How to Keep Scuds as Pets

Freshwater scuds (Gammarus) can make a wonderful aquatic pet. They are a very easy to keep and breed.

Scuds are smaller than dwarf freshwater shrimp (aquatic pet shrimp). Scuds are similar in appearance to a tiny dwarf shrimp and scuds also eat the same foods as shrimp. The two creatures can live happily together in a fishtank, they make great tankmates. Scuds have a shell just like shrimp which means that they must molt in order to grow larger.

Scuds are the perfect critters for a nano tank. They also thrive in almost any freshwater aquatic environment of any size (10 gallon tank or larger).

Scuds should be cultured in a fishless tank or else the fish will most likely eat all of the scuds or make it impossible for them to breed into a large and healthy scud colony.

Some people add scuds into all of their fish tanks where if they don't get eaten up quickly they can go on to start a colony right there in your fish aquarium. This usually only works in a large aquarium full of decorations.

Scuds can provide your pet fish with a continuous source of live fishfood.

Difficulty: Easy

Instructions

Things You'll Need:

• Scuds
• Cycled Aquarium
• Fishfood
• Plastic Plants
• Pond Snails
• Aquarium Gravel
• Aquarium Decorations
• Filter Floss

1. Add your scuds into a cycled aquarium (10 gallon tank or larger).
   
   A scud tank should have some type of substrate such as aquarium gravel. The tank should also have aquarium decorations and filter floss to create more surface area. The tank should also have plastic plants in it. Live aquatic plants such as Java Moss and other mosses may grow healthy jungles for your scuds to inhabit even in the lowest light levels.
   
   Add pond snails into your scud tank. Pond snails clean up any uneaten or rotten fishfood.
   
   A scud tank should have many items floating at the surface of the water which is where they like to spend a lot of their time. Things that may float include :
   
   * Plastic plants and flowers
   * Filter Floss
   * Live aquatic plants
   * Pieces of foam cup, etc.
   
   A very small colony of scuds can live in a 1 gallon Nanotank on your desk or bathroom counter. Why not have such a neat mini environment wherever possible.

2. Feed the scuds once or twice a day using fishfood flakes, algae wafers and shrimp pellets. Scuds will eat anything that a fish or snail eats.

3. Change 25% of the scuds aquarium water once a week using dechlorinated water that has aged for at least an hour.

4. Harvest scuds using an aquarium net and/or a turkey baster.
   
   Feed one scud at a time or dump the whole batch into the tank to create a fish feeding frenzy.

Tips & Warnings

• Never use internal or external aquarium filters or internal water pumps on a scud tank because these will suck up and kill baby scuds.
• Never add any fish into your scud tank. Fish will eat all of your scuds.
• Always dechlorinate water at least an hour before adding into any aquatic environment.
• Keep two tanks for culturing scuds. In case anything happens to one or the other of your scud tanks, you will still have the other tank full of scuds. This way it's not a total loss. It's possible to keep a scud tank from ever crashing for many years (A tank crashing is when everything in the tank suddenly dies).

Resources

• How to Use Filter Floss For Freshwater Aquariums
• How to Breed Freshwater Ghost Shrimp
• Setting up a Breeder Tank

[dfager]

on 10/24/2009 Good information!