Free Alternative Gammarus Food

If you're like my wife and I it may be time to work outside in the yard cutting back plants in your region. While we were doing so I got to thinking.... (I know dangerous) and thought I'd share an idea I had. What if I could use some of the leaves to feed the Gammarus instead of composting or sending them off as yard waste? We don't use any chemicals and none of our neighbors are real close plus they don't garden so I figured why not? I already supply them with oak leaves anyway. Since I have multiple Gammarus tanks (10 gals)I tried an experiment; one type of plant leaves in each tank to see if any would work. Here are the results:

Tank 1: Dried Fern not so much
Tank 2: Fresh cut Hosta leaves, ok should probably use a variety that doesn't have such thick leaves
Tank 3: Fresh cut Purple Iris leaves, The Gammarus have been going nuts. Some of the leaves are almomost black covered with them.

Since my aquatic plants are dying back a bit I now have enough food to feed my Gammarus all winter for free. Maybe other plants will work also (as long as you are sure there are no chemicals on them) might be worth trying.

Cool. Gammarus are about the only thing besides fatheads that really proliferate in the small lakes and sloughs here, but I've never had any success culturing them. I'll have to see if I can find some iris!

Have you tried feeding the Iris-fed gammarus to your fish? It's my understanding that irises contain some potent toxins. I would just want to be sure they didn't get passed on to the gammarus before using it as a food source.

Have you tried feeding the Iris-fed gammarus to your fish? It's my understanding that irises contain some potent toxins. I would just want to be sure they didn't get passed on to the gammarus before using it as a food source.

Actually I have. Have seen no negative effects to the fish at all. Infact the Iris' (Gammarus tanks) are connected to my central system. If there are toxins that would affect the fish I would think it would also travel through the water column as the leaves were breaking down.

Note: I did let the leaves dry in the sun on the ground a few days prior to giving them to the gammarus. Don't know if made any difference.

Edited by Ken, 26 October 2010 - 08:00 PM.

This is kind of an off topic question, but what are you using for your Gammarus tanks? Your post got me wondering if a mason jar and an airstone would be sufficient for a small colony.

This is kind of an off topic question, but what are you using for your Gammarus tanks? Your post got me wondering if a mason jar and an airstone would be sufficient for a small colony.

Hello,

My tanks are ten gal aquariums, with filtered water constantly moving (though not very strong)through the tank. Temperature range has been @65-70 and seems to work great for them. You don't have to use an aquarium but I have some that I dedicated to live foods.
A couple things I need to point out: Gammarus like well oxygenated, clean water and like to eat!. They eat plant material that breaks down in the water such as dead leaves, even cooked peas. Actually, I believe the bacteria breaking down the material is what attracts them but don't quote me on that. They will also eat live plants such as val or hornwart etc. which would be best if you have enough to spare. Since I don't have enough of either for my gammarus (at this time)I looked for options. By the way they also eat other creatures smaller than themselves. I had a dapnia culture contaminated with gammarus and it didn't take long before the dapnia were gone. Luckily I had a few more cultures of daphnia going so it became a learning experience and not a disaster.

Back to your question: If you can keep the water oxygenated enough (maybe an airstone but at a slow rate and I'd use a course stone) and do regular water changes so the water doesn't foul due to matter breaking down I imagine it's possible but I think it would be tough. Would I do it? No. I always go by bigger is better when it comes to my fish and their live food. But I don't know your circumstances (lack of space?) or if you just want to see if it can be done. Personally, I like the ten gal tanks. I have a tank that I started two other cultures from, have fed the fish every couple of days for weeks and still have easily a thousand plus in the tank. They are everywhere! Another thing to keep in mind depending on the type of Gammarus you get they do handle a wide range but will stop breeding if the temperature drops enough. I wouldn't let the temps get into the eighties with such a small amount of surface area in a mason jar (assuming you are filling it to the top). The warmer the water the less oxygen the more you need to turn over the water so it will pull oxygen from the surface through the jar. Problem is you don't want a alot of current. Hope this helps. Let me know if you have anymore questions.
Ken

Edited by Ken, 27 October 2010 - 01:09 AM.

I'll try it and let you know.

I've been raising a culture of scuds (not sure what species) for over a year exclusively on dry deciduous tree leaves. They aren't proliferating quickly, but they aren't complaining either.

I've never had any luck culturing Gammarus, I've had isopods take off pretty good a couple of times but never scuds. How do you filter the water in your gammarus culture?