Hello, this listing is for a freshwater culture of 50 or more Scuds of mixed size. Everything else you may get is a freebie!!! I grow these in a freshwater algae culture with Hornwort. When I make a culture to sell, I take a fat clump of Hornwort and shake it around in a bowl of water and after collecting a satisfactory amount of critters, do it a few more times. Then I take a fresh clump of Hornwort and a cup or so of water from the culture and that is what I will be sending to you. The more Hornwort I send, is the more critters you get, but the harder it is to see them. This has been a problem in the past. The more I set customers up, was the more complaints I got. Don\'t be a whiner please!Scuds AKA Gammarus shrimp are small freshwater shrimp \"amphipods\" that can grow to about the size of a grain of rice. When scuds mate the male carries the female on his back as they are swimming. The female carries about 50 fertilized eggs in her egg pouch and these are orange in color and show through her semi-transparent body. The young shrimp hatch within the egg pouch and emerge as fully developed young shrimp but MICROSCOPIC in size.Scuds are an excellent source of live food in aquariums and can rapidly colonize the gravel, keeping it clean by eating uneaten food as well as fish wastes. They are omnivorous and will eat almost anything. I use sinking shrimp pellets, rabbit food, frozen vegetables especially corn, rice and dried split peas.Having live prey to chase has been found to make pet fish live longer lives by providing a predator / prey response. These will cause a feeding frenzy when you put them in your aquarium!The variety of scuds I have is extremely resistant to changes in environment. Outdoors they can survive Minnesota winters as long as they have unfrozen water beneath the ice, and indoors had no problems with my 86* F crayfish aquariums. The key is to slowly change the temperature. This variety is also highly tolerant of the chlorine in untreated tap water. They have survived ammonia and nitrite spikes that killed off most of the rest of my aquarium. Live arrival of your order is guaranteed always! Overnight shipment (not handling) is guaranteed with Express shipping.These are super fast breeders and will rapidly colonize your aquarium if carefully introduced. I suggest placing your culture in a 10 gallon aquarium to start, with an inch of gravel in the bottom. 86*F is an optimum growth temperature. I also suggest you keep some other freshwater crustaceans with them like fiddler crabs, crayfish and ghost shrimp, (but no fish). These help break down the food and give a good visual reference on how much to feed while your culture establishes. It\'s very easy to go overboard at first, I know from a rotten culture or 3. After your culture has had a few months to establish don\'t be surprised if it can eat a 1\" cube of beef overnight!Scuds love aquarium sludge and spend most of their time hiding in the gravel or clinging to plants or debris so they aren\'t easily spotted by their predators (or you).I will send a healthy culture of mixed size scuds 50 or more and a small amount of Hornwort for stress reduction during shipping. Live arrival is guaranteed. You will likely find baby Snails of any of these types (Malaysian Trumpet, Ramshorn and pond snails) and possibly also red Grindal worms, Paramecium, Rotifers and Copepods as well. These all come in with the Hornwort. If you order more than 1 culture make sure you choose medium flat rate box for shipping, I can fit up to 5 cultures in a medium flat rate box.Please keep in mind that I will probably ship in far less than the stated up to10 days handling time.Thanks for looking!!!

On Jun-24-12 at 01:36:36 PDT, seller added the following information:

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