# Catching scuds.....who posted that contraption here?



## hedge_fund (Jan 1, 2006)

I have a few scuds in my shrimp tank that I'm looking to catch but I don't feel like chasing them with a net since I have tons of baby shrimp all over the place. Not only that but these things jump in between my Akadama gravel so I don't want to disturb anything which might cause an ammonia spike.

Not too long ago someone posted a contraption for catching snails that was a turkey baster with a long tube on it. Does anybody remember? If so, where can I buy it as it might be exactly what I am looking for in terms of catching these scuds. Also, these scuds are blue like blue pearl shrimp which is a bit odd.

Trying to set traps for the scuds is not really feasible since I'd probably be catching baby shrimp as well....I don't want to stress them out or anything.

Here is a pic of the scud that I found crawling around today. They are fast little boogers.


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## mordalphus (Jun 23, 2010)

You sure they're scuds and not seed shrimp?

scuds aren't what I'd call quick, nor do they jump around


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## acitydweller (Dec 28, 2011)

does it look like this?


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## mordalphus (Jun 23, 2010)

leave it to you to post a dirty picture of scuds. hah


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## GeToChKn (Apr 15, 2011)

I notice scuds go crazy when I spray Eros. lol.


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## hedge_fund (Jan 1, 2006)

acitydweller said:


> does it look like this?


Yup, looks exactly like that but smaller version.....they have a hint of blue as well.




GeToChKn said:


> I notice scuds go crazy when I spray Eros. lol.


LOL...they are probably breeding like crazy in your tank.




mordalphus said:


> You sure they're scuds and not seed shrimp?
> 
> scuds aren't what I'd call quick, nor do they jump around


Yeah, I'm fairly certain they are scuds.


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## Wulfyn (Mar 20, 2012)

Was wondering what scuds were. Those are diporeia, basically I call them tiny shrimp, they're an arthropod and my fish hunt for them all the time. You could try setting something in your tank for them to hide in or on as I always find them under drift wood or in fresh water mussel shells on the lakeshore.

Forgot to add they have a habit of clinging to what ever they're hiding in or on when you remove that object .


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## hedge_fund (Jan 1, 2006)

Someone has to remember that turkey baster thread that was posted not too long ago. Everyone thought it was a joke but I think it would be useful for scuds. 

?


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## acitydweller (Dec 28, 2011)

there was a trap used for another type of shrimp.

even if you captured some shrimplets, empty the contents into a separate container and net the shrimp back....










Here's your bluish friend


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## wetworks (Jul 22, 2011)

I remember what you are talking about- the OP had a youtube video of the commercial. Lemme see if I can find the link...

Here it is: 
http://www.plantedtank.net/forums/shrimp-other-invertebrates/165617-really-no-i-mean-really.html


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## hedge_fund (Jan 1, 2006)

acitydweller said:


> there was a trap used for another type of shrimp.
> 
> even if you captured some shrimplets, empty the contents into a separate container and net the shrimp back....
> 
> ...


That would work but I have about 5 of these suckers and could probably catch them in a few minutes since I see them all the time.


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## hedge_fund (Jan 1, 2006)

wetworks said:


> I remember what you are talking about- the OP had a youtube video of the commercial. Lemme see if I can find the link...
> 
> Here it is:
> http://www.plantedtank.net/forums/shrimp-other-invertebrates/165617-really-no-i-mean-really.html


YES YES YES!! Thank you. 

Buying that right now. I could probably make my own but it's only a few bucks. Time = money. ;-)


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## hedge_fund (Jan 1, 2006)

14 bucks with shipping. Great deal. 

I'll post back with results once it arrives.


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## jasonpatterson (Apr 15, 2011)

Wulfyn said:


> Was wondering what scuds were. Those are diporeia, basically I call them tiny shrimp, they're an arthropod and my fish hunt for them all the time. You could try setting something in your tank for them to hide in or on as I always find them under drift wood or in fresh water mussel shells on the lakeshore.
> 
> Forgot to add they have a habit of clinging to what ever they're hiding in or on when you remove that object .


Scuds are actually a similar genus of amphipods, Gammarus, if you care.  Same order, different family.


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## acitydweller (Dec 28, 2011)

Been reading, ppl actually breed these suckers to feed their fish.

However if you read further down the threads, ppl then go on to say well only the babies are successfully eaten, the adults tend to out run the fish and they ultimately establish themselves into these community tanks and these people then go on to ask how to get rid of them. 

its funny how the vicious cycle plays out over forum threads. LOL


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## hedge_fund (Jan 1, 2006)

acitydweller said:


> Been reading, ppl actually breed these suckers to feed their fish.
> 
> However if you read further down the threads, ppl then go on to say well only the babies are successfully eaten, the adults tend to out run the fish and they ultimately establish themselves into these community tanks and these people then go on to ask how to get rid of them.
> 
> its funny how the vicious cycle plays out over forum threads. LOL


My scuds are extremely fast unless you sneak up on them.


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## dhavoc (May 4, 2006)

just buy a turkey baster at walmart. you dont need that tube extension. i keep a couple around tanks that i dont want scuds in to suck up when i see em. just use a fine net and shoot the sucked up water into it, keep repeating till your done and empty the scuds or feed fish. i feed my darios and white cheek gobies all i can get, they love them. if you see a few, chances are there are tons more hidden in the akadama. they like to burrow and also hide in your filter. another way to catch more at one time is put a small bunch of moss (its their favorite plant to eat) in a fine mesh net and leave overnight. take out and rinse the next day. youll probably get a few shrimps as well, but way more scuds, just net the shrimp and dump back in the tank.


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## Lludu (Mar 4, 2012)

You could always go for the sexy side of things instead of the baster lol

gUSH Catch Pen


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## diwu13 (Sep 20, 2011)

Lludu said:


> You could always go for the sexy side of things instead of the baster lol
> 
> gUSH Catch Pen


This won't work for scuds. They won't fit in the opening as baby scuds are approximately the same size as baby shrimp.


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## hedge_fund (Jan 1, 2006)

So "The Snail Sucker" arrived today and I tried it out right away. I still had my work clothes on but I was in the tank looking for scuds. To my surprise, I could not find any so I started to practice on snails. I gotta say, this thing is pretty cool and will suck up smaller and medium snails (large ones won't fit). Two problems that I can see already: 1. You can't fold this thing so I'll have to store it under the couch. 2. You can only get like 2 snails and then you have to release the water and start over. It does suck the snails with ease and works just like it should..pulls them right off of walls with a good amount of force. I'll get to my snails on Sunday when it's water change day....by the time I catch 50 snails I won't have to siphon off any more water. I'm a huge proponent of not sticking your hands in your tank hence why I am always a sucker for these types of tools (just like my 24 inch tweezers).

I'll keep it out next to the tank and wait until I see a scud. I can't wait to catch one. haha


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## diwu13 (Sep 20, 2011)

Lol glad the expensive turkey baster is working haha


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## hedge_fund (Jan 1, 2006)

diwu13 said:


> Lol glad the expensive turkey baster is working haha


This is much better quality than the turkey basters I've had in the past.... ;-)


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## acitydweller (Dec 28, 2011)

an alternative is to use a long airline tube and one's mouth. The longer the tube, the more volume of suction... 

...Just dont get carried away else you'll be gagging and wondering why you did this in the first place


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## hedge_fund (Jan 1, 2006)

yeah this was only like 15 bucks with shipping and it does the job in seconds. Sometimes it just isn't worth tinkering around since time is money. ;-)


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## acitydweller (Dec 28, 2011)

yeah, and i wouldn't want to accidentally swallow a scud either.


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## hedge_fund (Jan 1, 2006)

acitydweller said:


> yeah, and i wouldn't want to accidentally swallow a scud either.


Hahaha. I never put the hose to my mouth...ever. I fill the hose with water and just let it run. I'd probably puke if I swallowed some aquarium water.


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## acitydweller (Dec 28, 2011)

IF, big if, IF you ever did, would you post a photo for us 

Auto setting would be fine


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## youjettisonme (Dec 24, 2010)

I have had scuds in my tanks for a long time now. I could catch 300 with a turkey baster, and 10 more would still appear the next day. Worse still, my brand new 90p also has scuds now as I spotted them for the first time last night. They are the first inhabitant of my tank. I through a dwarf puffer in there, but there is no way he will catch them all as they hide well in the Akadama. I think my next attempt will be to load up on crazy high CO2, excel, and copper. I'll go that route for a week and see what happens. May also lower my PH to about 5.5.


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## acitydweller (Dec 28, 2011)

i wouldnt mess with the copper as any accumulation would certainly pose toxic for any future inhabitants. excel and co2 are reasonable as excel lasts 24 hours and co2 naturally leaves the water or by aeration.

be mindful of ph swings if you are using co2 to lower ph for longer term.


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## jingleberry (Mar 1, 2012)

I used to use a similar contraption for snails, all I did was stick a regular clear straw into the tip of the turkey baster. It was a snug fit and did the job it was meant for. If the straw doesn't fit you can try to make the hole bigger by trimming the tip.


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## youjettisonme (Dec 24, 2010)

acitydweller said:


> i wouldnt mess with the copper as any accumulation would certainly pose toxic for any future inhabitants. excel and co2 are reasonable as excel lasts 24 hours and co2 naturally leaves the water or by aeration.
> 
> be mindful of ph swings if you are using co2 to lower ph for longer term.


The copper isn't a problem. I can just toss coprasorb in my pre-filter once the scuds are gone and before the introduction of inverts.

Sent from my PC36100 using Tapatalk 2


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## dhavoc (May 4, 2006)

lowering the ph to 5.5 wont do anything, though they will stop breeding. i have several tanks where the ph stays that low and the scuds already in the tank were still there a year later. they stopped breeding but were still happy as clams, and got huge as well. i have found that once they show up in your tank its too late, removing/trapping only controls their population somewhat. you cant get trap them out as they hide in the substrate and filters just fine, so youll never get them all. the only way to rid the tank is tear it completely down and let it all dry out completely before reassembly, or you can freeze smaller items.


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## acitydweller (Dec 28, 2011)

I have now seen two in one of my tanks. Oddly one trapped himself in my sump filter and has since lived there for two weeks... Likely living off the mulm while the other freely prances around the front of the tank with a smirk on his face waving his freedom in my face...


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## hedge_fund (Jan 1, 2006)

I've been using this turkey baster contraption to take out uneaten food, capture any random scuds that I see and taking out snails. Works great.


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## hedge_fund (Jan 1, 2006)

I finally was able to kill off most of my scud colony since I no longer see them. I caught about 10 in total over the last few days. I am sure there are more in there but for me it's "out of sight - out of mind". My turkey baster contraption is sitting behind my tank so if I ever see another one I'll just scoop it out. Once I catch these things I just pour the water into a little dish and I kill the scud with tweezers. I then just drop the little dead scud back into the tank and my shrimp go nuts fighting for it.


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## youjettisonme (Dec 24, 2010)

Ladies and gentlemen, the bane of my existence:


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## diwu13 (Sep 20, 2011)

Aw that scud looks pretty cute in that picture youjettisonme. Normally they look gross haha.


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## rainbuilder (Sep 21, 2011)

Or instead of killing them you could sell them to someone who wants them... *cough* me *cough* I don't get what the big deal about them is. They look like great live food for fish.


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## youjettisonme (Dec 24, 2010)

diwu13 said:


> Aw that scud looks pretty cute in that picture youjettisonme. Normally they look gross haha.


You can just call me Jetty! Yes, I agree. He is _kinda _cute I guess. Mostly because he's getting tossed around by the shrimp at feeding time.


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## youjettisonme (Dec 24, 2010)

rainbuilder said:


> Or instead of killing them you could sell them to someone who wants them... *cough* me *cough*


I do actually sell them, and have sold them to other buyers before. They are $12 for ~20 shipped priority. If you have fish in your tank, they are heaven sent. If you have a shrimp only tank, lord help you.


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## diwu13 (Sep 20, 2011)

youjettisonme said:


> You can just call me Jetty! Yes, I agree. He is _kinda _cute I guess. Mostly because he's getting tossed around by the shrimp at feeding time.


I guess from that angle it looks like a baby shrimp haha. Can't see the weird humped body.

Are those aura blues btw !!


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## youjettisonme (Dec 24, 2010)

diwu13 said:


> I guess from that angle it looks like a baby shrimp haha. Can't see the weird humped body.
> 
> Are those aura blues btw !!


Nope. Those are my blue pearls!


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## diwu13 (Sep 20, 2011)

youjettisonme said:


> Nope. Those are my blue pearls!


Wow that's a great camera then haha. So you have a lot of the little buggers in there?


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## hedge_fund (Jan 1, 2006)

rainbuilder said:


> Or instead of killing them you could sell them to someone who wants them... *cough* me *cough* I don't get what the big deal about them is. They look like great live food for fish.


I'm sure they are cool if you have fish but they annoy me in since I have no predators. The only predator in my tank is ME. :icon_cool


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## youjettisonme (Dec 24, 2010)

diwu13 said:


> Wow that's a great camera then haha. So you have a lot of the little buggers in there?


Yeah, I have plenty. I have tried the turkey baster method. I can pick 20 of them off in a sitting. They mostly hide in the moss. To get them to all come out and play? I have to weight down a slice of zucchini with a plant weight. I can nab 50 at a time, easy, and they will crowd that slice within an hour. It is light years beyond the turkey baster approach. When you snatch them, all the shrimp jump off. Only about 5% of the scuds jump, if that. 



hedge_fund said:


> I'm sure they are cool if you have fish but they annoy me in since I have no predators. The only predator in my tank is ME. :icon_cool


Same here. My issues are very apparent. They have *LOTS *of places to hide. That's a canopy of mini pellia.


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## Bananariot (Feb 28, 2012)

My scuds are neon green, they hang out with my neon green shrimp until I scoop them up and feed them to my betta 

For some reason I heard that the population will boom but in that tank which used to be shrimp only, I only saw one or two over the course of 3 months. Now its got crays and fish.


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## Kai808 (Jul 19, 2011)

My Scuds usually come out when it's dark. I thought I got rid of most of them but one night I turned on the lights and all the rocks were covered with them. I give up


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## hedge_fund (Jan 1, 2006)

I saw two of them mating I think...they were stuck together. I sucked them up with the turkey baster contraption and threw them in a beer pong cup with some moss. We'll see what happens over the next few days.


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## nguymi (Jan 18, 2012)

Sorry to hijack the thread, is this a scud? It's the best picture I could take with my phone :/


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## hedge_fund (Jan 1, 2006)

nguymi said:


> Sorry to hijack the thread, is this a scud? It's the best picture I could take with my phone :/


Hard to tell but it kind of looks like it. What kind of substrate is that so I can get a gauge of the size comparison?


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## nguymi (Jan 18, 2012)

Eco complete shrimp only tank. They are so ugly , they remind me of that humpback from 300.


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## hedge_fund (Jan 1, 2006)

nguymi said:


> Eco complete shrimp only tank. They are so ugly , they remind me of that humpback from 300.


yeah it's probably scuds.

On a side note, scuds are somewhat hard to keep alive once you take them out of the shrimp tank (well, at least for me). 

So for the fast 2 weeks every time I caught one of these suckers I'd throw it in a glass pitcher on my window sill. Some live and some dont. The water is straight out of my tap so it's not distilled like the one in my tank. We'll see what happens in the next few weeks whether they will adjust to the tap water. This is by far the strangest hobby that I have (shrimp keeping)...you go from killing scuds, to catching, and then you start to raise them. haha


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## diwu13 (Sep 20, 2011)

Is that the scud on the bottom? Bright yellow and roundish? Or are they much smaller than whatever that is?


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## hedge_fund (Jan 1, 2006)

diwu13 said:


> Is that the scud on the bottom? Bright yellow and roundish? Or are they much smaller than whatever that is?


Nope, they are much smaller. The yellow thing is just something that flew in from the tree outside (flower bulb I think, it's the crap that is all over our cars now in the north east). haha


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## acitydweller (Dec 28, 2011)

two things...

found a scud that was stuck in my overflow in my nano tank. its been living there for several weeks since my last WC. Its very white, likely due to the lack of light back there, probably feasting on the detris.

just yesterday i found two scuds in my new 12 gallon tank and managed to catch one using a triangular ebi net. the netting itself is both black and shallow so as soon as it backed into a corner and darted into my net, i pulled it up and out... i dont think ill be as lucky with the second scud...


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## pinoyghost2 (Feb 13, 2012)

scuds eat dead and rotting plant matter, so essentially they keep your plants nice and clean and healthy, however once you put any kind of shrimp food in the tank that has plant matter in it like algae wafers, or shrimp souffle, they are all over it and push the shrimps out of the way to get it. They breed like crazy too, and you end up transferring them on the plants/moss without knowing it from one tank to another if you move your moss around like I do.

I did the water bottle thing with the planaria and that worked good, but the scuds are bigger and so the holes would be too big and baby shrimps would get inside the bottle too.


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## ADA (Dec 31, 2010)

pinoyghost2 said:


> scuds eat dead and rotting plant matter, so essentially they keep your plants nice and clean and healthy, however once you put any kind of shrimp food in the tank that has plant matter in it like algae wafers, or shrimp souffle, they are all over it and push the shrimps out of the way to get it. They breed like crazy too, and you end up transferring them on the plants/moss without knowing it from one tank to another if you move your moss around like I do.
> 
> I did the water bottle thing with the planaria and that worked good, but the scuds are bigger and so the holes would be too big and baby shrimps would get inside the bottle too.


omg, I hate these little bastards so so SO much.. please, if anyone comes up with a sure way to 100% eradicate them without harming shrimp, please let me know.

I have a really nice colony of high grade CRS, which would be VERY hard to remove from the tank, but I'm even considering catching every single shrimp (I have at least 100, ranging from baby to adult).. desperate..  The other thing I WISH I could get rid of are fresh water limpets. These little pests are possibly even more annoying than scuds. They get on the leaves of my very tiny delicate plants. 

fyi, any of you who think scuds are "harmless", they DO feed on many plant species including most of your prized mosses. They tore the roots to bit on one of my favorite plants, so when they were done with it, the plant just kind od broke off and floated to the top.


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## acitydweller (Dec 28, 2011)

ADA said:


> omg, I hate these little bastards so so SO much.. please, if anyone comes up with a sure way to 100% eradicate them without harming shrimp, please let me know.


I have successfully netted three scuds using a black triangular shrimp net. Black is key as it allows you to get fairly close. The tank is a 12g so I had more room to maneuver. The tank houses super tigers and yellow neos. Not sure how they came to be but I did receive the tank fully established.

Try netting. There was no need to remove my shrimp or dislodge any plans. Just needed patience and persistence. If you lose either one, that net quickly becomes a bull in a china shop... Not pretty....


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## ADA (Dec 31, 2010)

acitydweller said:


> I have successfully netted three scuds using a black triangular shrimp net. Black is key as it allows you to get fairly close. The tank is a 12g so I had more room to maneuver. The tank houses super tigers and yellow neos. Not sure how they came to be but I did receive the tank fully established.
> 
> Try netting. There was no need to remove my shrimp or dislodge any plans. Just needed patience and persistence. If you lose either one, that net quickly becomes a bull in a china shop... Not pretty....


Hi, thanks for the response.. I appreciate your time. However, this method while possible useful for controlling the population, I would say it would be completely ineffective is ERADICATING them.. I've spent at least an hour every single day finding and catching as many as I can, they will always be plentiful after a few days not catching them


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## acitydweller (Dec 28, 2011)

ADA said:


> Hi, thanks for the response.. I appreciate your time. However, this method while possible useful for controlling the population, I would say it would be completely ineffective is ERADICATING them.. I've spent at least an hour every single day finding and catching as many as I can, they will always be plentiful after a few days not catching them


I find that if I overfeed, their numbers grow exponentially so I've learned to curb my feeding habits and cut down on the excess left.a new team of highly trained expert feeders by way of red ramshorn snails were added to cope with the excess at feeds. Btw if you aren't already using them, feeding dishes have also helped me better locate scuds as they would come out to the feeding areas for food. I net most of them in the same location which has proved less stressful for the shrimp, and myself.

This has worked for me since I catch the few that I see, but if you have a colony of hundreds already, this exercise would only help with numbers control. You may have to go the extra mile to uproot and remove the tanks cape to physically remove all that you see. Fairly intrusive method to say the least, especially when shrimp live there... They would best be isolated to a breeder box if this were the route to take. I'm not a fan of chemicals and would always try to physically remove them. Maybe try the turkey Baister that hedge uses would make this easier...


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