Scuds

[JessLynne7]

I am breeding snails for my figure 8 and pea puffer. What about scuds? I was going to buy a culture from dans fish. Wondering if anyone has an experience 

[The endler guy]

@KittenFishMomhas had experience 

[KittenFishMom]

@Aiden Carter Hi Aiden, Sorry to not get back to you sooner. it has been a bit crazy here.

I have some mixed results with scuds I get from the stream and lake here in NY state. I understand there are 2 basic kinds of scuds. small vegetarian scuds and bigger omnivor scuds. I have the bigger size. Where are you catching you scuds? do you know which type you have?. 

[JessLynne7]

On 12/15/2022 at 3:25 PM, KittenFishMom said:

@Aiden Carter Hi Aiden, Sorry to not get back to you sooner. it has been a bit crazy here.

I have some mixed results with scuds I get from the stream and lake here in NY state. I understand there are 2 basic kinds of scuds. small vegetarian scuds and bigger omnivor scuds. I have the bigger size. Where are you catching you scuds? do you know which type you have?. 

I would be ordering a culture from dans fish. Not sure what type

[KittenFishMom]

I will look at the web site and see if I can tell.

[KittenFishMom]

Here is what I found.

Dan's fish room has starter scuds for $10 plus shipping. I'm not sure how the shipping is calculated, but it looked expensive. You might consider catching your own scuds if you have a flowing stream nearby. I can tell you about how I catch them.

I found several scud videos on youtube.com

Dan has s good video on scuds:

Sonny's fish room has one that is more scientific:

Several people mention Goliad Farms. He has a few videos about scuds and how he sells them I don't see them on his website right now. You maybe able to call and find out the prices and shipping. at about 25 minutes he shows you how he bags the

 

 

 

 

 

 

[KittenFishMom]

https://goliadfarms.com/shop/gammarus-scuds/

does have scuds under live food. I missed it when I looked the first time.

https://goliadfarms.com/shop/gammarus-scuds/

[KittenFishMom]

@Aiden Carter or @JessLynne7 do you have any questions at this point? I only gave you info you could find on the web.

[JessLynne7]

On 12/16/2022 at 2:17 PM, KittenFishMom said:

@Aiden Carter or @JessLynne7 do you have any questions at this point? I only gave you info you could find on the web.

Let me read thru this thank you for your help!

[Comradovich]

I keep scuds in a small 5.5 G. I got them from two sources. First I ended up with some smallish brown ones I found in an Ebay listing for 6 breeding pairs. Cost me about 15 bucks. But then I was trying to start a blue velvet shrimp colony from Petsmart and their tanks had a small scud infestation going on. So, I got some slightly larger greyish ones. I wasn't using crushed coral in my new tank, so a PH crash took out all but one of my shrimp, (not even a blue velvet, my sole survivor was a ghost shrimp). The scuds... weathered the crash just fine and started getting busy. This tank is a bare bottom, with a cheap dual sponge filter from Ebay. There is a small bag of crushed coral near the filter.

I keep them with snails, a number of ghost shrimp, and most of my excess plants. Tank right now has Süßwassertang, Bacopa, Cardinal Plant, Dwarf Water Lettuce, Salvinia minimus, Amazon Frogbit, and Red Root Floater. The scuds will nibble on everything, the ghost shrimp positively love the RRF. Into this tank I toss in an algae wafer every other day. Sometimes I sprinkle in a tropical fish flake or shrimp pellets, (the shrimp seem to love shrimp pellets). My ghost shrimp are breeding. I have a few berried females. I am not seeing what other people seem to be warning against: Namely scuds latching on to a berried female and mowing down the eggs. Either mine are not hungry or not that kind of scud. My mitigation plan if I saw that behavior is to net the female with as many scuds on her as possible and start picking them off as culls. The dwarf chain loaches in the other tank would probably love a partially crushed scud, or the pitbull plecos would, or the white clouds... etc. Scuds do not seem to be harming my ghost shrimp, (although this is why I'm testing with a cheap, easy to replace species first). They are also leaving my ramshorn snail and bladder snail colonies alone.

 

[JessLynne7]

On 12/17/2022 at 8:16 PM, Comradovich said:

I keep scuds in a small 5.5 G. I got them from two sources. First I ended up with some smallish brown ones I found in an Ebay listing for 6 breeding pairs. Cost me about 15 bucks. But then I was trying to start a blue velvet shrimp colony from Petsmart and their tanks had a small scud infestation going on. So, I got some slightly larger greyish ones. I wasn't using crushed coral in my new tank, so a PH crash took out all but one of my shrimp, (not even a blue velvet, my sole survivor was a ghost shrimp). The scuds... weathered the crash just fine and started getting busy. This tank is a bare bottom, with a cheap dual sponge filter from Ebay. There is a small bag of crushed coral near the filter.

I keep them with snails, a number of ghost shrimp, and most of my excess plants. Tank right now has Süßwassertang, Bacopa, Cardinal Plant, Dwarf Water Lettuce, Salvinia minimus, Amazon Frogbit, and Red Root Floater. The scuds will nibble on everything, the ghost shrimp positively love the RRF. Into this tank I toss in an algae wafer every other day. Sometimes I sprinkle in a tropical fish flake or shrimp pellets, (the shrimp seem to love shrimp pellets). My ghost shrimp are breeding. I have a few berried females. I am not seeing what other people seem to be warning against: Namely scuds latching on to a berried female and mowing down the eggs. Either mine are not hungry or not that kind of scud. My mitigation plan if I saw that behavior is to net the female with as many scuds on her as possible and start picking them off as culls. The dwarf chain loaches in the other tank would probably love a partially crushed scud, or the pitbull plecos would, or the white clouds... etc. Scuds do not seem to be harming my ghost shrimp, (although this is why I'm testing with a cheap, easy to replace species first). They are also leaving my ramshorn snail and bladder snail colonies alone.

 

Thank you! I was going to put them with snails. Basically I am looking for pea puffer food and was thinking in giving scuds a try. Thank yoj for all your helpful information 

[KittenFishMom]

@JessLynne7 and @Aiden Carter I'm starting to question if it makes sense to keep scuds now that I have rehomed my yoyo loaches.  Do either of you think it would be worth trying to mail you some of my scuds? I don't have heat packs, but the water I took the last batch of scuds out of was 34 degrees with ice along the shore. I am in central NY. I don't know how far you are, or how cold it is there, but it might work. I wouldn't charge you for the scuds. It would depend on how you want them shipped as to if I would want you to pay shipping.

Let me know. I do have a lot of large scuds. They have been indoors with long days long enough to start breeding, but that might stop for awhile if they are in the dark for too long during shipping. They need long days for 4 weeks or so to start breeding.

[The endler guy]

On 12/19/2022 at 12:07 AM, KittenFishMom said:

@JessLynne7 and @Aiden Carter I'm starting to question if it makes sense to keep scuds now that I have rehomed my yoyo loaches.  Do either of you think it would be worth trying to mail you some of my scuds? I don't have heat packs, but the water I took the last batch of scuds out of was 34 degrees with ice along the shore. I am in central NY. I don't know how far you are, or how cold it is there, but it might work. I wouldn't charge you for the scuds. It would depend on how you want them shipped as to if I would want you to pay shipping.

Let me know. I do have a lot of large scuds. They have been indoors with long days long enough to start breeding, but that might stop for awhile if they are in the dark for too long during shipping. They need long days for 4 weeks or so to start breeding.

I’m in central Maryland, I’d have to check with my parents, I know it’s supposed to be very cold during Christmas though

Also how large are they? (I mainly have small community fish)

[The endler guy]

Also definitely would be an interesting clean up crew (I like when live foods can contribute to the tank!)

[JessLynne7]

On 12/19/2022 at 12:07 AM, KittenFishMom said:

@JessLynne7 and @Aiden Carter I'm starting to question if it makes sense to keep scuds now that I have rehomed my yoyo loaches.  Do either of you think it would be worth trying to mail you some of my scuds? I don't have heat packs, but the water I took the last batch of scuds out of was 34 degrees with ice along the shore. I am in central NY. I don't know how far you are, or how cold it is there, but it might work. I wouldn't charge you for the scuds. It would depend on how you want them shipped as to if I would want you to pay shipping.

Let me know. I do have a lot of large scuds. They have been indoors with long days long enough to start breeding, but that might stop for awhile if they are in the dark for too long during shipping. They need long days for 4 weeks or so to start breeding.

I am in West Virginia, I would be potentially interested: let me check the weather. I think it’s going to be cold and then warm up.

[KittenFishMom]

@Aiden Carter and @JessLynne7 It would probably make sense to wait until January when the post office won't be handling as many packages. We can look for a spot of warm weather to ship. Don't post your addresses. When we get things figured out, you can send me your address through the forums message mail (with your parent's permission only! I am a parent). I keep the scuds in a bucket with an air stone and duckweed on top and hornwort. I can send you some of the plants in the bag. They also like tree leaves like maple. I give them a pinch of fish food now and then.  They also get some frozen blood worms now and then. They are omnivores and need some protein. I have been told they will eat fish eggs, so don't put the in tanks you plan to use for breeding. I also have snails that I remove from my tanks when the snails need to be thinned out, if you want some of those. You can keep them with the scuds. I often give the snails to a friend with goldfish for live food.

Here is a photo of the scuds with a dime for scale:

[JessLynne7]

On 12/19/2022 at 10:33 AM, KittenFishMom said:

@Aiden Carter and @JessLynne7 It would probably make sense to wait until January when the post office won't be handling as many packages. We can look for a spot of warm weather to ship. Don't post your addresses. When we get things figured out, you can send me your address through the forums message mail (with your parent's permission only! I am a parent). I keep the scuds in a bucket with an air stone and duckweed on top and hornwort. I can send you some of the plants in the bag. They also like tree leaves like maple. I give them a pinch of fish food now and then.  They also get some frozen blood worms now and then. They are omnivores and need some protein. I have been told they will eat fish eggs, so don't put the in tanks you plan to use for breeding. I also have snails that I remove from my tanks when the snails need to be thinned out, if you want some of those. You can keep them with the scuds. I often give the snails to a friend with goldfish for live food.

Here is a photo of the scuds with a dime for scale:

I’m 38 and live alone so we are good on that front. But my mom would say no hahahhahaha

[KittenFishMom]

@JessLynne7 That was meant for @Aiden Carter who was got to ask parents about the weather.