Gammarus (Scuds) in RCS 5g?

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matiller

matiller

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Aug 18, 2011
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Hi all! I have a 5g with anywhere from 10-15+ RCS, 7 Chili Rasboras, and 1 Scarlet Badis. I've been looking for live food cultures to be able to add to the tank as a continual food source, and had ordered about 100 or so copepods. I believe they were decimated their first night in XD. I then stumbled upon Gammarus from a recommendation, and have started doing quite a bit of research. There is a lot of stigma surrounding them when mixing with shrimp & how difficult they are to eradicate once seeded, but I couldn't find any info on whether or not Chili Rasboras or Scarlet Badis would eat them. I also hear they attack shrimp/baby shrimp after molts, and I finally have gotten my RCS to successfully breed! Has anyone experienced mixing them with RCS, Chili's or Scarlet Badis?
 
OrionGirl

OrionGirl

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Aug 14, 2001
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Sheila
We have gammarus in with chili rasboras, hasbrosas and cherry shrimp. I've never seen the chili's go after the scuds, but the scuds are every bit as big as a cherry shrimplet. I've not seen the gammarus go after the fish or the shrimp.

I suspect the badis would eat the young scuds, and peck endlessly at the adults. Honestly, I'd be shocked that the badis isn't predating heavily on newly hatched shrimplets.
 
matiller

matiller

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Aug 18, 2011
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Well, the whole theme of the tank was to hopefully have my RCS population booming so my Scarlet Badis would have a constant food supply, but I just recently got the RCS to successfully breed after nearly a year or so in the tank. So far, about 3-5 babies made it to adulthood from 3 possible mothers.

OrionGirl, have you ever witnessed any predatory behavior from your scuds? Any plant/moss damage at all? I'm looking for an extremely prolific, tiny to micro invert to be able to establish a colony in the tank without endangering my RCS population.
 
OrionGirl

OrionGirl

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Aug 14, 2001
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Sheila
I've not seen any problems with the scuds, but haven't really looked for it. They weren't added deliberately.

In a 5 gallon tank, you're pretty limited. Daphnia, maybe, but they're incredible sensitive to water conditions. With such a limited footprint, most food items will be unlikely to avoid predation long enough to breed--likely why you're seen such limited growth in the shrimp population, tbh.

Setting up a tank for the food will be much better. Nothing but shrimp and plants, scoop out a few dozen shrimplets once a week and add the main tank.
 
B

briscoe

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Jul 5, 2013
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Lansdale, PA
Just so you know, once scuds are introduced to a tank, they're near impossible to get rid of. I had them in my 75 gallon. Broke it down, emptied it out and started over. Scuds manages to get back in. Not sure if it was on plants or anything else. But like i said, they're really hard to eradicate.
 
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