Scuds?
- Thread starter Gabriel_Martucci
- Start date
Small freshwater Amphipod feeds on detritus in the aquarium. Scuds are sold on Aquabid.
Your local aquarium club usually have members who seek it. Atleast the ones in Tampa do.
They’re a great clean up crew and add to your tank’s biodiversity. You’ll never be able to remove them if you tried. And i can’t think of a reason why you would want to remove them. Just saying.
Yup what's said above.
Scuds eat organic detritus. This includes dead or dying plants and animals, leftover food, mulm, poop, and some forms of algae. They do not bother live animals or plants usually. They make very good fish snacks especially for young fish. I keep wanting to buy some and cultivate a nice population. When I had salt I had very large populations of "pods" they are an integral part of any reef system. I haven't been so lucky to get any by accident in fresh water.
Scuds eat organic detritus. This includes dead or dying plants and animals, leftover food, mulm, poop, and some forms of algae. They do not bother live animals or plants usually. They make very good fish snacks especially for young fish. I keep wanting to buy some and cultivate a nice population. When I had salt I had very large populations of "pods" they are an integral part of any reef system. I haven't been so lucky to get any by accident in fresh water.
Picked up a couple dozen in Lake Michigan, there are a few under almost every rock.
Dropped them in my rain barrel which fed my pond, they colonized all.
Great food for almost any fish.
Some would even survive although the water in the rain barrels frozen to a solid block of ice in winter.
I've run cultures from two different source ponds for a couple of years, one at 50' & one at 6000' elevation with major temperature differences. No idea if they're the same sp, or even native sp. - just fun 
Where are you located? Most lakes and streams and even regularly flooded spots should hold, though presence of fish will really hammer population. If not amphipods you should be able to get daphnea and/or ostracods, which are smaller but also fun, nutritious and/or useful.
* They really like wood, so check under logs & put some into yoru culture tank. Grass & leaves are also good.
* They don't breed as quickly as you might expect, so as fish-food they're more of a treat than a staple.
* They are quick & good at hiding, so in the tank can become an ongoing "hunt" enrichment, particularly for smarter fish that get bored and/or stuff that's harder to feed.
* Also good in the filter (sump?) to keep things moving. Check
duanes
on this sort of ecosystems approach; maybe pester to do a sticky
PS: I'd suggest trying to find local rather than buying online, as there's a real chance that some might get though & into local ecosystem - best not risk introducing a non-native.
Where are you located? Most lakes and streams and even regularly flooded spots should hold, though presence of fish will really hammer population. If not amphipods you should be able to get daphnea and/or ostracods, which are smaller but also fun, nutritious and/or useful.
* They really like wood, so check under logs & put some into yoru culture tank. Grass & leaves are also good.
* They don't breed as quickly as you might expect, so as fish-food they're more of a treat than a staple.
* They are quick & good at hiding, so in the tank can become an ongoing "hunt" enrichment, particularly for smarter fish that get bored and/or stuff that's harder to feed.
* Also good in the filter (sump?) to keep things moving. Check
duanes
on this sort of ecosystems approach; maybe pester to do a sticky PS: I'd suggest trying to find local rather than buying online, as there's a real chance that some might get though & into local ecosystem - best not risk introducing a non-native.
I had an issue with scuds for a little while in a nano tank with shrimp only. They came in as a hitch hiker on some plants and quickly became a nuisance. Scuds are opportunistic and will go after other smaller inverts if they have the chance. They like to munch on copepods and shrimp fry. I had a hard time removing them as they quickly became established, manual removal was the only safe method for my aquarium. They can be beneficial but in my situation they were a issue as they would not only eat my pods and fry but also compete with my shrimp for food.
