Anyone ever use fresh water scuds for live fish food?

[WhistlingBadger]

I think there is a misunderstanding here. I'm not looking to breed scuds to sell. My intent would be free good live food for my fish. Still, if I end up with a large self sustaining population beyond that, we aren't all that far from each other and could possibly work something out. If I DO end up with a surplus population I could probably send you some as long as you paid shipping.

That would be cool if you have extras, but no problem if you don't. I've had decent luck ordering scuds from ebay. But the fish eat them up so fast I've never been able to get a population going. There's a pond just up the mountain from here that is spring fed and doesn't have a surface outlet, so there are no fish in it. That thing is FULL of scuds. We'll probably get up there and catch a bunch, if the ice ever melts off.

 

[jaylach]

That would be cool if you have extras, but no problem if you don't. I've had decent luck ordering scuds from ebay. But the fish eat them up so fast I've never been able to get a population going. There's a pond just up the mountain from here that is spring fed and doesn't have a surface outlet, so there are no fish in it. That thing is FULL of scuds. We'll probably get up there and catch a bunch, if the ice ever melts off.

We will see what we see. Just about time to do some tank hunting.

Still I don't think I understand... If you can get the scuds from a local pond why would you want shipped or are the available the larger version and you want the smaller beasties? From all my research you must have a separate tank for breeding a large population. Once you have a large population it MAY be possible to establish a self sustaining colony in a heavily planted tank with a gravel substrate but just scooping some out of a pond and dumping in a tank is not going to work as they will just be eaten before they settle in and start reproducing.

 

[TheLavenderBadger]

We will see what we see. Just about time to do some tank hunting.

Still I don't think I understand... If you can get the scuds from a local pond why would you want shipped or are the available the larger version and you want the smaller beasties? From all my research you must have a separate tank for breeding a large population. Once you have a large population it MAY be possible to establish a self sustaining colony in a heavily planted tank with a gravel substrate but just scooping some out of a pond and dumping in a tank is not going to work as they will just be eaten before they settle in and start reproducing.

Sometimes you don't feel like going on a multi-mile hike to the pond for fish food The pond isn't road accessible, so you have to walk up a canyon to get to it. And the trail is going to be icy and muddy as heck for a few months. also the pond is frozen over right now.
I've been thinking, I have an empty five gallon in my room that could become an invert tank @WhistlingBadger

 

[jaylach]

Sometimes you don't feel like going on a multi-mile hike to the pond for fish food The pond isn't road accessible, so you have to walk up a canyon to get to it. And the trail is going to be icy and muddy as heck for a few months. also the pond is frozen over right now.
I've been thinking, I have an empty five gallon in my room that could become an invert tank @WhistlingBadger

LOL! I understand fully. Half the time I don't even like walking to my car if there is 6 inches of snow.

Now that I think about it a tank I had in Ohio used river pebbles as the substrate from a local very clean river. Ended up with a lot of very small inverts from the river bed. I wonder if they may not have been scuds... They didn't last long as I had a bunch of cichlids but they were there at the start.

 

[jaylach]

Hmmm, initial 5 gallon tank search didn't go all that well. Mayhaps someone can help. I just want the tank, no built in filters or anything as it will be strictly be under gravel filtration. I DID find one at Petco that had a 5 star review rating but that was only 2 reviews which really does not mean a lot.

Anyone do small tanks that could possibly recommend something for me? I have no issue with buying through Amazon but, while I would not refuse something good, I'm not a fan of Ebay. If nothing else who makes the best reliable small tanks these days? If I even knew that I could look directly on the manufacturer's sites and search from there. My initial thought was Fluval but I really didn't see anything that got much over three stars.

<edit>
Oh, BTW, I have no real issue as to price. I'd much rather pay more for quality than less for garbage.

 

[connorlindeman]

I had some scuds hitchhike in with some plants.
I put them in a 20g pond liner with no fish. They reproduced like crazy.
I had to put my pea puffer in there, and within days they were all gone.

 

[WhistlingBadger]

Hmmm, initial 5 gallon tank search didn't go all that well. Mayhaps someone can help. I just want the tank, no built in filters or anything as it will be strictly be under gravel filtration. I DID find one at Petco that had a 5 star review rating but that was only 2 reviews which really does not mean a lot.

Anyone do small tanks that could possibly recommend something for me? I have no issue with buying through Amazon but, while I would not refuse something good, I'm not a fan of Ebay. If nothing else who makes the best reliable small tanks these days? If I even knew that I could look directly on the manufacturer's sites and search from there. My initial thought was Fluval but I really didn't see anything that got much over three stars.

<edit>
Oh, BTW, I have no real issue as to price. I'd much rather pay more for quality than less for garbage.

I would just ask a local pet store. Mine can often get in tanks etc. cheaper than ordering one from Amazon.

 

[Aqua67]

I keep scuds in my shrimp tank and my colony continues to grow. I’ve never seen scuds eating my tiny baby shrimp. In fact, after I added some Thai micro crabs last November it seems the scud population has decreased.

I use a turkey baster to harvest from my shrimp tank to feed scuds to my fish in my other tanks.

I have maintained breeding scud populations in aquariums with fish but it is possible that you can have the colony crash due to various reasons. Because of that, I have a half dozen other containers of unheated and unfiltered water in which I keep scuds. That way I’ve always got some to use to repopulate if I get a crash. You don’t need to feed them anything special. Besides a plant clipping and perhaps pieces of chopped oak leaves from my yard, I don’t put anything special in my little amphipod jars.

You will always pull out many amphipods with each water change though. I usually pull up the siphon and let them swim out of the end and my fish all swarm the output tube to catch the amphipods fleeing for cover amongst the plants or gravel.

I’ve kept them for years and cannot think of any negatives in having them.