Prawns are beautiful and fascinating, and they also fulfil an important function in the aquarium: the small crustaceans are algae eaters and help to keep the aquarium clean. Algae alone is not enough, however, so the prawns also need additional food.

Prawns are omnivores, meaning they consume both plant-based and animal-based food. In nature, they eat live and dead organisms, such as small insects, leaves, algae and roots. You can find high-quality prawn food at Maxi Zoo for a proper diet for your prawns. This food contains the right mixture of required minerals, fats, vitamins, proteins and other nutrients, and provides your prawns with optimum nourishment. Fish food is also suitable for plant-eating fish.

In nature, prawns primarily eat dried leaves soaked in water. You can offer your prawns this as a treat. If you look for the leaves yourself, please be sure to collect only leaves that have already fallen, as fresh leaves that are not eaten decompose quickly and pollute the water. It is also recommended that you only collect leaves that are as free of pollutants as possible, i.e. those that you find in the forest. If you don’t want to make this effort, you can buy food that is free of pollutants and ready-to-eat in the shop as prawn food. Dried sea almond leaves are a healthy treat for your prawns too. Fresh nettle leaves, dandelions and ribwort plantain are suitable green fodder. You can also get these plants in pellet form or as sticks in specialist shops. Other fresh prawn food you can offer in organic quality includes leafy vegetables such as spinach and lamb’s lettuce, cooked carrots or bell peppers, sometimes grapes and other fruit. But please feed only very small quantities, as vegetables and fruit can quickly pollute the water.

Prawns are very small and should not be overfed. It is usually enough to supply them one to three times a week with high-quality prawn food, as they find sufficient nutrients in the aquarium during the rest of the time. Overfeeding prawns leads to the accumulation of food residues in the tank, which worsen the water quality, and in the worst case can cause the death of the crustaceans. Therefore, with regard to prawn food, the following applies: less, but greater variety, is more. Treat the prawns one day, for example, with sticks, pellets or flake feed from  More for Fish, then offer them a small amount of lettuce at the next feeding time, and a few days later give them just a little bit of bell pepper.

For a long time, fish were considered the undisputed main characters in aquaristics. However, other underwater residents have also aroused the interest of aquarium enthusiasts, especially various types of prawns. The crustaceans have long found their way into numerous tanks – initially as keen helpers against annoying algae, now also as leading actors in aquariums. And that’s not surprising, because the types of prawns suitable for aquariums are generally very easy to care for – especially with regard to their diet.

Would you like to buy prawn food? At Maxi Zoo you will find various types of food in the form of granules that have been specially developed for freshwater prawns. The feed granulates remain dimensionally stable over a period of 24 hours and therefore have no influence on the quality of the aquarium water. But that’s not the only advantage: the high-quality and species-appropriate food reliably supplies your underwater crustaceans with animal proteins and many valuable vitamins that strengthen their vitality and robustness. Furthermore, the prawn food contains important nutrients from algae. This is important for healthy growth and uncomplicated moulting for the crustaceans.

In the wild as well as in the aquarium, freshwater prawns are anything but selective when it comes to their food. When prawns look for food in natural waters, chance plays a major role. The crustaceans usually feed on leaves that have fallen into the water and have already decomposed. But prawns do not spurn other plant components. For example, algae is one of the main foods for prawns. The invertebrate freshwater residents also have a penchant for insects. However, they are not known to be ambitious hunters and they prefer dead specimens that drift in the water. For a proper diet, you should therefore occasionally also put a few crawler animals such as mosquito larvae in the tank.

However, prawns don’t just eat plants that they find in the wild – they also love fruit and vegetables. Here too, the little creatures prove to be very easy to care for, since they eat very different varieties, such as cucumbers, carrots, peppers, apples and grapes. However, to ensure that your underwater residents do not suffer any health impairments due to possible harmful substances, you should only feed them organic vegetables, or pour boiling water over the vegetable pieces before feeding. Processed vegetables are taboo for prawns: fat and spices can lead to the death of the animals.
As far as the amount of food is concerned, many aquarium enthusiasts overshoot the mark. It is best to give your prawns moderate amounts of food. A rule of thumb says: anything that is left over after an hour was too much of a good thing. It is therefore worth watching the eating behaviour of your prawns to determine their needs.