Freshwater Clams!

[kribensis12]

Anyone who has any info about clams or experince or thoeris(Spelled completely wrong) or advice are welcome. Please help I am seriously interested and google is not helping one bit.

 

[jayjay]

As it would be just too hard to have a look on the first page of this section FW clams

 

[kribensis12]

I saw that but I want different info. Like other ways to feed them. Temp, water parameters, breeding and so forth.

 

[adambrum]

There was another article on these somewhere on here and the outcome was a no, something to do with a parasite that lives within the clams.

 

[IceMan569]

i had 4 clams they lived for about a year -year and half

just dug in my gavel never really seen to much


are cool thou

 

[kribensis12]

Thanks! But how do they live if they are filter feeders? There cannot be that much decaying food in the gravel to sustain life.

 

[IceMan569]

i didn't fed them anything

my guess on it was they eat what was in the rocks

left over food -- etc

i had ii good 2 inch of rock over my bottom then and undergravel filter under that

mine lived i while

 

[dizzied]

I believe they have a siphon that they use to filter-feed while under the substrate. The tank probably needs some good flow though, as they can't find food quite as easily as more mobile filter-feeders like shrimp.

The "parasite" thing is nothing to worry about.

 

[afishdude]

be VERY carful when putting clams in your tank. they NEED a substrate of eather sand or plant substrate as they dig into the sand to live. they also will eat any fish that lays infront of it. ive seen one eat a whole swordtails it was a male and ate the tail and everything. they will grab onto the tailfins of plecos that rest on top or next to them. hell ive even caught them on minnows fishing before. a 2" minnow to be exact.

 

[andywg]

The parasitic problem is not about it living within the clam, but rather that if the clams reproduce, a number of FW clams go through a stage of parasitically living on fish. This makes them less than ideal inhabitants for a fish tank.

 

[kribensis12]

thanks. Anyone else have any information.

 

[Eelzor]

Freshwater Clams, more commonly known as Freshwater Mussels where I come from, are coldwater. They will tolorate warmer temperatures but it's not their natural habitat so they will not do as well. In terms of food they are fairly self-sufficient and will filter feed and/or scavenge for small bits around the tank.

 

[dizzied]

Freshwater clams are not at all parasitic, which is why I mentioned it's nothing to worry about. Mussels on the other hand, will release parasitic larvae.

 

[nmonks]

You need to identify your clam before making decisions on keeping one. As mentioned in that other post, clams can live for over a hundred years (freshwater mussels are among the longest-lived animals known). The difference between clams and mussels by the way is a bit meaningless and not used by scientists. They are all bivalve molluscs.

Freshwater mussels, the ones traded in the US and UK anyway, are species of Unio and Anodonta. These are know variously as "swan mussels", "painter's mussels", and the like. They are vitually impossible to keep alive in tropical fish tanks. They need cool, well-oxygenated water containing lots of green algae. Sometimes they do well in ponds, but that's about it. They cannot "scavenge" in any way whatsoever. They can only pump water across the gills and extract small animals and algae thus. Freshwater mussels do produce parasitic larvae (known as glochidia) that attach to the gill filaments of cyprinid fishes such as minnows and carp. Freshwater mussels are easy to recognise: they are large, have very oval shells, and a greenish-brown tint.

Freshwater clams are not widely traded at all. The one species you are likely to find is Corbicula fluminea. It is small, about the size and shape of a large grape. Also known as the "Asian clam". Tolerates warm water well, and also slightly brackish water. Not really suitable for coldwater aquaria. It is another strictly filter-feeding organism, and cannot scavenge. Asian clams do not produce parasitic larvae.

Reports that either can survive by "scavenging" in an aquarium are erroneous; at best these molluscs will simply die extremely slowly, starving to death over months or years. If you want to keep these animals in an aquarium, you must feed them. Consult with any marine aquarium handbook on tips for feeding filter-feeding animals; there are numerous techniques and options for suitable foods.

There are some deposit-feeding bivalves that use their siphons to suck up tiny organisms such as ostracods from the substrate. Examples include the tellin, Macoma, and the nutclam, Nucula. These are all marine, as far as I know, and none of the freshwater species are deposit feeders.

I don't know what to make of afishdude's report of a clam eating a fish. Biologically, it's impossible. They do not have jaws. The mouth is close to the gills, and rows of cilia transport tiny particles of food along a stream of mucous into the mouth. There is no way whatsoever a clam could catch a fish, cut off some fin, and move the fin into the mouth and eat it. Clams do close their shells when threatened, but not with sufficient force that a fish could be killed or damaged.

In short: for 99.9% of aquarists, buying a clam for a freshwater aquarium amounts of buying an animal that will dead within a few months. Since they don't do much beyond burrowing into the sand, you may as well just buy some clam or oyster shells and stick them in the aquarium where you want. Look much the same and far cheaper.

Cheers,

Neale

 

[kribensis12]

Thanks, so does that mean that there is no possible way to keep freshwater clams?