Originally Posted By: canyoncreek
Bill, I assume you are putting colored maple leaves in (ones that have lain on the ground for a while?) Are they brittle and falling in pieces or do you put the whole leaf in?

I'm considering putting a few in a tank to watch but I don't have an aquarium setup so once my water gets tannin or debris I can't easily separate the little guys out to do a water exchange.

A fish tank at the kids school has 6" goldfish in it, I'd love to bring some to school for kids to watch. But maybe goldfish would snap them up?


CC,

I�m feeding mine leaves as I wanted to assess how effective these guys would be as leaf/decaying vegetation �predators� for my pond. I just picked up brown dry leaves out side and presoaked them, with frequent water changes, in a bucket until most of the tannins were out. I then left the leaves in water and just grab a few when I need some more as the scuds consume the ones in the tanks.

IMO you don�t need to feed them leaves. From what I�ve read, you can go to a pet shop and get algae wafers, surfinia flakes or any cheap flake food. They will eat lots of different things. I think Turtlemtn mentioned he is feeding his FA from his pond among other things. BTW RAH has some in aquariums as well. I�m not sure what he is feeding his.

Scuds like the dark so keep that in mind. IMO give them some cover and don�t set their tank in bright sunlight.

P.S. I suspect the goldfish would be very happy that you brought him tasty �playmates!� IMO a simple goldfish bowl and half a dozen scuds would work for school. No aeration required for scuds. If you change maybe 20% of the water every week or so the should be fine.

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