wild caught scuds/freshwater shrimps

[Kerry1968]

Hello,
Near to me is a stream where there are many freshwater shrimps, I was wondering if they would be suitable food for my axolotls (as a treat), I have adults and juvies at the moment. I am not sure if they would be safe, thinking of whether they will carry any nasty diseases, or whether the exoskeleton would be too indigestible for my axies?
The stream is quite fast moving and clear, I don't know if that would make any difference to how 'clean' the shrimps would be?
Thank you, Kerry.

 

[eyrops]

Names can be ambiguous. In my experience the name "scud" refers to amphipods, as :



Is this similar to the crustaceans you have in mind?

-Steve Morse

 

[John]

What Kerry's referring to is the Freshwater Shrimp, Gammarus sp., which is common in streams in the British Isles. My primary concern would be that they might be vectors for fish diseases and parasites. Aside from that they should make an excellent food.

 

[Kerry1968]

Thank you for that John, though I'm a bit confused as to whether this is a yes or no?

 

[John]

Thank you for that John, though I'm a bit confused as to whether this is a yes or no?

Personally I'm a bit paranoid, so I wouldn't.

 

[eyrops]

Gammarus is a common genus of amphipods in the US too. The amphipod I drew was a Pontoporeia sp. The freshwater amphipods all seem to be pretty similar in appearance. A low power microscope is needed to key them out to species. If you want to try culturing them, note that they occur in a variety of habitat types, and some species may be easier to culture than others. I've noticed in previous postings that success has varied. They reach high densities in the wild in some places so given the right species and the right culture conditions for that species they might really take off in culture. Their saltwater cousins seem to pop up in almost every marine tank I set up.

-Steve Morse

 

[Kerry1968]

Hello, I'm resurrecting (sp?) this thread as I have a hankering to attempt breeding these shrimps. I have found a source online that describes partly how to keep them, but I wondered if anyone has any experience?

I have read that they need water with good oxygen, ie. not stale water, but I wondered if using an airstone would be OK? I know that with daphnia small bubbles can cause problems by getting caught inside their shells causing them to float and die, anyone know about Gammarus pulex?

 

[Nathan]

I have raised amphipods on a modest scale. I did not use aeration or filtration of any kind, but I don't think microbubbles would cause problems for them as they do for daphnia. My setup was a bare-bottomed tank with about 8" of water to which I added live plants (hornwort and potted spatterdock), lots of dead leaves, and some stones, scraps of eggcrate, and old branches for structure. All this stuff was kept at one end of the tank so I would have a clear area to net from. The tank was unheated and kept in an unheated greenhouse; temps never fell below freezing but were otherwise quite variable. I fed with trimmings from aquarium and house plants, fallen leaves, and stale bread; I also added green water from my turtle tank and active yeast for the daphnia growing with them in the tank. I topped off water as needed but never performed water changes. The tank produced scuds reliably for a year or so before a burst water pipe flooded the tank and washed all my scuds down the drain.

 

[Kerry1968]

Thanks for that Nathan. I've had the shrimps in a 2 foot tank outside for about two weeks now. The water has gone really green, I live in a flat so the tank is on a South-facing balcony, I have tried to shade the tank as much as possible though. I have a small filter in there and have been doing 20% water changes every couple of days.

I have some aquatic plants in there with them and some stones on the bottom. I have fed them some fish flakes and some bloodworms (which they loved). I have seen a lot of dead ones floating around, but I still have live ones too. I'm a bit dubious about syphoning out the waste on the bottom of the tank as I don't want to disturb them too much.

I can't actually see them too well as the water is so green! So do you think it'd be a good idea to add in some daphnia to 'clean up' the green water? Perhaps I can keep them going long enough to breed my axies in the Autumn. What about the water quality? Do you think I need to clean out the debris from the bottom of the tank?

Sorry for all the questions, but there aren't many people around with experience of raising these!

 

[Nathan]

I suggest leaving the mulm and adding daphnia. The daphnia will explode feeding on green water and the bacteria in the mulm, and the scuds will feed on the daphnia. Everyone wins! I think different scud species have different water quality tolerances, but in general they are considered tolerant of low water quality. I have collected them from nasty hypoxic mudholes as well as clean streams. So, I wouldn't worry too much about water quality; occasional water changes should be enough to keep them healthy. On that note, when you perform a water change be sure to strain the old tank water through a fine net before you dump it, or you could lose a lot of juvenile scuds, and daphnia too if you choose to add them.

 

[Kerry1968]

Well, I don't know what went wrong but my Gammarus population died almost overnight!

I checked on them the day before yesterday and they were all fine, today I can't find one live one in the tank. I'm completely baffled. I wonder if it's the heat? I've had to move them indoors to get a more steady temp, but the last few days even the axie tank (with a much higher water volume) has been hovering around 19-20.

I've been feeding them and topping up the water with fresh every couple of days. All I can think it can be is the temperature. I'm so d*mned annoyed!

 

[YellaPieSlinger]

I have been reading through this year old thread to find out about feeding freshwater shrimp to my fish, gar and lungfish especially. Worrying about parasites is the major concern as far as I can tell. My paranoia is similar to John's, but I wonder if they can be treated like feeder fish with a light treatment of methylene blue or some other type of treatment. thanks

 

[Mac Myers]

I think a 30 day quarantine would give you a batch of "safe" shrimp assuming they weren't kept in overcrowded conditions. In my experience some species of Fresh Water shrimp can be hard to culture. :happy:

 

[findi]

Hello,

I've long used freshwater and marine isopods for fishes and herps without incident; makes sense to worry, but I think you're especially safe if collecting the inverts in Japan and feeding them to non-native fishes. Parasites that need 2 hosts (amphipod and fish) are usually fairly specific as to species attacked. Please chck out this article I wrote some time ago for more info...article addresses terrestrial isopds, but comments deal with aquatic species.

Methylene Blue would seem to be the safest treatment if you do wish to try - I'd use 1/4 recommended strength, however,

Great to be a fish keeper in Japan...I was floored by the pet stores in Tokyo, and had some contacts in public aquariums; amazing things being done there,

Good luck and enjoy, Frank