In reference to my earlier post about scuds eating aquatic plants and emergent plants for springtails, here are the two relevant ecosystems. Both are near a year old. I’ve opened them recently to add things, but they’ve been sealed most of their existence.
The 1 gallon jar (pic 2) hasn’t had a scud problem for the last week, since I experimentally introduced ghost shrimp and they ate the scuds. Oops. That wasn’t the intention, they were just supposed to compete, since the neocaridina couldn’t keep up with the scuds (there is one neocaridina left, but I could never get more than two to survive in the ecosphere at a time, most likely due to lack of surface area from scuds grazing).
The 1/4 gallon (1 liter) in pic 1 still has a large scud population, and they mow down any plant that can’t outgrow their appetite. You can see that the Ludwigia added a week ago has already been shredded, with only a section or two remaining. I’m trying to find a plant that will resist the scuds but rise above the water line. The duckweed was also recently added. It was almost completely annihilated in this jar, and was completely extirpated from the 1 gallon jar due to scud grazing.
The water is green in both jars due to organic material decaying (from leaves and sweet gum pods), with too little plant growth due to scud grazing. Additionally, other plants being added and getting demolished by scuds has not helped.
I really like scuds. They’re neat and a little grazing is good for cycling nutrients, but they’re just too vicious for most plants. Guppy grass and elodea are the only things I can make work, with the elodea slowly getting smaller over time. It has lasted a year, but I don’t know if it can outgrow the scuds indefinitely.
by Aulus-Hirtius
Comments are closed.