The little grebe is an active hunter that feeds on small fish, aquatic insects, crustaceans, and mollusks, catching prey with its beak while diving to shallow depths; the species obtains food through diving and underwater capture. Its diet includes beetles, butterflies, diptera (two-winged insects), hymenoptera (sawflies, wasps, bees), bedbugs, orthoptera (grasshoppers, crickets), dragonflies, stoneflies, net-winged insects, calanids, cyclops, and euphausiids. The daily food requirement for the little grebe ranges from 40 to 80 grams.