# freshwater clam



## sharpie44 (Jul 26, 2009)

I have a small freshwater clam in my tank at the moment but I was wondering if anyone has ever taken a wiled freshwater clam and stuck it in there tank.

We have lots of them in ohio. I was thinking about taking a small one out over the river and plopping it in my tank.

I don't know if this is a dumb idea or not. It would look cool but i have a nice tank set up going at the moment and i don't want to mess up the ecosystem with a nutty experiment.


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## sharpie44 (Jul 26, 2009)

Well I did more resurch and I'm not positive but it looks like these clams eat small fish.

I thought they were filter feeders but apparently not. I'll have to look into it more.


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## Cody (Dec 22, 2007)

Well you shouldn't have a FW clam in a tank, period. Aquariums can not produce food that is small enough and enough in quantities for the clam to survive. And don't ever take anything from the wild to use in your tank.


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## sharpie44 (Jul 26, 2009)

Cody said:


> Well you shouldn't have a FW clam in a tank, period. Aquariums can not produce food that is small enough and enough in quantities for the clam to survive. And don't ever take anything from the wild to use in your tank.



Well I understand the need to not take from the wild but there are a tun of these things. I suppose it's also a health issue for my fish if there are any parasites.

Ya it was a bad idea but I don't know why it's a bad idea to have fresh water clams.

They do just fine in my tank. I had a bamboo shrimp filter feeder in there as well for about a year. I just added some filter feeder food every once in a while and they did fine. The bamboo shrimp did bite the bullet eventually but he had a good run.

I'm no expert so I could be wrong but filter feeders seem to do fine in my tank.


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## Cody (Dec 22, 2007)

To keep FW clams, you need almost 100% green water. There is no man-made food that can support them.

It's like feather dusters. You buy them, and they are huge. Over time, they get smaller and smaller, even though you can't tell, and eventually die. It's the same with clams, except the just get weaker and not as healthy. 

And Bamboo Shrimp are not a close comparison at all. They can take whatever they need from a straight outflow of a filter, and still consume algae/flakes/etc. Clams are not mobile and require completley from the water they are in.


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## Pasfur (Mar 29, 2008)

Cody said:


> To keep FW clams, you need almost 100% green water. There is no man-made food that can support them.
> 
> It's like feather dusters. You buy them, and they are huge. Over time, they get smaller and smaller, even though you can't tell, and eventually die. It's the same with clams, except the just get weaker and not as healthy.
> 
> And Bamboo Shrimp are not a close comparison at all. They can take whatever they need from a straight outflow of a filter, and still consume algae/flakes/etc. Clams are not mobile and require completley from the water they are in.


+1.


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## nomel (Jul 20, 2009)

Hrmm...have four clams in my freshwater tank for about 3 months now...with new growth lines on their shells! Maybe I'm lucky? Although...the lake I've got them from was FAR from green water...very clear actually...maybe a less hungry species?


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## aquakid (Jun 22, 2008)

id go for it but iman idiot dont listen to me


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