# Growing scud for food;



## blacksmith37 (Oct 10, 2006)

Is growing scud ( copepods/grammarus) worth while as fish food ? I have them somewhere so I should be able to get breeders easily.
Many hundreds show up on our front patio after heavy rains; The county Ag agent identified them as "scud". The patio is 50' away and 6' higher than my pond so I am not sure where they came from. They look bite size (1/2 to 3/4") for angelfish.


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## Urkevitz (Oct 26, 2004)

I never tried raising them, but they did reproduce quickly in my fishless nano tank. In the wild they do not need great water conditions and are prolific.

I just recently saw freeze dried gammarus "scuds" at my LFS.


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## Gregor Samsa Mendel (May 29, 2006)

Wild-caught scuds might carry fish parasites. I think that if you tank-raise them for several generations before feeding them to your fish, it would eliminate the danger of parasite transmission.


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## wiste (Feb 10, 2006)

In general, raising live food cultures may not be cost effective and is definitely not time efficient.
You need to pay regular attention to the cultures to ensure they do not crash.
I had some scuds come in with plants. It appears they ate hair algae in the tanks so they were allowed to stay. I harvested them like snails. Put zucchini in the tank and then net them.
However, I did not stay on top of the tank as it was just a growout tank for plants and the population exploded. They ate almost anything that was green in the tank. So, they were no longer allowed to stay.

The fish appreciate the live food and may benefit. But, as already mentioned care must be taken that your live food does not introduce pathogens. 

Scuds are neat to watch and if you enjoy raising the cultures then it is worthwhile. If it becomes a chore then it is not worthwhile


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## YuccaPatrol (Mar 26, 2006)

Purchasing quality frozen foods is much easier and cheaper if you value your time.


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## blacksmith37 (Oct 10, 2006)

I am retired but time is at a premium as I have too many hobbies; I shut down my salt tank this year as I was not putting in the needed time. 
On the otherhand; I have a few containers, and bird baths, to collect rain water , and in summer I go around and collect mosqiuto larva which ony takes a few minutes and the fish go nuts for them. I think of it as mosquito control as 99.9% of the eggs laid in my yard never mature. 
I have been trying to figure out how to make money ( another hobby) on this; drop 1000 mosquito larva into a tank with 25 fish ,then take bets on how long it will take for them all to be eaten. Most are gone in 30 sec but sometimes a few larva get into the java moss and survive about 2 minutes, so I don't know exacty when they are all gone.


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## Jimbo205 (Feb 2, 2006)

> drop 1000 mosquito larva into a tank with 25 fish ,then take bets on how long it will take for them all to be eaten. Most are gone in 30 sec but sometimes a few larva get into the java moss and survive about 2 minutes, so I don't know exacty when they are all gone.


That sounds funny. Sounds like a lot of patience collecting all of those.


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