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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