Ric, I have had them five weeks now, they are in a cooler, probably two hundred or so. Most of the females have moulted and are paired up again for breeding. Still no babies to be seen. I feed them trout pellets, and have been putting pond weeds in as well. Apparently they like very hard water and require calcium to re-grow their shells. Any ideas on a source for calcium to add? They also need to cling and do not like smooth surfaces, it seems they get stressed out and will not breed, go figure. I did put a few hundred coupled pairs in the pond to see if they will take. I have read a lot about trout diet and didn't realize how important scuds were. They are responsible for the red pigment in the skin, and the pink color of the meat. Trout pellets contain an artificial additive to replecate this color. If I had the chance again, I would stock scuds first and allow time for them to properly establish.
