13 replies to this topic

[thedood]

I bought a sack of 50+ scuds and have them in a 10g. The darn things seemed to have disappeared. Every now and then I see one. Is this normal behavior? Tank right now has a few small crypts and a decent piece of anubias with anchor roots sitting on the bottom free floating. I have a piece of driftwood soaking for the tank but have yet to put it in. When it goes in I am pulling the crypts and will be placing some free floating hornwort in the tank.

[centrarchid]

They spend a lot of time actually hiding. They are not easy to see until hiding places are saturated.

[thedood]

They spend a lot of time actually hiding. They are not easy to see until hiding places are saturated.

Thanks, thats what I was hoping you would say. Which leads me to my next question. I have a plastic corner filter like the one at the end of my post. Should I swap it out for something else? Media in use at this time is quilt batting and pumice rock. I'm considering the caf-10 sponge from aquatop as a replacement.

[El Todd]

There's lots of different species of scud. Mine are wild caught, I always see them swimming around but they also hide. Some I keep in an unlit tupperware, others are kept in a moderately lit tupperware; they behave the same either way.

[doubleatraining]

Thats a MASSIVE tank for scuds. I raise mine in as many tanks as I can. My easiest is my 2.5g tank with sand substrate, few snails, sponge filter, TONS of moss, floaters, and any plants that look iffy. You don't really want a pristine tank.....they like it dirty and full of mulm....they are kinda gross but very effective plant/algae cleaners and fish food.

 

I never feed them, they are on a 10hr light cycle.

 

If you want to "see" how many you have.....put a piece of yarn or a clump of moss in there....pick it up the next day and shake it into a small container of tank water. You'll see them swimming. this is also how I cheat and feed them to my other tanks. LOL

Edited by doubleatraining, 11 June 2020 - 10:28 AM.

[thedood]

I appreciate the info. I had the 10g on hand so I used that. I'm going to start a second culture in a few more weeks. I'm thinking of doing something a little different there, I havent decided yet. Will these guys eat shrimps? If I threw a dozen or so rcs in with them, how would that go over?

[doubleatraining]

They eat the same food but won't hurt each other.

[thedood]

Maybe I put some rcs in there as well.

[Matt DeLaVega]

I think RCS are one of the best live food cultures. They can feed anything from darters to sunfish.

[thedood]

I think I will get some RCS next week. Get some low grade culls to start with.

[Matt DeLaVega]

If you put them in a 80 degree tank and treat them right, you will have a seriously versatile live food factory. I never counted, but I bet that there were times that I had a couple thousand in my 20 gallon tank. I would feed 1/4 inch juveniles to darters, half inch shrimp to cyprinids and the individuals that were one inch or larger went to Lepomis. At least that is what I tried for. I never devised a sorting cup to grade them by size. Incredibly versatile food culture. I really should get back into them. It can easily become a case of the food culture becoming more interesting than the fishes they are intended for.

 

 I hope you get some. In fact I would like to see more people across the board give them a shot. I think their relatively high value (Roughly a buck a piece) has kept folks from really utilizing them as a live food. I would love to hear of more people doing it.

 

They are also crazy docile. No worries having them with other species. Even if you dump some very small individuals into a bluefin killi tank and they don't all get eaten initially, not a big deal. As they grow to adult size, they are no more a threat than they were at a quarter inch.

 

Keep us posted, and contact me if you have any questions. It has been a while, brain is not super fresh on specifics, but I will do my best.

[Matt DeLaVega]

There are tons on https://www.aquabid....n.cgi?fwinverts

[PBK]

Buy a small plastic kiddie fill it with water and let it sit for a few days. Put in some water plants, gravel and a little seashell gravel for calcium. Place the pool in a location that receives a little shade during part of the day. Collect some scuds by swishing your net in algae or water plants from a pond or creek. Seed the pool with your scuds. Youll have better luck with smaller hyalella scuds since they are temperature tolerant.
Theyll eat vegetable flakes or fish flakes. Give them a week or three to get the culture going.

[PBK]

I’ve got a hyalella scud, fingernail clam & daphnia culture population booming in my unused hot tub. Half of it is covered to block the sun to keep the water from over-heating while providing shade for the scuds & daphnia. The tub water was there from the year before. I don’t have any air pumps going but a pump would probably improve production. I just don’t want to increase the electricity bill.
In spring I put a little amount of chicken manure in the water to get a plankton bloom for the daphnia. I also threw in a crushed sugar-free Tums tablet for calcium that the scuds and daphnia need plus adding some gravel to cover the bottom of the hot tub. The scuds & daphnia came with some glass worms I collected from a local pond.
I feed the daphnia some yeast water once in a while just to keep the culture going but don’t have a lot to collect. Another bonus is that I have a decent amount of blood worms and black-worms in the bottom gravel & debris to feed my topminnows.
Having free live food during the warmer months is a good thing. Give it a shot.