Fw clams??

[[email protected]]

Hi folks,

I found this auction on ebay, id#4384580276.

It's for fw clams.

I know very little about these critters but they surely would look nice
in my tank. :)

So is it worth having some or not?

[Daniel Morrow]

> wrote in message
oups.com...
> Hi folks,
>
> I found this auction on ebay, id#4384580276.
>
> It's for fw clams.
>
> I know very little about these critters but they surely would look nice
> in my tank. :)
>
> So is it worth having some or not?
>
I think dfreas has some in one or more of his tanks and he said they're
doing fine I think. You might have to feed them phytoplanktin or something
like that (all clams might be filter feeders) though to keep them happy and
not starving. HTH Later!

[Billy]

> wrote in message
oups.com...
> Hi folks,
>
> I found this auction on ebay, id#4384580276.
>
> It's for fw clams.
>
> I know very little about these critters but they surely would look
> nice
> in my tank. :)
>
> So is it worth having some or not?

A friend has 2 in a 40 gallon with sand sub. He only see's them if he
roots around in the sand to see if they're still alive.

[CanadianCray]

Clams are great at filtering all the particulate out of the water. you have
to be careful which ones you get. Some clams when they reproduce are
parasites in the fish. Also when they die they can release all the stuff
they have filtered out of your water back in killing your fish. I have seen
a couple of smaller tanks killed this way. Larger tanks prob. won't have
that problem.


> wrote in message
oups.com...
> Hi folks,
>
> I found this auction on ebay, id#4384580276.
>
> It's for fw clams.
>
> I know very little about these critters but they surely would look nice
> in my tank. :)
>
> So is it worth having some or not?
>

[Mean_Chlorine]

Thusly "CanadianCray" > Spake Unto All:

>Clams are great at filtering all the particulate out of the water.

The thing with Anodonta-type freshwater clams is that they filter a
narrow size-range of particles. Basically they'll filter anything
that's about the size of their food, which is exclusively
phytoplankton, and reject everything else.

In the vast majority of cases freshwater clams starve to death in
aquaria over the course of several months, as there isn't enough
phytoplankton in there for them to eat. The few cases I know where
people have had long term (as in "kept alive for more than a year",
but remember we're talking animals with a long natural lifespan here)
success with them have all been in large, planted, mature, tanks,
where there apparently may be enough plankton for them.

I suppose one could also target-feed them with live, frozen or perhaps
even freeze-dried phytoplankton, but I've never tried.

Basically I don't really recommend freshwater clams for indoor tanks.

[[email protected]]

Thanks for the replies, I guess I will stay away from it then.