How to Feed Nettle Pellets Properly (and Avoid Overfeeding)
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Feeding shrimp should be simple — yet somehow it’s one of the easiest ways to accidentally crash a tank. A few too many pellets, a pinch too often, and suddenly your crystal-clear water turns cloudy and your shrimp start acting… well, off. I’ve been there. I once fed “just one extra pellet” before a weekend away — and spent the next week battling a bacterial bloom that looked like pea soup.
So let’s save you that headache. Here’s how to feed nettle pellets properly, safely, and effectively — so your shrimp get all the benefits without you tipping the balance of your aquarium.
🌿 What Makes Nettle Pellets Different
Unlike protein-rich shrimp foods that dissolve quickly, nettle pellets are made from 100% dried stinging nettles. They break down slowly, releasing nutrients and fibre over time. That makes them much harder to overfeed — but not impossible.
Once submerged, a pellet softens and expands into a leafy mash. Shrimp gather to graze, rasping the surface layer while microfauna and snails take care of what’s left. It’s beautifully natural — but if you drop in too many at once, uneaten material can still collect under moss or in corners where it decomposes unnoticed.
If you haven’t read it yet, check out the background piece first: What Are Nettle Pellets for Shrimp?.
📏 How Much to Feed (the Golden Rule)
The right amount depends on your colony size — not your tank volume. A 30-litre tank with ten shrimp needs far less than a 20-litre tank with fifty.
Use this as a simple guide:
- 1–20 shrimp: ¼ pellet
- 20–50 shrimp: ½ pellet
- 50–100 shrimp: 1 pellet
- 100+ shrimp: 2 pellets, split between areas
When in doubt, start small. You can always add more later — but you can’t “unfeed” a tank once it’s gone wrong.
Tip: Crush small portions with your fingers to make the pieces easier for baby shrimp to find. It also encourages a more even feeding pattern across the tank.
🕐 How Often Should You Feed Nettle Pellets?
Twice a week is perfect for most shrimp colonies. Think of nettle as a slow, steady background food rather than a daily meal.
Here’s what my usual schedule looks like:
- Sunday: Snowflake Pellets – builds biofilm and fungus.
- Wednesday: Nettle Pellets – mineral boost and fibre support.
- Friday: Spirulina or protein-based pellet for colour and growth.
This rotation keeps the water stable, shrimp grazing naturally, and the biofilm ecosystem thriving. It’s simple — and it works.
🌊 Placement Matters
Where you drop your pellet can affect how efficiently it’s eaten. A pellet sitting in open gravel might disintegrate too quickly, while one tucked under moss can be forgotten completely.
Best practice:
- Use a feeding dish in bare-bottom or low-moss tanks — it keeps things tidy.
- In planted tanks, drop the pellet on top of moss or near driftwood where shrimp naturally graze.
- Break it up into smaller bits and scatter them across the tank to reduce crowding.
I’ve even glued a small feeding dish to a piece of lava rock before — looks natural, and the shrimp seem to appreciate it.
⚠️ Signs You’re Overfeeding
Here’s the honest truth: most of us have overfed at some point. Shrimp can look hungry when they’re not — that’s just what they do. If you notice any of the following, you’re probably giving them a bit too much love:
- Uneaten food sitting around after 24 hours.
- Cloudy or greenish water a day or two after feeding.
- Biofilm disappearing faster than it regrows (a sign your tank’s balance is off).
- Snails booming in number — they’re cleaning up what your shrimp don’t finish.
If any of that sounds familiar, skip your next feed or cut the portion in half. Shrimp can easily go a few days without extra food — they’ll just graze on algae and biofilm in the meantime.
🧠 The “Half-Feed” Trick
One technique I swear by — especially in newer tanks — is what I call the half-feed trick. Drop in half your usual amount of nettle pellets, then wait an hour. If every shrimp is on it and it’s vanishing fast, add the second half. If not, leave it. Easy.
This gives you a real sense of how hungry your shrimp actually are, rather than guessing. Over time, you’ll notice patterns — some days they’ll demolish everything, others they’ll barely touch it. Follow their lead.
💪 Why Less Is Often More
Overfeeding doesn’t just dirty the water — it can also harm the balance of bacteria in your substrate. Too much organic waste fuels unwanted bacterial blooms, which lower oxygen and stress the shrimp. That’s why it’s better to let the tank run a little “lean” between feeds.
I once left my main Neocaridina colony without food for six days after a holiday mishap. They didn’t just survive — they were grazing happily the entire time, and biofilm had exploded across the moss. It was a great reminder that nature already has most of this figured out.
🛒 The Nettle Pellets I Use
I always use ShrimpSense Nettle Pellets. They’re 100% pure dried nettle — no wheat, no soy, no additives. The slow-softening texture makes portion control easy, and they don’t cloud the water.
If you’re setting up a feeding routine, pair them with ShrimpSense Snowflake Pellets for long-term biofilm growth and ShrimpSense Spirulina Complete for colour and vitality. It’s a natural, well-rounded rotation that works beautifully for both Neocaridina and Caridina shrimp.
✅ Final Thoughts
Nettle pellets are easy to use — but only if you keep it simple. Feed small portions, go slow, and trust your shrimp to tell you when they’ve had enough. You’ll soon find a rhythm that keeps the tank clean, the shrimp active, and the ecosystem perfectly balanced.
Try the half-feed trick this week. Watch how your shrimp behave before, during, and after feeding. You’ll start to notice the difference between “hungry” and “busy,” and that’s the moment you really start understanding your colony.
And if you haven’t already, grab a pack of ShrimpSense Nettle Pellets. They’re a simple, honest food that quietly does wonders for shrimp health — without ever overcomplicating your routine.