Opal Asian Freshwater Clam?

[Kentaaa]

Hello all,

As I was in the process of placing a fish order online I ran across an "Opal Asian Freshwater Clam" in the invertebrate section. Does anyone have any experience with this species? I tried to find out more information about this clam on Google, but I could not find ANYTHING (even pictures). Does this species go by any other names? Or are they just not very common in the aquarium trade? They look absolutely gorgeous in the store's stock photo but I would've liked to see more pictures especially since this picture was very small and lower quality. I've never owned a freshwater clam before. Are they easy to care for? Do they require special food, substrate, water parameters, etc.?

If anybody could give me any information at all either on this particular species or freshwater clams in general I would really appreciate it!

I have inserted the stock photo from the website below.
(Like I said, I apologize for the small size and poor quality)

Thanks again!

Kentaaa

 

[Autumnsky]

Clams are a creature which like a mature stable and large tank. They are sensitive to parameter swings and spikes.

Those examples look poor. The shells seem very fractures and that to me would be bad for a clam. They look like the outer coating of the shell may have been tumbled off.

In nature all clams have a coating - charcoal, brown, black on their shell - I don't know the scientific name.

Just see any pics from them in nature and they do not have shells like this. Not that it couldn't be so, but I am 99% skeptical that shell is natural.

I had some clams for awhile one was pretty healthy and one was not and died soon after getting them.

They are filter feeders. But require excellent water parameters. How does one have lots of food particles in the tank but have a clean tank? Very hard, and requires very frequent feedings and frequent pwc too. To have one die can cause an ammonia spike and kill off your critters. Also there are some negative reports for their spawning and clam baby issues, damaging fish as they can lodge in their gills.

I would say any clam would not be for a beginner or an immature tank.

They burrow into the substrate too.

Live clam filtering - notice the slight gap at the left

Here is a pic of a clam 2/3rds from the left at the substrate looks like a spike sticking up in front of the moss ball. He is buried in the substrate filtering vertically.

Here is a pic of the dead clam - notice the gap between the shells.

 

[absolutangel04]

Hello all,

As I was in the process of placing a fish order online I ran across an "Opal Asian Freshwater Clam" in the invertebrate section. Does anyone have any experience with this species? I tried to find out more information about this clam on Google, but I could not find ANYTHING (even pictures). Does this species go by any other names? Or are they just not very common in the aquarium trade? They look absolutely gorgeous in the store's stock photo but I would've liked to see more pictures especially since this picture was very small and lower quality. I've never owned a freshwater clam before. Are they easy to care for? Do they require special food, substrate, water parameters, etc.?

If anybody could give me any information at all either on this particular species or freshwater clams in general I would really appreciate it!

I have inserted the stock photo from the website below.
(Like I said, I apologize for the small size and poor quality)

Thanks again!

Kentaaa

That looks like a fossil. What site is it? I am guessing they gave a random name for variant of an Asian freshwater clam and picked a random stock photo for it.
Autumnsky has more experience with these than me, and I think her advice on them being more advanced and needing a mature tank is spot on. They are pretty finicky and do not always adjust well. Still, a cool little animal. Your call, but I wouldn't order it. If you wanted one, I would try to get one from a source that could at least provide a real species name (in latin) and a decent picture.