Engineering freshwater clams / mussels as water clarifier

Artie

I've eaten fresh water muscles a few times,very popular in taiwan,sold in most super markets.Not as tasty as the salt water cousins but not bad at all!

sparhawk817

I've got an Asian market near me, if they've got live freshwater mussels in the seafood deli, how illegal would it be to keep some in a tank?

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sparhawk817

I mean, is it against the law to keep lobsters from the store as "pets"?

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sparhawk817

Nevermind about the clams, I found some on accident today, poking around a creek by my house!

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cathode

Update:

My clams have been in the tank for close to two weeks now and it's hard to say whether the water quality is really improving. It definitely didn't get any worse. I have a feeling that the 15 small Asiatic clams I got are simply not able to significantly process the ~600 gallons of water in my system.

They are interesting to look at though. When I check the tank each day, most of them are in the same spot they were the day before. I have a couple restless clams that like to move around. They leave little furrows in the sand behind them. Most buried themselves deeply, but one or two of them have only buried one end of their shell and stick out. You can see them pumping water if you watch closely.

nickjam

Glad I found this topic. I just bought some for myself. Might have to order two batches since my system is about 500 gallons. I want that crystal clear water too! :-)

joblow

cathode wrote:

Update:

My clams have been in the tank for close to two weeks now and it's hard to say whether the water quality is really improving. It definitely didn't get any worse. I have a feeling that the 15 small Asiatic clams I got are simply not able to significantly process the ~600 gallons of water in my system.

They are interesting to look at though. When I check the tank each day, most of them are in the same spot they were the day before. I have a couple restless clams that like to move around. They leave little furrows in the sand behind them. Most buried themselves deeply, but one or two of them have only buried one end of their shell and stick out. You can see them pumping water if you watch closely.

15 will be more than enough to clean 600 gallons but because you've got sand in your tank it will take them a bit longer to clean things up than it would in a tank without sand.

The fact that they are burrowing down into into the sand and pumping water means they're cleaning, don't over feed your fish and the Mussels will do their job in time and keep your tank nice and clean.

They'll need to clean up all the rubbish down in the sand before you'll notice a big difference in water clarity.

nonamethefish

I would try to get ahold of fingernail clams for a sump. They are live-bearing so will be able to breed. They could be used as fish feed.

eldwin

Bodgy wrote:

cathode wrote:

One other question: would shells of live mussels or clams work to buffer pH the same way that a bag of shell grit does?

What I've noticed in fish tanks is that low pH will dissolve their shells and it's not a good thing for the mussels.
You'd want your water well buffered if you want to use them I think.

Not a problem. Their shells will slowly dissolve and that calcium is basic and so will buffer the pH of the water from getting lower. Overall, your clams/mussels will be fine

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Engineering freshwater clams / mussels as water clarifier

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