JKB, My scuds are not the hyalella species that are mentioned in the thread post above. They probably are similar, at least similar size and shape but not exactly the same.
Mine are Gammarus sp. Never found out the species name. If I did it again I would probably avoid leaves, use green maple leaves that won't leach color, or use some other pond weed that had places to attach to and hide plus throw in some FA.
I also started with tap water but added some 'green water' from the pond to get the micro organisms in there.
They are very cheap to buy again and I probably should just buy some and toss them in the pond again. I might wait till my crayfish numbers are less and I have some vegetation growing again for them to hide in. Right now I do have a thick layer of dead leaves in the shallows as the wind blew the fall leaves into the shallows. I'm sure the scuds and the ghost shrimp love hiding out under those leaves.
