamei feed drops to 32–36% protein in 1.5–2.5mm sinking pellets. Feeding a high-protein starter formula all the way to harvest is a common overspend — vannamei cannot use that much protein once they are past the juvenile stage, and the excess just adds to ammonia load in the pond.

Vannamei is also the species that benefits most from biofloc systems: the microbial floc functions as a live protein supplement the shrimp graze on between formulated feedings, cutting formulated feed use by roughly 10–30% over a grow-out cycle.

Feeding trays and how to check consumption

Because you cannot watch shrimp eat the way you watch tilapia rise to a floating pellet, feeding trays are the standard tool: place a small tray at a fixed pond location, add a measured portion of feed, and check it 2–3 hours later. An empty tray means you can increase the ration slightly; leftover feed means you are overfeeding and should cut back before the next feeding. This is the single most reliable way to tune a shrimp feeding rate without guessing, and experienced farms check 2–4 trays per pond to get a representative read.

Shrimp feeding rate and frequency

Typical shrimp feeding rate runs 3–8% of estimated biomass per day depending on stage, split across 3–5 feedings for post-larvae and juveniles, dropping to 2–4 feedings for grow-out shrimp. Higher feeding frequency with smaller portions reduces the amount of uneaten feed sitting on the pond bottom at any one time — critical in shrimp ponds because decomposing feed drives ammonia and hydrogen sulfide, both of which shrimp tolerate poorly.

Feed timing should also work around aeration and oxygen — feed when dissolved oxygen is stable, and make sure a paddle wheel aerator is running at full capacity during and after feeding, when oxygen demand from digestion and decomposing waste both peak.

Common shrimp feeding mistakes

The biggest one is feeding a fixed daily amount without adjusting for mortality — as a pond’s shrimp population drops from disease or natural attrition, the same feed volume becomes overfeeding almost overnight. Regular biomass sampling (cast net or partial harvest counts) should drive the feeding rate, not the calendar. The second mistake is using fish feed formulated for finfish in a shrimp pond — the amino acid profile, pellet stability and sinking behavior are all wrong for shrimp, and it wastes money without matching growth. For water-quality and disease risks tied to feeding practice, see shrimp farming mistakes and a biosecurity guide that works, and browse our fish and shrimp feed range for shrimp-specific pellet options.