Shrimp and scuds

[Rxhart]

Unfortunately, scuds invaded my shrimp tank, and I know the adult scuds will eat my baby shrimp.  So does anyone know a shrimp friendly fish that eats scuds?  Otherwise I guess I’ll have to move all the shrimp ( quite a task) to get rid of the scuds. ( I raise the scuds separately in a small tank for food for my puffers and my community tank.  

[TheSwissAquarist]

On 11/11/2022 at 3:22 PM, Rxhart said:

Unfortunately, scuds invaded my shrimp tank, and I know the adult scuds will eat my baby shrimp.  So does anyone know a shrimp friendly fish that eats scuds?  Otherwise I guess I’ll have to move all the shrimp ( quite a task) to get rid of the scuds. ( I raise the scuds separately in a small tank for food for my puffers and my community tank.  

I can’t think of a fish that would eat scuds but leave shrimp alone…any ideas @Fish Folk?

[Fish Folk]

On 11/11/2022 at 10:50 AM, TheSwissAquarist said:

I can’t think of a fish that would eat scuds but leave shrimp alone…any ideas @Fish Folk?

Well . . . the problem is that any fish that might eat scuds would eat baby shrimp. Here is a video of a surprise I found once when a berried Cherry Shrimp I added to a Killi hatchery ended up unloading a batch of babies. They're definitely targets for scud-eaters that might otherwise leave adult Shrimp alone...

 

[jcrabbit]

My 5 gallon shrimp tank was invaded as well. The scuds devastated my plants. I'm planning on getting a second tank so I can keep some scud eaters.

From the research I've done, it seems some of the shrimp friendly fish, like the ember tetras, will eat scuds without going after the adult shrimps. However, you'll need to find a second tank for your baby shrimps.

Goos luck!

[Rxhart]

On 11/15/2022 at 9:12 AM, jcrabbit said:

My 5 gallon shrimp tank was invaded as well. The scuds devastated my plants. I'm planning on getting a second tank so I can keep some scud eaters.

From the research I've done, it seems some of the shrimp friendly fish, like the ember tetras, will eat scuds without going after the adult shrimps. However, you'll need to find a second tank for your baby shrimps.

Goos luck!

I think I may have a solution. The only plant I have in there is hornwort, which floats.  The scuds go for it at night.  Before I turn in the lights I grab the hornwort and quickly put it in a bowl of water, releasing all the scuds that are in the plants.  Then I return the hornwort to the aquarium for the next night.  This morning I released hundreds of little scuds in this way.  Hoping to do it every morning and eventually dwindle the population down.