# Freshwater Clams!!



## PonyMan (Jan 13, 2012)

Anyone keeping freshwater clams in their tanks? Any real benefits from keeping them?

Steve


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## GwenInNM (Feb 2, 2011)

PonyMan said:


> Anyone keeping freshwater clams in their tanks? Any real benefits from keeping them?
> 
> Steve



I've only seen freshwater clams at my LFS, and they are listed as "not for sale" 

Gwen


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## Stoke88 (Nov 14, 2011)

I've also wondered if they have any benefit. My LFS has one in a tank also listed not for sale but he tells me he can order me some if I'd like. I think it might be kind of neat to have one. Still haven't gotten one though.


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## djrodan (Sep 22, 2011)

I considered getting clams too. I did research and from what I've read they are apparently hard to keep alive. They do such a good job at filtering the water that most keepers lose them unless they supplement with a filter feeder food, which I haven't researched because I decided to not get them at that point. 

Also unless you have sand substrate I can imagine they'd be pretty unhappy since they burrow (from what I read). Theyre natural environment is probably even finer, like mud. 
This is from what I've read, so hopefully someone can prove me wrong!
_Posted via Mobile Device_


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## Maxillius (Sep 27, 2011)

from what I read fresh water clams reproduce by realsing some kind of parasite in the water that then attach it self to the gills of your fish and grow out of your fishes blood and when mature drops at the bottom of the tank
still I read that its very unlikely for you to reproduce them in aquaria
just reading it I wouldent take a chance hehe some kinds of clam will kill the fish they are growing on!


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## thekoimaiden (Oct 19, 2011)

Maxillius said:


> from what I read fresh water clams reproduce by realsing some kind of parasite in the water that then attach it self to the gills of your fish and grow out of your fishes blood and when mature drops at the bottom of the tank
> still I read that its very unlikely for you to reproduce them in aquaria
> just reading it I wouldent take a chance hehe some kinds of clam will kill the fish they are growing on!


Actually this isn't all freshwater clams. You are specifically talking about mussels from the families Unionidae and Margaritiferidae that reproduce using a glochidia. In fact some mussels are so specific the glochidia will only attach to one species of fish. Here and here have more info on North American freshwater mussels. Many of these animals are federally and state endangered and illegal to have in home aquaria. 











What is commonly seen is the invasive Asian clam Corbicula. They do not reproduce with a glochidia and will not harm fish species. The male releases sperm which the female intakes. The eggs are fertilized internally, and the female holds them in her gills until the embryos develop into miniature clams. She then expels them. I have Corbicula in my aquaria yet I have never seen them reproduce. I added them a few years ago to control a reoccurring suspended algae outbreak. And if you're wondering how I know about this, I briefly studied them in an aquatic entomology course I took in college.


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## nicolaas (Jan 15, 2012)

PonyMan said:


> Anyone keeping freshwater clams in their tanks? Any real benefits from keeping them?
> 
> Steve


I had one in a pond, for about 4 months,then our dogs eat him I got him from a dam were I found him on land, so I took him home.


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## djrodan (Sep 22, 2011)

thekoimaiden said:


> I briefly studied them in an aquatic entomology course I took in college.


Wow that's awesome! Are these little white beads on the gills? I work at a fish market (gasp!) and I've seen little white beads on the gills of some striped bass, or are these a different parasite?


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## thekoimaiden (Oct 19, 2011)

djrodan said:


> Wow that's awesome! Are these little white beads on the gills? I work at a fish market (gasp!) and I've seen little white beads on the gills of some striped bass, or are these a different parasite?


Do you know where the stripers are harvested? It's unlikely that what you saw was glochidia cysts because stripers travel between fresh and salt water. These mussels are strictly freshwater. So if the glochidia were to drop off in salt water it would certainly die. Over millennium these mussels have developed a very tight relationship with specific fish. Stripers escaped this relationship by being anadromous.


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## djrodan (Sep 22, 2011)

thekoimaiden said:


> Do you know where the stripers are harvested? It's unlikely that what you saw was glochidia cysts because stripers travel between fresh and salt water. These mussels are strictly freshwater. So if the glochidia were to drop off in salt water it would certainly die. Over millennium these mussels have developed a very tight relationship with specific fish. Stripers escaped this relationship by being anadromous.



Yea, unlikely then. We get stripers from all over the east coast, I think around that time it was delaware. But I noticed these white egg looking bits in the gills of one. Must have been a parasite or something.


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## ladayen (Jun 21, 2011)

Sand and dirt substrate tanks can accumulate toxious gases below the surface. Having a species such as a clam to dig through the substrate means that these toxins are released regularly in small amounts. Without them it's possible for them to build up in large amounts then force it's way out, probably killing anything unlucky enough to be in it's path to the surface, and maybe even have severe health effects to you if you happen to be over the tank possibly doing a vacuum or something. This is what happens in the Bermuda Triangle.


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## thekoimaiden (Oct 19, 2011)

djrodan said:


> Yea, unlikely then. We get stripers from all over the east coast, I think around that time it was delaware. But I noticed these white egg looking bits in the gills of one. Must have been a parasite or something.


My guess would be another parasite. It shouldn't pose a problem to the meat, tho. Gill parasites are pretty common in the wild. In fact all kinds of diseases are common. 

And while clams do dig in the substrate, MTS are a better aerator than clams as they move around much more. Clams are rather sedentary and only move if their location becomes too crowded.


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## geoff421 (Feb 23, 2012)

I have golden clams in my 200 gal planted community tank. I started with about two dozen in a temperate climate 100 gal tank as that's where the specimens were collected along with other local fish and plant species. Actually water temp in the wild was 36 to 75 degrees. I simulated this by having the tank in the garage. Substrate was black sand from seachem. I used a low tech bio filter and barley filter in the sump to simulate a pond environment. Only food introduced into the tank was for the fish the clams lived off the algae in the water. the water was not green but a kind of tea color as you would see in the wild. they did so well in this set up for two year that the started to reproduce. I recently upgraded this tank to a 200 gal with a fx5 and its now a tropical community tank with temp at 78.5. when i was moving everything I found over 100 clams in the substrate. I transferred everyone into the new tank but have lost about a dozen of the smaller babies due to the lack of algae in this setup. I had to supplement with ground up algae wafers and that solved the problem. I also would like to add that they did surface before they died and with dark substrate you can see you populations bivalves clearly and keep tabs on them. I also keep them in a calmer section of the aquarium just out of the main current so i can dust the group with the ground wafers but they still get circulated water. 

I personally like them and they add diversity to the tank. I would say the lower-tech you go the easier they are to keep as long as you keep you ammonia and nitrite under control with good biofilter and steady water changes. I did 20 percent every two weeks. And for god sake no meds, especially those with copper! hope this helped


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