# Fish eating scuds



## Red_Rose

*Fish that eat scuds*

What type of fish eat scuds(gammarus)? I have a bunch of these things in my 2.5g and I have two male fancy guppies that will be going in there soon and I don't know if they will eat these things or not. Also, can scuds pester fish and snails? I've been trying to remove them but they are quick!

Thank you.

EDIT: I meant to put down "Fish that eat scuds" in the title. I tried to edit it but it's not showing up right now.


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## Deni

Funny you should mention them. I've just been reading about scuds.

It seems that people culture them to feed to their fish. One culturing place says, "Scuds may live and multiply in the gravel of your aquarium and scavenge uneaten food. Perfect for seahorses and fishes up to 4 inches."

Another place says


> Fantastic food for larger killies, gobies and gudgeons, larger rainbows, dwarf and medium size cichlids (including discus and angels).... almost any medium size fish.
> 
> I'm not going to lie to you..... this culture will take some time to get going. But once it does, they will provide a great supplemental food for your medium sized fish.
> 
> Scuds are highly sought after and hard to find.
> 
> And aside from being an excellent food for larger fish, they are also amazing at getting all traces of algae off plants and aquarium decorations (they are not capable of removing algae off glass). If you have a problem with algae on your plants, release about 50 scuds into the tank and just let them live in there. They will reproduce, provide supplemental food for any fish who can find them, and remove all traces of algae from your plants!


So guppies may be too small to eat them. There's no mention anywhere of them pestering fish or snails.


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## Red_Rose

Thank you for posting that.  I guess I'm just going to have to try to remove them somehow.

I don't know where they got the idea that it takes some time for the culture to get going because I had originally started out with two(they came off of the plants) and now I have a lot more then that!


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## dhavoc

once established, there is no way to get rid of them without chemicals (not reccomended) or tearing the whole tank down and either boiling everything or drying it out completely. they live in the substrate. you can add small botias or a dwarf puffer, they are great at controlling them so some degree. watch it, they also love to eat mosses and fine leaf plants when there isnt enough food for them. i hate them with a passion, but am pretty much resigned to controlling them as best i can.


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## toddnbecka

Ya, scuds will eat anything green if there's not enough algae or other food available.


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## davemonkey

I have some rainbow fish (australian) that have an insatiable appettite. I bet they would keep scuds under control, but I doubt they'd feel comfortable in a small tank. You might just have to completely tear-down the tank and start over.


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## toddnbecka

If you don't have shrimp in the tank, move out however many snails you want to keep and dose the tank with copper sulfate solution (aka Had-a-Snail). It won't harm fish or plants, but will kill any inverts in the tank. Overnight should be long enough, then drain the tank, (remove the corpses w/siphon hose in the process) and refill with fresh water to make it safe to move the snails back in.


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