freshwater clams?

[oldshell4481]

i was thinking of getting some freshwater clams for my tank. can you use the ones you find at lakes in the summer up her in maine?

 

[kukerdan]

yea i dont see why not

 

[Fruitbat]

oldshell4481.....

This question comes up every so often and I'll put in my two cents worth. While freshwater clams in theory would be great in an aquarium - being filter feeders they would help to keep your water clean - in actual practice they don't generally do well. Firstly, it is very difficult to feed them because they fairly quickly remove most of the food from the water and then they slowly starve to death. Secondly, it is very difficult to tell a live clam from a dead clam because they usually have their shells closed. A dead clam will foul your water VERY quickly and unless removed will probably lead to the death of everything else in the tank. Thirdly, most of the native clams in your area are cold-water species (yes...I know the water warms up in the summer) and won't do well if kept at tropical temperatures.

Hope this helps

-Joe

 

[Guest]

If you want some, and don't mind spending money, try aquabid.com They have some up for auction right now that are supposedly tropical freshwater clams. I thought about getting some but since they might actually do a good job of cleaning, I don't want them to take my plants nutrition away.

-Stewie

 

[oldshell4481]

the starving thing probably would happen. the clams open up when feeding and they have an intanke hole that has little hairlike things that come out of them,(just like blue mussels) and i think if i really wanted to feed them i might have to put flake food infront of his intake lol i guess ill not go with them.

 

[SerLunchbox]

The only time i have had FW clams, i would feed them 1 hour after the light has gone out. You can tell if the clam is alive or not one simple way, haul it out of the substrate and then watch to see if it starts to dig back into the gravel. If it is burried into the gravel/substrate pretty good, you can also tell by the filter being stuck out of the substrate.

Other then that, yes they are fairly difficult to keep as they can, as forementioned, starve to death very easily.

Best of luck with them if you do deide to get them

 

[Veneer]

I must note - Corbicula fluminea, the "Gold/Asian Clam" of aquarium trade infamy occurs as an exotic across a broad swath of United States watersheds.

This article features a sample aquarium setup for C. fluminea.

Look to this map of U.S. distribution by county; this web page has some enlightening general information about this species.