Scud farm

[WhistlingBadger]

Decided to have another go at culturing live food. Here's my little scud farm setup. Scuds courtesy of @Aqua67 . I hope to get them into a more attractive container, but for now they don't seem to mind.

 

[Colin_T]

Hold your camera horizontally (landscape mode) so the footage fills the entire screen and doesn't have black bars on either end.

If you have more plants in there, they do better. You can also add leaf litter to the bottom. Add an air operated sponge filter to keep the water clean and well oxygenated. Basically have them in a well planted container with a sponge filter and feed them fish food once or twice a day.

 

[jaylach]

If you don't already know fresh water scuds LOVE pumpkin. If you try pumpkin as food make sure that it is fresh, not canned. Cut to cubes, meat only, and freeze. To feed use anything to weight the pumpkin cubes toward the bottom of the tank. This also makes harvesting as fish food easy as there will always be scuds on the pumpkin cube, just pull it out and shake into another container.

As a side note, if you have a plant or decoration that has algae you don't want dump it in the scud tank and they will clean off the algae in a heartbeat without hurting the plant or deco. Ah, some mosses they will eat but not normal plants.

 

[Magnum Man]

I’m also wanting to do a scud colony… jealous of your Asian water moss… mine didn’t do well… I assume too much water movement… I may try another clump in one of my 10 gallons that only has a sponge filter…
The one I could actually see in the video, looked larger than I expected…

The pumpkin cubes are a great suggestion, for harvesting…. Maybe poke a hole through the cube and attach a string, to facilitate transferring???

 

[Back in the fold]

Oh cool ! ! ! I have always wanted to raise these . You’re making my fingers itch seeing that video . Look at ‘em all skittering around in there ! You read all the time about certain fish eating crustaceans in the wild . These are them . You get all sizes too . Some tiny and some downright big . Keep us updated on this project . I would LOVE to see an Angelfish or Tiger Barb hunt one of these down and devour it .

 

[Aqua67]

I’m also wanting to do a scud colony… jealous of your Asian water moss… mine didn’t do well… I assume too much water movement… I may try another clump in one of my 10 gallons that only has a sponge filter…
The one I could actually see in the video, looked larger than I expected…

The pumpkin cubes are a great suggestion, for harvesting…. Maybe poke a hole through the cube and attach a string, to facilitate transferring???

I’ve collected another 81 scuds to be rehomed. They are living in a Solo cup next to the aquarium with one dwarf water lettuce in there and some plant scraps. I am keeping several colonies for myself, but these 81 scuds were farmed out of my shrimp tank and I don’t want them in my shrimp tank. If you want some, just let me know. I ship. Just send me a PM.

Just so that you all know, scuds live just fine in a jar of unfiltered stagnant green water on my window sill where I hardly ever drop food in (maybe twice a year I drop a tiny piece of food). They eat the algae and decomposing plants that I toss in. They live in a mason jar in which I’ve rooted a sweet potato. They live amongst the roots and get big and black. These pics are scuds I’m keeping, but I’ll try to get a good pic of the ones in the Solo cup if you’re interested.

 

[Aqua67]

Oh cool ! ! ! I have always wanted to raise these . You’re making my fingers itch seeing that video . Look at ‘em all skittering around in there ! You read all the time about certain fish eating crustaceans in the wild . These are them . You get all sizes too . Some tiny and some downright big . Keep us updated on this project . I would LOVE to see an Angelfish or Tiger Barb hunt one of these down and devour it .

Oh geez, I can probably get a movie of that for you right now. LOL

If you’re interested in scuds, I’ve got 81 right now that I’m looking to rehome and I’m adding to that number daily as I hunt them out of my shrimp tank. Just send me a PM.

 

[Aqua67]

Well, I just tried. Make that 77 scuds looking for a new home. The angel sucks them out of my turkey baster and he won’t let it go. They are eaten so fast the scud doesn’t have a chance. The Siamese algae eater is right there to get what the angelfish misses (which isn’t much). I think I’ll have better luck with someone here to assist. I need to work on my coordination and holding the camera steady while I administer the feeding. Maybe I’ll try again tomorrow when I’ve got someone here to help me.

 

[WhistlingBadger]

Well, I just tried. Make that 77 scuds looking for a new home. The angel sucks them out of my turkey baster and he won’t let it go. They are eaten so fast the scud doesn’t have a chance. The Siamese algae eater is right there to get what the angelfish misses (which isn’t much). I think I’ll have better luck with someone here to assist. I need to work on my coordination and holding the camera steady while I administer the feeding. Maybe I’ll try again tomorrow when I’ve got someone here to help me.

That's why I want hundreds of them. My fish gobble them up so fast there's absolutely zero chance of getting a self-sustaining colony going in any of my tanks.

By the way, if you want to feed your scuds (or your fish) veggie chunks, just stick them on a stainless steel fork.

 

[jaylach]

When I talked to Jonny from Dan's Fish about doing this I asked about a 5 gallon tank with under gravel filtration. He advised that the setup would be ideal with no chance of any scuds getting sucked into a filter intake. If under gravel isn't wanted only use sponge.

A long wood or stainless skewer also works well for scud food. Even though they love pumpkin they will chow down on just about any veggie. They are basically garbage disposals.

I've posted this before but here is a video in scuds.

 

[WhistlingBadger]

When I talked to Jonny from Dan's Fish about doing this I asked about a 5 gallon tank with under gravel filtration. He advised that the setup would be ideal with no chance of any scuds getting sucked into a filter intake. If under gravel isn't wanted only use sponge.

A long wood or stainless skewer also works well for scud food. Even though they love pumpkin they will chow down on just about any veggie. They are basically garbage disposals.

I've posted this before but here is a video in scuds.

The fish food, not the missile. ha ha ha

 

[Magnum Man]

@Aqua67 … I appreciate the offer, but I need to finish setting up the next big tank, to free up a 10 gallon, that has some small electric blue Acaras in it for the new tank, once I can move those fish, that will be my scud farm tank, already cycled with a sponge filter and some floating plants and Java ferns

 

[Aqua67]

That's why I want hundreds of them. My fish gobble them up so fast there's absolutely zero chance of getting a self-sustaining colony going in any of my tanks.

By the way, if you want to feed your scuds (or your fish) veggie chunks, just stick them on a stainless steel fork.

You might be surprised. I pull some of them out with every water change when I gravel vac. I used to get upset and try to put them back in but I’ve yet to do a gravel back without seeing them so they’re surviving pretty well and not causing any harm, so I’m happy.

 

[Magnum Man]

I thought about adding them to my South American tank… there is a lot of cover, but also a lot of fish… I suspect the tetras, would leave them alone??? But the Angels and dwarf Cichlids, I expect will eat them… I’m wondering about the Cory’s

 

[Back in the fold]

@jaylach A five gallon would be a good Scud home ? The guy at Dan’s think so ? Just so happens I have a spare and www.jehmco.com sells under gravel filters .