Backyard Aquaponics
A place to discuss aquaponics

They are often sold in aquarium stores to be kept in tanks with goldfish or other smaller fish. They are described as a 'community species' thereby they will generally live in harmony with other community species.

Perch, trout and barra I imagine will eat them if they can fit them in their mouths.

I got my 50 from Steve's batch, some in aquarium and about 8 per IBC.
No DOA, no floaters. All doing well as far as I can see. perhaps some aren't open, too hard to see, down the bottom of an ibc, but definitely no floaters.

Where can one acquire fresh water mussels in the South West of Western Australia.
I just collect them from the shallow water, that is in about one to two feet of water along the river edge.
At first, walking along a river bank one might not recognise a mussel, but if one takes a little time the first one will be found. After that one starts to see them every where. Fresh water mussels live in active rivers. Without specifying a particular river it is enough to say that fresh water mussels are plentiful along our forshores.

And someone in Kalgoorlie would love to buy some

Uncle Yarra they were open and deceased, as mentioned about 47 all up out of 240, this was the fault of aussie Post and their express air, Neil at aquablue is giving me a credit for 60 so cheers to Neil, he didn't have to do that,
I have Mussels in my aquarium Jaymie with goldies and a Blue Marron, I have no filter running only an air stone and all is fine, you can see one in the bottom pic, but have six all up.
The top pic is of mussels when they arrived.
Have also read that mussel will filter about 40 litres of water a day, but not consume all the crap if you have a big algae problem but over time this will disappear, have put about 15 in my missuses little bathtub system which is a tad (a lot) green but can see a difference after a week.
Taste test this weekend so will post results

so what if I put them in the monster with the jades and silvers?
jades up to 1.3kg

These things have to be tried Jaymie, but can't see a problem, these mussels are about 40-50mm in size and have tough shells, mine are in with 10 inch marron and they seem ok.

Yea thought i orded some [speed reading again steve doesent mater]

heh!!
Yeah I was lucky I got in on it F&F... only got in at the last minute! Steve had quite forgotten all about combined orders :-)

Just an update, either I wasn't looking properly the other night, or I have lost 1 mussel in the meantime. Interesting little things inside, definitely don't resemble their salt water cousins too much. more like a pippie.

what you mean Kuda, that you think you lost a mussel? they do bury up to 3/4, six in small aquarium one has buried so you can just see it if you know where it is

I don't think the river ones will live in a tank, they won't breed anyhow as far as I have read, they need moving water, where as these from NSW are still water livers, ut maybe trev or C1 can try the Margs ones, a few in WA after them, will see if my first lot have bread up in 6 months or so, but if in WA we need to air freight with a courier (not f***ing Australia Post), we have an account with Star Track and can get a quote to your address if you like

Nope I mean floating shell open, dead looking. I was using the 'sensitive' lost as in dead. Dunno why, it's just a mussel.

This is AP: we like our critters and hate to have them die without it being a purposeful harvest. With mussels, hiding as they do, "lost" may be a bit confusing. How about

"It's passed on! This mussel is no more! It has ceased to be! It's expired and gone to meet its maker! This is a late mussel! Bereft of life, it rests in peace! Its metabolical processes are of interest only to historians! It's shuffled off this mortal coil! It's run down the curtain and joined the choir invisible! This.... is an EX-MUSSEL!"

There! Anyone confused? *grin*

(Something in me wishes we were talking about a constricting snake, just for a certain twist.....but this is AP, not PP)

RIP Russel the Mussel, I actually have deceased some my self at about 100 deg until shell opens 2 without chilli sauce and 3 with, they are chewy but not bad, I actually prefer them that way, but nicer with the sauce and a few

Stop killing them, and breed some already

But they're so yummy