Freshwater Mussel advice

[Spider8ait1994]

Hi all
I have a Freshwater Mussel in my tank (2 actually. One about 7cm across in my 29 Litre and an XL one I’d estimate at 10cm across at least in my 130 Litre).
I know they’re filter feeders that filter through the tanks water for nutrients but I was wondering if there’s any specific care requirements for them to ensure they stay healthy.
Mainly I’m wondering about their shell and whether I need to provide any supplements like calcium to maintain a healthy shell and if so how I would do this?
Should I give its shell a gentle scrub with a soft bristled toothbrush every so often to prevent any slime/algae growth?
Both my tanks that contain a Mussel are kept at 26°C and I believe the tank temps at the store I sourced them from were 20°C so I did acclimate them rather than adding them to the tanks directly.
I’ve had the larger Mussel for about a month now and the smaller Mussel I’ve had for about 4 months now and this smaller one is showing wear on its shell.
The smaller Mussel seems to enjoy half burying itself in the substrate (small river pebbles) whereas my larger Mussel wanders up and down the length of my tank along the back wall where it seems to enjoy the bubble wall. The substrate in this tank is a small aquarium gravel.

 

[Colin_T]

Filter feeders. You can use a sponge to wipe algae off the glass and squeeze it out near the mussels. Turn the filter off for 5 minutes when you do this so the mussels can suck in some of the algae. You can buy liquid invertebrate food for marine tanks and add some of that near the mussels too. Do it 2-3 times a week.

If the GH, KH and pH of your tap water is low, then you can add a Rift Lake water conditioner to increase these and it will add calcium and other minerals to the water, which the mussels can use to build their shells. I used Aquasonic Rift Lake conditioner and it should be available where you are. If you can't find that, just look for another brand of Rift Lake conditioners. It should contain calcium chloride and magnesium chloride and a bunch of other things. Some marine/ pet shops sell calcium additives for marine tanks and you can add some to your tank but it's expensive so I would stay with the rift lake conditioner.

Before you add any minerals to the water, find out what the GH, KH and pH are. Then tell us in numbers and tell us what fish are in the tank. Tetras don't like a lot of minerals in the water so you don't want to add a Rift Lake conditioner to a tetra tank.

The GH, LH & pH can usually be obtained from your water supply company's website or by telephoning them. If they can't help you, take a glass full of tap water to the local pet shop and get them to test it for you. Write the results down (in numbers) when they do the tests. And ask them what the results are in (eg: ppm, dGH, or something else).

Angelfish, discus, most tetras, most barbs, Bettas, gouramis, rasbora, Corydoras and small species of suckermouth catfish all occur in soft water (GH below 150ppm) and a pH below 7.0.

Livebearers (guppies, platies, swordtails, mollies), rainbowfish and goldfish occur in medium hard water with a GH around 200-250ppm and a pH above 7.0.

If you have very hard water (GH above 300ppm) then look at African Rift Lake cichlids, or use distilled or reverse osmosis water to reduce the GH and keep fishes from softer water.

A lot of freshwater mussels found in Australia are found in soft water. If the pH is too low, it will dissolve their shells.

Don't bother brushing them clean unless you want to.