One of the choices you have when it comes to feeding your bottom dwelling fish is the Aqueon Shrimp Pellets.
Before buying the product, you should check out Aquarium Blueprints’ review to see if this fish food is right for your aquatic pets.
Pricing
You can find the current price for the Aqueon Shrimp Pellets on Amazon with this link. (#CommissionsEarned)
Ingredients
This fish food is made of shrimp meal, whole fish meal, whole wheat flour, fish oil and more. You can find the full list ingredients, in alphabetical order, below:
- Biotin
- Calcium Pantothenate
- Calcium Propionate (a preservative)
- Choline Chloride
- Cobalt Sulfate
- Copper Sulfate
- Dl-A-Tocopherol
- Dicalcium Phosphate
- Ferrous Sulfate
- Fish Oil
- Folic Acid
- L-Ascorbyl-2-Polyphosphate (source Of Vitamin C)
- Manganese Sulfate
- Menadione Sodium Bisulphite Complex (source Of Vitamin K)
- Niacin
- Pyridoxine Hydrochloride (source of Vitamin B6)
- Riboflavin Supplement
- Shrimp Meal
- Thiamine Mononitrate
- Whole Fish Meal
- Whole Wheat Flour
- Vitamin A Acetate, Cholecalciferol (source Of Vitamin D3)
- Vitamin B12 Supplement
Guaranteed Analysis
The shrimp pellets contain 36% crude protein, 8% crude fiber, 6% crude fat and more. You can find the list of guaranteed analysis below:
- Crude Protein: (min.) 36%
- Crude Fat: (min.) 6%
- Crude Fiber: (max.) 8%
- Moisture: (max.) 10%
- Phosphorus: (min.) 1%
- Vitamin C: 200mg/kg
What fish will eat Aqueon Shrimp Pellets?
According to Aqueon, its branded shrimp pellets are ideal for catfish, goldfish, loaches as well as other general bottom feeders from both freshwater and saltwater. In our tank, our Albino Corydoras, Guppies, Kuhli Locahes and White Cloud Minnows enjoy eating the pellets.
Expiration Date
You can find the expiration date of the food on the bottom side of the container.
Although not stated on the package, we recommend feeding all the pellets to your fish within six months of breaking the seal and opening the container as most fish food would degrade over time due to being exposed to air, heat and other elements. We also recommend keeping the container tightly shut when not in use in addition to storing it is a temperature and humidity controlled place with no direct sunlight.
Feeding instructions
The instructions on the package states that you should feed this food 2 to 3 times a day. You should only give enough pellets for your fish to eat within 2 minutes. You should then remove any uneaten food.
In our own experience, we found that 2 minutes is way too short of time for our fish to eat the shrimp pellets. This is because the food will take some time to sink to the bottom of our aquarium and then take more time to soften up to be consumed.
So our recommendation is to give a healthy amount of pellets to your fish just once a day. Wait 15 minutes and then check the tank to see if there are still any uneaten pellets. If you do see the food lying around and you fish are no longer interesting in eating the pellets, then you are most likely overfeeding. If that is the case the, during the next feeding, you should consider lessening the amount.
Although you can remove the uneaten food, as it could lead to spikes in ammonia and nitrite, we typically leave the extra pellets in the tank. This is because the fish will eat the pellets eventually. Not to mention that we also have live plants that will help ward off the increase in ammonia and nitrite. If you are worry about the water parameters in your tank, then it is better to play it safe and take out the uneaten food with a fish net and/or do a water change.
Pros
The main benefit of the Aqueon Shrimp Pellets is that our fish loves to eat them. Once we drop the food in the aquarium, our Guppies and White Cloud Minnows will immediately begin to chow down before it sinks to the bottom. Once it gets to the substrate, our Albino Corydoras and Kuhli Locahes (who otherwise be hiding) will swarm to the pellets.
The food also contain vitamins and nutrients to promote health and colors of your aquatic pets. At the same time, it won’t cloud your tank water.
Cons
The biggest issue we have with this fish food is that the pellets don’t always sink immediately as it takes some time to get waterlogged. In fact, some don’t sink at all and will stay afloat. This can be a major problem if your aquarium is not completely flat and have different levels to it as you won’t be able to easily put the pellets in a specific location for your bottom-feeders.
You can get around this issue by pre-soaking the food. To do so, we recommend getting a small bowl and then scooping up some water from your tank. Afterwards, you can put the shrimp pellets into the bowl and let them get waterlogged for a few minutes (you don’t want to wait too long or the pellets will break apart and dissolve into the water). You might want to push the pellets downwards to help the food get soaked faster. Once all the food and sunk to the bottom of the bowl, you can then pour everything on the bowl into your fish tank.
Another problem that you may run into is the inconsistent size of the pellet. Some are two or three times longer than the smaller ones. So you may want to keep that in mind if you are feeding your fish by count.
Aqueon Shrimp Pellets Satisfaction Guarantee
Aqueon also has a Satisfaction Guarantee for its branded shrimp pellets. If you aren’t satisfied, you can return the leftover portion of this fish food, along with a receipt that shows proof of purchase to the following address:
Aqueon Guarantee
5401 W. Oakland Park Drive
Franklin, WI, 53132
Recap
Even with its lack of sinking ability and inconsistent portions, the Aqueon Shrimp Pellets is still a great food product.
We found that our bottom feeders, as well as top and middle dwelling fish, love its taste. Since it is relatively affordable, we definitely recommend trying this food product out for your aquatic pets.
