SCUDS! Everything You Need to Know. How to Culture & Harvest Live Gammarus for Your Aquarium Fish.

[@pelhamsaquatics]

The way I harvest is I rotate small clumps of Java moss I use long tongs to pull the moss out of the scud tank and shake them into the tank I’m feeding… then I’ll grab a fresh clump of moss and repeat the process every 2-3 days the scuds enjoy munching on the Java moss rotating it out, gives the moss a chance to regenerate. I keep my scuds in a tank with aragonite sand . And sponge filter well cycled , this colony is quite massive in a simple 10 gal I do about a 20% wc every week or 2. Great video I’m a scud keeper , I enjoy watching them as well as a great food source🙂 -jeff.

[@chrishowell4775]

I do the same except shake them into a shrimp net first

[@pelhamsaquatics]

@@chrishowell4775 ahh I see, I just grab a small plastic container hold the moss over it if any fall off the moss I can just dump them in with the apistos

[@Fishtory]

Great idea!

[@pelhamsaquatics]

@@Fishtory thanks! It works great 😊👍🏻

[@assiahinarkansas]

Good trick. Thanks!

[@IDoBeSmarter]

I appreciate this dudes level of chill

[@Fishtory]

Word. Thanks 😊

[@JD-re3cj]

Scud level chill

[@bluevireo425]

Years ago way back in the 70's my brother and I regularly hiked to a crystal clear stream with a Sand Bottom and Watercress everywhere...On these outings we gathered many plants for our aquarium which we kept together our entire childhood. One thing we loved were what we called "fresh water shrimp" or scuds that were always hiding in the sand. We brought many home with us and put them in our aquarium where they did live very happily, though some of the larger fish ate a few. Thanks for bringing me back. Also, glad I found your channel, you are an inspiration. Still keeping fish in my 60's. One of my brothers grew up to run a fish hatchery of all things.

[@Fishtory]

Awesome memories. Thanks for sharing. Also, welcome! Have a great week

[@assiahinarkansas]

I absolutely love my scuds. I got them as a live food. But then fell in love with them and their zoomie antics. Gave them their own 2.5 gallon tank. I do sometimes feed them to fish that need live food. But they are really mostly pets now. I like the nickname “fairy shrimp”😊 Great video, thanks Alex!

[@Fishtory]

Haha thanks ...fairy shrimp is very cute

[@Bootysmoothie]

Same for me I let them take over an existing fish tank which passed on but they kept on living and being just amazing to see

[@zim93boy]

These little guys are truly something else. I have been culturing them for a year now and everything in your video is spot on. They don't eat plants only plant I've seen them give any trouble is moss but other than that they are harmless. These guys can survive chlorine and high salt levels. They are tough as hell. My fish love em.

[@Fishtory]

Right on! Thanks for the reassurance hehe

[@robertbaker3174]

I feed them hornwort.

[@leaf.me.alone701]

I bought some Java moss mats from aquatic arts and they came with scuds so now my betta has a bunch of friends, I took the moss off the mats and have them on plant weights so it’s easier to take the moss out and feed other tanks (I use reptile feeding tongs and a brine-shrimp net)

[@Fishtory]

Oh thats not good though. Ill let em know, but im glad you enjoy them as i also do haha

[@billymariebee1837]

Wow just in time. Yesterday I was just thinking about scuds!

[@Fishtory]

Perfect!

[@ilvll]

I am revisiting this video because I can validate they are excellent to keep algae away! However, they are very hard to keep with other fish. I got them accidentally with a plant order and little by little they started to populate my shrimp/only tank. I cannot say the shrimp were thriving and the plants were Ok. I decided to place an electric blue crayfish there and obviously he ate all the plants that were not thriving anyway. I had an algae problem in my goldfish tank so I removed the hair-algae-infested plants in hopes that my crayfish will eat them. What I discovered the next day is that the crayfish only ate a few stems but the hair algae was gone! So I tried it again with other plants and I had the same results. Based on that, I am keeping a separate culture tank in my basement and not only will I be feeding my fish scuds from time to time but I will use it for quick algae-cleaning baths for my plants. Thanks for such a great video!

[@Fishtory]

I understand the struggle. Its a hard balance ...but i will say, lots of nano fish help control them, and the babies hide in the substrate if its got air pockets and voids like aquasoil or gravel....and will come out when they grow large enough and at night... ideally the fish eat almosg all the scuds before you see them ... but more live in plants, and little hiding spots under substrate. Thanks for your observations as well!

[@unifiedvision999]

Amazing videos, seems like I've been watching them every day for a couple of weeks now.

[@Fishtory]

Glad you like them!

[@ChrisMorton]

Put at least 100 scuds in my 1000 liter pond yesterday. Caught wild at a dam. My paradise gouramis, odessa barbs and platy pond is currently going wild. Feeding frenzie is incredible to watch.

[@Fishtory]

Oh awesomes! Have fun!

[@SajSajidmk]

How did you Caught Scuds?? Please

[@JD-re3cj]

100 of them would last about 4 seconds in a pond frenzy

[@rayquatics23]

I work at petsmart and I was siphoning tanks today and noticed a little bug like things swimming against the siphon. These are Scuds! They were only in the snail tanks my guess to how they got there was that probably they were a pest from the snail breeders. I took as many as I could find. I even saw a few of them piggybacking and took those and put them in a 2.5 I’m my fish room. Thank you for making this video now I can have a very nutritious live food for the rest of my aquariums!

[@Fishtory]

For sure....just know they harm baby shrimp...if you breed shrimp...theyre not very bad on anything else though

[@null682]

How about CPO crayfish babies?

[@patrickhamel2756]

Looking rested and at the top of your game! Great job!

[@Fishtory]

Yes! Thank you!

[@JD-re3cj]

I had my 5 gal planted inhabited by only bladder snails and Gammarus Pulex from my pond ! They were both thriving in there for a few weeks until I added 6 white cloud mountain minnows, beautiful fish. They ate all the little shrimps and baby snails within a day!

[@davidlee50]

My last time with scuds was when they turned carnivore. Amazing thing to watch.

[@Fishtory]

Oh for sure! They'll go cannibalistic

[@ADUAquascaping]

I love scuds! I used to always feed them to my Cichlids! So fun to watch haha. Thanks for this video!

[@Fishtory]

Any time!

[@pkendlers]

Great job! That's all good information. Scuds are useful and fun critters. In the tanks I raise shrimp in, they are not invited. But in all the other tanks they are part of the ecosystem and a food source. My Bettas and guppies keep them in ✅

[@Fishtory]

Yeah its funny how people without them, often want them and those with them are unable to get rid of them all lol.

[@FollicallyChallengedFishkeeper]

thanks alex. good info here. It may convince me to add some to my community tank for some extra nutrition and cleanup crew

[@Fishtory]

Go for it! Best wishes to you and yo fishes

[@gaelicdog2870]

To collect them I throw in a slice of cucumber or zucchini. Come back in 20-30 minutes and scoop up the zucchini . It is usually covered with scuds. I feed the scuds and put the zucchini back to collect again. I’ve found scuds to be the most consistent live food to raise for my nano fish that only like live food such as pea puffers and Elassoma gilberti. They also work well with daphnia so you get double the live food. I keep in 5 gallon buckets.

[@christinamorris2823]

most consistant live food: EXACTLY!

[@Fishtory]

Yeah thats the same method i show later too :)

[@FishCapadesProductions]

It's like your a mind reader! I have been wondering about this thank you so much ❤️

[@Fishtory]

You're so welcome!

[@Brobeartofu]

Thanks!

[@Fishtory]

You bet!

[@janemarriott3389]

This was a phenomenally valuable episode. Thank you so much!

[@Fishtory]

You're so welcome!

[@vikkirountoit497]

I’ll say it again: I love your channel and I love my scuds. Always amazed when I put 20 or so scuds into a container with an algae-covered plant and they eat the algae and leave the plant alone. At least that’s been my experience. My experience has also been that even adding over 50 to a 10 gal tank won’t make a dent in algae if there is a lot of mulm and detritus or a lot of fish in the tank, so I don’t use them for algae control in a tank, only in a separate container to clean a plant if needed - in this context they are amazing algae eaters. For fun, I keep some scuds in a few beautifully planted vases and they mostly leave the plants alone. In these vases I do not feed the scuds and they take care of any plant matter that isn’t healthy but without extra food, they do not seem to reproduce much - or maybe they eat their own young. Maybe I just have odd scuds that don’t eat my plants or have plants the scuds don’t like. Surprisingly stable in these planted vases long term. Been keeping scuds as food cultures for several years now. I put scuds in most of my tanks and keep a few cultures solo in ½ gal small vases with gravel/crushed coral and a big ball of pearl weed or java moss - I keep water topped off with tank water and sometimes add fish food. Keeping at least one of these small vases in front of my kitchen window gives me green water and lots of baby scuds. (However if a scud gets into green water with my copepods or my seed shrimp, I end up with only scuds - I assume scuds are eating them?) I often pull any size other than largest scuds and feed them to all my non-nano fish. I never add scuds to my nano fish tanks or to my shrimp tanks because I don’t want the scuds surviving to be large enough to eat nano fish fry or baby shrimp. Not taking chances there. Baby endlers are so tiny! When I have large scuds in excess I add some to my 75g for my bigger fish to hunt. I often find scuds living in my hob filter material. Tanks with fish rarely have scuds visible to me, so they definitely haven’t been able to take over. And it’s the one food source I’ve been able to maintain long term. (Getting a good handle on seed shrimp now too.)

[@Fishtory]

Thanks for sharing that great info and experience with us!

[@EarthInspired]

Yea! A video that isn't bashing the crap out of scuds. Scuds are amazing and while yes they will eat live plants sometimes that's not really an issue if you know how to work around. I believe the positive benefits far outweigh anything negative. Like you said if there are fish in there they really can't overpopulate. I have found that to be true. Thanks for the deep dive and the positive video about scuds.

[@Fishtory]

Well said!

[@chia_pet7121]

@@Fishtory they would do better with a rename. Scud sounds like you are going to take one for the team on a Friday night.

[@Fishtory]

@@chia_pet7121 lol totally 😆

[@MaureensMenagerie]

I saw at the end that little black box with a micro metal looking screen used to scoop them out with… it looked like a coffee filter I picked up at a thrift… thanks for the info and a repurpose idea🙃

[@Fishtory]

Yup coffee and flour sifters from goodwill!

[@Dr.CumsteinMD]

Very informative. Thank you for making this video! I like that you go into the more technical reasons for things involving planted aquarium ecosystems. Your channel has been very helpful for a beginner like me.

[@Fishtory]

Glad you enjoyed it! Welcome 🙏

[@boebender]

Awesome as always. Thank you for your comprehensive content.

[@TheFishyPlumber]

Another outstanding and informative video, thanks Alex!

[@Fishtory]

Glad you liked it!

[@pyleaquatics]

I found a huge number of them in a nearby lake living in hornwort. So, I collected both for my outdoor tubs!

[@christinamorris2823]

hornwort is their favorite food. Mine do much better with that to snack on.

[@Fishtory]

That is awesome!

[@johnmoore5293]

​@@christinamorris2823what about hair algae? I am new to this.

[@nataliearonson5669]

Love all your content, it’s all the reasons why I fell in love with keeping fish 🐠 can you please do some videos on patio ponds.

[@Fishtory]

Will do in spring... and there are past videos on them ...perhaps titled "tubbing or summer tubs"

[@Ebakyza]

I adore these little creatures since I first saw them in the stream as a high school student. Recently I did a massive research, and 3 weeks ago I started a natural aquarium project. I have a planted tank, substrate + sand, the water is greenish, I'm soaking a piece of wood from the forest to add tannins, my tank does have detrius, rocks from the gammarus stream, proper aeriation and happy fish. However the gammarus that I added first to the aquarium, kept dying, I found a dying gammarus every couple of days. Even if I saw some of them putting pieces of detrius into their mouth. Today morning I found my last gammarus dead and I'm devastated. I'm wondering how to keep these beautiful creatures alive... I can only find articles about handling "gammarus-infested" tanks, how sturdy they are, how it's almost impossible to kill them... And yet here I am, the loser who just wants to observe their life, but they constantly die on me... Can you give me some advice based on this, how to keep them happy?

[@evita1643]

I find scuds very interesting. I had never heard of them in our aquarium hobby (the Netherlands). As far as I know they aren't even for sale here. I feel water fleas are more common here instead. Its fun to see the differences in the hobby between countries

[@Fishtory]

Yes, i love seeing videos from europe and asia. I just plain love Euorpe lol.

[@mach389]

Great stuff as always 👍👍 Gotta get me some scuds for my community tank now..

[@Fishtory]

You should! Heh

[@carlam.9529]

Thanks for the very informative video, Alex !!!

[@Fishtory]

My pleasure!

[@ilvll]

Thank you so much for this! I tried scuds once and my guppies didn’t give them a chance. I didn’t know anything! I figured they would be good enough to hide on a very planted tank. Now I got some as hitchhikers in my Java moss and they are a welcomed guest. I think I have enough biofilm, algae and food but you make me think that they will cause issues long term on my 5 gallon shrimp planted tank. I won’t get rid of them but you are making me think it is best to remove the shrimp and maybe see if I can get a culture going on. By the way! I have been looking for isopods from retailers but had no luck. They look so awesome and I would love to keep some. Maybe that can be a topic for the future! Thanks again and stay safe. Feel better too!

[@Fishtory]

Oh yeah totally the isopods are really impressive these days

[@TylerLarbes]

Tip: while studying entomology and in the breeding and colonization of terrestrial insects, i learned that population growth rate directly corresponds to the size of rhe habitat, and the size and consistency of food supply. When breeding terrestrial isopods and other insects, i would always alowly taper the ammount of food i i would give them. It worked really well!!! I bet this concept would qork for a uda as well!!!

[@Fishtory]

Ooo fascinating. Thank you

[@TylerLarbes]

@@Fishtory with isopods, the mothers will re-absorb the nutrients of the fertilized embryos so that she will not go hungry and not have babies in an environment where they are likely to starve. With terrestrial insects, If you step down food slowly, is save and very effective. I'd bet scuds respond similarly.

[@SajSajidmk]

Artemia & Scuds R Same or Different??? Please

[@zakashiXninja]

Thanks for the video Alex:) I been thinking of collecting this fir my fish in the summer, scuds are great

[@Fishtory]

You should!

[@bubblerings]

I like your nursery idea.. (also Dan's Fish vid) But, have several of those in a scud tank. Modify the lids with holes and mesh. Drop one into feed fish, when you go away for a week.

[@johnjwedrall4290]

👍👍 informative video, thanks.

[@tehutimes1]

I have scuds from collecting duckweed, water primrose(ludwigia), daphina, mosquito larvae, & moss from 2 area lakes. My fish enjoy them. Have over 8 containers where they range in various numbers.

[@Fishtory]

Very nice! Thats similar to my set up with green water and infusoria...and scuds of course

[@chrishowell4775]

Thanks for the video lots of info I didn't know as I raise a few ways

[@Fishtory]

Glad it was helpful!

[@skibofilms]

I ordered from the recommended shop using your code. Thanks.

[@Fishtory]

Awesome, thank you! Let me know if anything goes wrong...or extra well haha. I take my recommendations personally and make sure theyre doing everything correctly

[@Ricewater94]

Wow i was googling for scuds and this released 20 minutes ago. Talk about timing

[@Fishtory]

Nice! Welcome

[@xmaTKDmma]

me too also googling and this came up 8 months ago. Talk about timing.

[@dellseasandoval8187]

I love this channel.

[@Fishtory]

Then i love you! Haha

[@dellseasandoval8187]

Keep up the good work my friend, my fellow Seattleite 👍🏻.

[@rbihon]

love the overgrown aquariums. How do you find a dead fish in them though? Or do you let them decompose and become part of the ecosystem and become shrimp food?

[@dakotagreg1177]

Devils Lake ND grows unusually large scuds that produce record growing yellow perch. Often times the scuds come flowing out of ice holes. Another large scud factory is the Bighorn River.

[@Fishtory]

Super cool!

[@erikabearden608]

Decide to keep a scud culture, Fishtory always comes through ❤

[@Fishtory]

Right on!

[@djssquibbs3295]

another awesome video / content. Saludos desde Costa Rica :)

[@Fishtory]

Gracias

[@connorm3674]

Would i be able to seed the back part of a matten filter to feed the main part of the tank with scuds? Also would they be able to exist in the same culture as something like live blackworms?

[@Fishtory]

Thats really brilliant lol... i dont see why not..then a few babies may make it through to feed fish too! Great idea

[@cisco5400]

Great info, thanks! Btw, those angelfish in the background seem to have alot of plants in all directions :)

[@Fishtory]

Yeah they got a huge trim a day or two later

[@nada347_]

Well, in my more father fish inspired moments, I did add some stuff to my tank earlier on and I finally ID'd and caught a scud in my tank. I'll see if s/he survives in his isolation jar. If it multiplies, I'll feed them to my daughter's guppies and keep it away from my shrimp and snails for now. Tons of copepods in my green water bin. I have a few other funky things in the main tank that I'm still trying to identify.

[@nada347_]

Sounds like I may just have the one then. Unless I can find and catch more. Maybe a good thing they can't reproduce like asexually like daphnia.

[@nada347_]

Hmmm. Lost my other comment somewhere. Anyhow, seems like they don't reproduce asexually like daphnia so it may be a short lived experiment. But still, fun to explore the tank and learn more about the critters inside.

[@Kaitlin.D]

I love how all your videos are so in depth and researched! I just ordered some scuds, primarily to feed to my puffer, so planning on keeping them in a separate set up but do they need a light cycle or would they be ok if kept in the dark, under my tank, in the cabinet? Also would they coexisit well with snails? I’d like to condense my live food cultures as much as possible but I would think that they would out compete the snails for food and/or eat the eggs.

[@Fishtory]

Yes they do well with most snails :)

[@Kaitlin.D]

Thanks! What about a light cycle? Do they need one to breed or would the still breed in the dark?@@Fishtory

[@siriaustill9588]

This video was so helpful! I just happened upon these creatures when they came with the plants from the fish store, and now they are definitely making more in my planted tank! Question: my tank is currently fishless, only scuds and aquascaping. I had wanted to add some shrimp and corys and one rabbit snail. I’m okay if the scuds eat some shrimp and the corys eat some scuds, but am I risking losing all my scuds this way? Second question: I have a 3-gallon planted tank with just a betta and snail. It is filterless due to the tank’s unusual shape, so I have to keep up on cleanings, but it has balanced out well. If I add some scuds to that tank are they likely to survive the low-oxygen conditions? Thanks so much for your informative video, I definitely saved this video for future reference and will watch more!

[@Fishtory]

Scuds need a decent amount of oxygen...but they can breath by swimming to the surface quickly to take a gasp...so theyll probably be okay in the 3 gallon. And scuds can potentially stop a shrimp colony from increasing... party because they will steal the berries/ shrimp eggs right off mother shrimp... which is obviously stressful to the female as well

[@michelledavis1477]

Love all your intos

[@Fishtory]

Thanks Michelle 😊

[@christinamorris2823]

Thanks. I LOVE scuds...

[@Fishtory]

Thank YOU!

[@scotmcpherson]

You were right the first time. It's square meters, square meter of bottom. They are for the most part bottom dwellers...and yes that means if there is a 3 foot thick matte of plant material, yes that is still considered bottom. It's not water column.

[@Fishtory]

Oh okay lol thanks!

[@johnmoore5293]

I picked up a number of pieces on wood, in the bottom of a stream, that were covered in scuds. The bottom of the stream had a lot of broken shale. Oatka creek, NY

[@mellewedin8221]

So this is like 3 months old, but I wait till this time of year and collect them! They all come from the same spot. But I keep them in their own tank as pets. I also am patient enough to try and treat them as well. Lol.

[@Fishtory]

Haha yes me too actually!

[@Muppet92954]

Great info. Makes me wanna think about starting a scud tank 😄

[@Fishtory]

You should!

[@ourtestimoniesabbathankyou8501]

Out of black worms Daphnia and these which would you recommend for keeping. Thank you for all you do love your content and once I get some mulah I'm going to be donating.

[@Fishtory]

Well thank you kindly

[@mattbatcher802]

Did you just say you will put a dead fish into a compost tank? That’s cool, I like the scud idea, I have been thinking about establishing something like what you get with a marine tank with amphipods in freshwater, I looked into sea monkeys but they have to be dried out. I am thinking more of the idea of a refugium than a nursery, yeah same thing right, but I think refugium would imply a bigger stationary thing. Good explanation too. I definitely want to have them in the tank rather than dropped in for feeding. Especially with bigger more aggressive fish I think it is beneficial for the fish to be concentrated more on food that may be found rather than messing with each other for tank dominance. Thanks.

[@Fishtory]

Yeah it's a tank that definitely isn't fish safe due to ammonia and bacteria galore, but for bacteria fungi, plankton, insects and other small organisms.

[@DashDrones]

Ah I get it now, S.C.U.D - Small Creatures, Useful Design ❤

[@Fishtory]

Pretty much haha. I dig it

[@sharonwhiteley4616]

Thank you for your video. I am just learning obout live food. how would scuds go outside? we have varying weather conditions here the full6 seasons.

[@stevenheinje181]

I can get these from a local fishless spring/pond. You mentioned treating disease, is it known how effective med's are on the Pomphorhynchus laevis or acanthocephalan worm. I used metronidazole on my rams with success, but want to breed them, so live food. Are daphnia safer?

[@Fishtory]

Daphnia, brine shrimp and cyclopse are indeed safer. Most dewormers kill the scuds at doses that kill the parasites anyhow. Levamisol in extremely low doses will treat flat worms and true worms but that's all I've been able to find. That being said, I haven't had issues with them infecting my fish that I know of. But I am aware it could happen.. especially scuds from the hobby

[@Leadbreather]

Please do a vid on how to treat wild caught scuds and daphnia to make sure they are safe for fish even if it wipes out 90% of them and I have to grow the culture back after I still want to know how after bad sources before just to have a culture I know is good

[@Fishtory]

So you won't know until the scuds or daphnia have bred for about 6 generations, or 3 months max, which nearly all the parasites will die during, without a fish host to live or reproduce in. But there is no treatment that can kill scud parasites and not harm the actual scuds unfortunately

[@andycarter4581]

So are these the things that look like woodlice living in my pond? Thanks for video 👍

[@KoroWerks]

Those could be aquatic isopods too, which are closer related to woodlice. Ostracods like scuds look more like shrimp, they're compressed the other direction.

[@Fishtory]

I believe so

[@andycarter4581]

Thanks guys

[@frankvee]

Very informative. Thanks!

[@Fishtory]

Glad it was helpful!

[@m0rce1]

Really want to try scuds. GF not enjoying my MTS. Not sure I'll get away with it but may have to make a hidden container...

[@Fishtory]

Hahaha well you can always hide them under filter floss in a large hob or canister filter too...then their babies will sneak out

[@Parasox]

Awesome video- if I only have space for a scud colony tank or hatching bbs, are bbs usually better overall? (Non-breeding apisto tank, fully planted)

[@Fishtory]

Bbs are better for small fish and or communities with shrimp as well, because they are basically pests to baby shrimp, and too large for tiny fry ..bbs are loved by all fish and only last a few hours in freshwater

[@Parasox]

@@Fishtory thanks again!

[@AdymonLeer]

I found alot swimming around my tank and couldnt find out, daphnia or scuds, seems i must have both but i i can see my little new fish eating them. Probaly got them from previously bought fishwater

[@spoiledsushi7400]

Thank you, very informative.

[@Fishtory]

You got it!

[@rjaysanchez7813]

I agree, they do have great clean up methods and it’s one of my cleanest tanks because of them. However, we had a whole colony of assassins sails breeding in our tank, and once the scuds started popping up they slowly started eating and killing our assassins snails. Now all that’s left is empty shells. We put a mystery snail in the tank and he was dead within two days. How do I get ride of them for good? We have done water changes however that just lowers the amount of scuds in the tank. We don’t want them anymore and would rather have our snails back.

[@johanna006]

Ah, so I've had scuds all this time but didn't know what they were. I had an abandoned tank of water that turned green and they grew so large. Also, an easy way to grow green water - add yeast to water, stand it in the sun for 3 days and it'll turn bright green. A few more days and it'll be even brighter. No need to buy spirulina and such. I found that feeding scuds yeast directly clouds the water too much and they die. Tank detritus and uneaten fish food is the best.

[@TylerLarbes]

Hello!!! Another great video! Question: Do you have any advice for setting up a quarantine/disinfecting/treatment tank for scuds that I can use to make sure they are healthy and safe for my aquarium?? I have 4 or 5 dosen scuds I caught in a local lake and wNt to use them in my planted dirt/sand sub food web/eco system tank. (You advised me on this tank and collection buckets in the comments of your outdoor collection/culturing methods.

[@Fishtory]

I simply observe them for a couple weeks .... then maybe try feeding some to a cheap fish thats hearty... like a guppy or danio...and just keep an eye out for any issues ( which are rare)

[@tristansuetti3483]

Great video! I introduced them by accident to a native aquarium I had some years ago with some wild myriophyllum that I found in a pond, and them were amazing. I was wandering how would you recomend to clean them up from parasites if collecting wild since it seems imposible to get them here where I live from a trusty source like a fish store or something

[@Fishtory]

Its really tricky honestly. Anything that kills them, kills shrimp. I think it would involve moving the fish and hitting the tank with some nasty meds or chemicals

[@roastytco9694]

Awesome video as always Alex. Is there a way to keep scuds out of a canister filter? Or is it just something you have to accept?

[@Fishtory]

Adding a mesh to the intakes can help a lot...but as far as i know, the babies will still get in from time to time

[@roasty4400]

@@Fishtory Ah okay. Thanks for the info.

[@AlpacaMade]

The colony in my 20L is gone, so none in the new 10g. I am conflicted about that but since I've not added fish yet, all the 1st time pregnant shrimp are safe.

[@Fishtory]

Id let the shrimp repopulate and grow :)

[@cindys.4409]

When you say scuds can eat shrimp, are you talking neocaridina or amanos? And, would you recommend dumping a colony in a 15 gallon aquascaped pea puffer tank (for an occasional snack) or keeping them separately? Thank you! I always appreciate your wealth of knowledge. 😊

[@Fishtory]

Yes and yes... scuds would only eat shrimp when desperate..they prefer any rotting plants, algae or bio film. And as this video shows later, you can keep them in a tank alone or keep them in a fish tank as. A long term food source.

[@robertbaker3174]

I only recently started some scuds. They can be problematic but they have worked well for me. In case I can't finish this tonight I want to ask if they are a problem with baby shrimp? I think they are but maybe I had something else going on.

[@erinestes7598]

Something I do find helpful is when videos are broken up into sections so I can know where to find specific info. Like intro, general info, finding stock, feeding, breeding..I dunno that kind of stuff

[@Fishtory]

Yeah they let big channels do that...and if a video is popular they do it for you automatically via the google search results, however its a bit tricker to but links with a name of the chapter but that links to something random. They need to fix it!

[@erinestes7598]

@@Fishtory ooh didn't know that was associated to account size. Or that it likes to just say F it and throw random links. That's.. lovely. Appreciate the work you put into all of this. PS scripted seemed cool. Kind of like the unscripted tangents though. You did seem to be more comfortable and loose by the end vs the beginning and like you weren't held at point to read a cue card

[@frostedflower2032]

Informative video, thank you! Discovered your channel maybe a month ago and it aligns with my tank keeping goals as well. I wanted to ask a quick question as someone who set up my first planted/ecosystem tank and have been finding a lot of mixed messages about scuds in shrimp tanks. I have a planted 13 gallon that I've intended to showcase shrimp in. I currently have 3 mystery snails and have been waiting for the tank to season before getting neos from my lfs. My plants have really filled in and I have some algae on my wood/rock/filter and noticed a scud about two weeks ago that I spotted again today. To be honest, I was pretty excited at first! But after doing more research I'm getting worried they might outcompete my future shrimp. I'm not really interested in any nuclear options to deconstruct the tank since I don't mind having them, I'd just also love to have shrimp. Do you think its reasonable to try and manage their population by baiting with zucchini for example, or am I setting myself up for sadness lol?

[@Fishtory]

Theyre pretty sneaky. Its hard to get em all... they will eat some of your baby shrimp, but if you dont over feed, and remove dead leaves and plant debris you should be able to keep their numbers in check, just enough to keep a growing colony.

[@frostedflower2032]

@@Fishtory Awesome, thanks so much for the tip! I think they're neat too so I'm happy to try and make it work

[@iainaquariumagic]

Such useful information. Thank you so much 🎉

[@booperfumprdink859]

Due to the potential issues scuds can present to plants, would neocardinia shrimp or ostracods (seed shrimp) be a good alternative for a live food in the tank?

[@Fishtory]

100%. If you don't have fish that will eat every scud you drop in the tank, in a hurry... its best not to choose scuds...they eat plants and kill shrimp colonies quickly... but if you have, say tetras... they will destroy every last scud in there in 2 minjtes flat lol

[@logankue9627]

Don't have a filter, but I do have an air stone and top off their water with old fish water. My colony is thriving.

[@wallys7016]

I think I have some outside in a bucket. What do they look like so I can be sure. They look small an white visible to the eye to me.

[@frankcastle9991]

I have a slate bottom for a substrate for a 70g axolotl and white cloud minnow tank with some live plants . Gonna put leaf litter in it soon do ya recommend scuds or shrimp as a cleaning crew

[@frankcastle9991]

I don’t want anything that will pester the axolotl. Any suggestions?

[@Fishtory]

Well with axolotl they will eat all shrimp instantly. Scuds may stand a chance if you use gravel

[@frankcastle9991]

@@Fishtory gonna stay away from gravel maybe I’ll go with Pygmy corydoras.

[@Rorther]

What's the best substrate for a bioactive aquarium with scuds? They do well with Dirt + capped sand? Or sand is too dense for them?

[@Fishtory]

I find they like aquasoils with some leaves. The pockets hikd enough room for babies and sleeping scuds etc. Fluval or ada amazonia are my go to.... ada amazonia if im planting the tank heavily

[@damiangrouse4564]

Believe it or not my wife and daughter had a 2gal with a beta that somehow got “infected” with scuds they freaked out and before I became aware “sterilized” the tank. I’ve been trying to get my 32gal “infected” ever since.

[@Fishtory]

Isnt that just how life goes haha

[@damiangrouse4564]

@@Fishtory indeed.

[@gordonissocoollike]

Informative. Video thanks

[@CarolynnMc01]

Thank you Alex~

[@Fishtory]

Thank YOU

[@irenedool1069]

Hi Alex and everyone in the fish fam

[@Fishtory]

Hey! And thanks again for your support...and nice yellow door!🚪 💛

[@Palatard]

captured some along some snails in a stream but they all dropped dead before I got home. Any special sensitivities?

[@ellipertzov4429]

awesome. thanks for that video

[@Fishtory]

No problem!

[@wildandwackywade]

Two questions. I am new and wish to learn more before making mistakes So I am gonna build a tank from scratch and so... How do we raise our own feeding breeding ect.. amd are they suitable for all fish to eat or certain kinds? Then wjere do we go to get all the stuff for substrates amd plants?

[@Fishtory]

I buy my substrate online...otherwise it's only sold at specialty aquarium stores and sometimes hydroponic grow supply shops. But id recommend starting with fluval stratumn and amazon usually has it for 40 or 45 for the biggest bag. Then you can add a pack of root tabs and cap with sand. ...if you want plants. However, scuds eat plants so sometimes people like raising them alone in sand bottom tanks ...with no fish. And any fish will eat them if the fish eats meat/insects ... which is most

[@JorgePerez-bu4ph]

I keep scuds and they ate great both as a “cleaners” and food source. However, I also have a nano tank with only Neocardina shrimps and having a big infestation of scuds that are irritating and decimating the scuds. My question is: What would be the best fish to eat the scuds and keep the scuds controlled

[@Fishtory]

Its hard to find fish to eat scuds and not shrimp... however, scuds need to breath at the surface, so any fish like a clown killifish, pencilfish or small ricefish seems to help keep the numbers down, while also not spending too much time looking for baby shrimp

[@mterenzi]

Any issues trying to keep them in a low tech planted aquarium that has an under gravel filter? Gravel is about 4” deep.

[@Fishtory]

Nope! Thats ideal

[@mterenzi]

@@Fishtory I love the idea of them helping to break down waste and detritus in the gravel but I am concerned about the risk to my plants. Is there any other gravel dwelling creature that would be beneficial but not harmful to my plants?

[@mvpmvp2980]

Do you think the adult scuds get too big for gulf coast pygmy sunfish or asian stone catfish to eat them or is it fine? I was going to do a tank with those as my biggest fish and I wanted to use scuds as a food source, but I worry if the scuds will eventually overrun the tank and kill my plants as they reach adulthood. I'm not good at picturing the food size vs the size of the fish's mouth.

[@Fishtory]

They work well for the sunfish still, but the stone catfish...not so much, perhaps their mouth is turned down too much?

[@joshuadecker1305]

I got some scuds today. I'm not exactly sure but it seems they're eating my copepods. They'll swim up to the Amazon frogbit grab a copepod sink down to the bottom, while eating, then swim back up. They're a lot more interesting to watch than I thought.

[@Fishtory]

They can be predators for their size, thats for sure. To fish they're food....but to tiny stuff, theyre like the aliens in the movie... Aliens lol

[@joshuadecker1305]

@Fishtory lol they do look like xynomorph heads. They swam around for a couple of hours then dissappeared. It's a blackwater riparium with plenty of mulm dead leaves and seed pods to eat but 2 of them decided to go after copepods. I have copepods by the thousands, but it was interesting. Ill give them 4 weeks to colonize before adding predators.

[@fishingnh4543]

@Fishtory I was hoping to figure out how to source all the biodiversity in your tank could i order some of your water to seed my tanks with all the random worm life and whatnot i have fish shrimp n snail tanks and 2 im about to setup that im not sure how id like to setup other than heavily planted and super biodiverse cant choose my substrate yet and not certain on capping ive been watching your videos and still cant decide i wanna minimize water changes and having to add nutes i wanna create pretty self sustainable tanks

[@DEXTER-TV-series]

If you don't interesting in plants - learn Kevin Novak anoxic filtration approach.

[@Fishtory]

You could, but i think sourcing locally may be best, since those critters are already happy in your local water.

[@accalt6519]

I'm considering adding scuds to my tank, but I've read online that they starve out other tankmates and eat their eggs/young. I currently only have fairy shrimp, daphnia, triops, and cherry shrimp in the same tank. What should I do?

[@Fishtory]

I wouldn't put them in a shrimp exosystem personally...others disagree. But i think youre 100% correct..theyre scavengers and will eat anything they can fit in their mouth

[@accalt6519]

@@Fishtory thank you for responding and I think I'll just keep them out. Maybe make a separate tank just for scuds. Thanks again, liked and subscribed.

[@shanes-aquatic]

I think i'm going to have to order up some scuds for my little planted tank. It currently has a single male betta and a cory cat in it. Hoping that the scuds can be somewhat self sustaining, population wise, with java fern, drift wood, etc to hide in and around.

[@samhain9394]

Prob do better with java _moss_ or guppy grass or something bushier where they can actually hide. A betta can inspect a java fern blade pretty easily.

[@Fishtory]

Super cool 😎

[@Ricewater94]

Do you think scuds would be a good food source for crocodile toothpick? Might be too big?

[@goblinhammer8335]

Thanks for the name of that fish, been trying to find them!

[@Fishtory]

The babies would be. Probably not the adults is my guess?