# is this correct forum to ask about clams?



## greenfish4 (Nov 7, 2005)

I am not sure if I am posting in the right place (if so  ,if not I am sorry ) I was wondering if anyone has had any good or bad experiences w/ golden clams in a planted aquarium. I just think they look so cool, but I don't know how they behave. Much thanks for any help. (sorry again if I posted in the wrong forum ) I just discovered how much fun emoticons are


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## Dewmazz (Sep 6, 2005)

I've never really heard someone ask about clams here before. Interesting. Well, if they are clams, they would bury themselves in the substrate, which would probably disrupt any kind of plant grown in the substrate, esp. fine foreground plants. I would _think_ that large plants such as swords would be okay, as well as "attachment" plants such as anubias and microsorum, where they're not buried in the substrate. As clams are filter feeders, wouldn't they need more current in the water as well?

ps, I like emoticons too


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## Piscesgirl (Feb 25, 2004)

This would indeed be the correct forum to ask about clams  Unfortunately, I haven't had any experience with them myself  
Hopefully another APC'er has kept them and will give us a little information here


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## greenfish4 (Nov 7, 2005)

I think your right dewmazz i am not for sure on this but I have put way to much work into all this to introduce something less then Ideal . what do you guys think of Malaysian trumpet snails? It seems like MTS would serve the same kind of anti compaction purpose as the clams? thnks much for your input


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## Piscesgirl (Feb 25, 2004)

Well, with Malyasian Trumpet Snails, some love em, and some hate em. I like my snails, and they do turn up the substrate and keep it from compacting. The thing with all snails is that you have to be careful not to overfeed the tank or they multiply very quickly.


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## gnatster (Mar 6, 2004)

The clams are filter feeders and will burrow into an area where they feel comfortable. The major issue with them is it's very hard to tell when they have perished and they can easily foul the water.


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## greenfish4 (Nov 7, 2005)

excellent point gnatsar!! I hadn't thought of that yet. Between disturbing the roots and now this I think that I can definitly live w/out them.


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## Gumby (Aug 1, 2005)

How would filter feeding clams get enough "food" in an aquarium?


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## hardcyder (Jun 8, 2005)

I am no expert on clams, but I do know that a lot of them in thier larval stage will attatch to the gills of fish which isnt great for the fish. I currently have Zebra muscles in a shrimp/snail tank. They seem to be doing great and have attatched to my homemade rock. Look very nice in my opinion. As far as feeding, I have wood and vampire shrimp in the tank. They are filter feeders also, so I crush flake food and sometimes put in a bit of frozen bbs. I would love to try a few clams also, and probably will, if I ever see any.


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## acedia (Dec 23, 2005)

i had filter clams in my tank at onetime, i enjoyed having them and could usually tell if there was something wonky going on with my water by looking at them, if they were closed i would check and yup usually the ph was high. then i used some bulls eye 7.0 ph buffer stuff from walmart and it made them explode#-o . i was able to tell if they were alive by looking at their "mouth" if i could see the little hairs moving in and out he was working and alive.


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## Veneer (Jun 12, 2005)

hardcyder said:


> I am no expert on clams, but I do know that a lot of them in thier larval stage will attatch to the gills of fish which isnt great for the fish. I currently have Zebra muscles in a shrimp/snail tank. They seem to be doing great and have attatched to my homemade rock. Look very nice in my opinion. As far as feeding, I have wood and vampire shrimp in the tank. They are filter feeders also, so I crush flake food and sometimes put in a bit of frozen bbs. I would love to try a few clams also, and probably will, if I ever see any.


_Corbicula flumina_ (the "golden Asian clam"), most commonly available of all FW bivalves, does not produce parasitic glochidia.


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## matthewburk (Sep 27, 2005)

I have 2 clams in my 18 gallon. They don't really disturb anything. They bury themselves in one spot and stay there IME. They have both been in 1 spot fro 3 months, sometimes they will raise up, sometimes bury very deep. BTW you can actually watch them filter water, pretty neat!


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## oceanaqua (Oct 24, 2005)

I sell them on aquabid: http://www.aquabid.com/cgi-bin/auction/auction.cgi?fwinverts&1136717057

I been keeping them for many year now and they are simple to keep. Its extremely easy to tell if they are dead, if their mouth open up completely and you can see their inside they are dead, they keep a close tight or a small opening enough to to take out their filtering material but never completely. Their larvae do not parasite other fish! Their reproduction is hard enough to begin with in an aquarium. The main problem are that they are invertebrate and they can be as sensitive to chemical like copper. If you have a whole lot of them they can keep the water crystal clear. If you want some, I sell them for a special price for $8 shipped for 10 clams or trade some of your clippings. PM me if you want some. Feel free to ask any more question.


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## ragn4rok (Jan 23, 2005)

Here's the pic of Indonesian freshwater clam.. 










They are very easy to keep.


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## oceanaqua (Oct 24, 2005)

The look no different than the one over here.


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## fredyk (Jun 21, 2004)

I got something like that to filter my cloudy water, at the pet store for 4.99! 

What happens when food runs out, or how do you feed them, or what if the water is all clear? and do they get enough to eat? 

Any way, I think they re really cool even though they don't really do much except filter...filter,filter,filter

Mark


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## Piscesgirl (Feb 25, 2004)

Are those clams clown loach proof or do you think clown loaches can get to them?


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## Deni (Jul 6, 2005)

Is it likely that the clams would reproduce in a home aquarium? What are the parameters needed for clam reproduction?


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## fredyk (Jun 21, 2004)

uPDATE ON THE CLAM. Doing fine. sometimes he/she burrows deep and sometimes on surface. 

kind of "bovine", in that it will stay where I put it, more or less. It does occasionally wander and I have to dig it out to check if it has died or is alive.

seems to be doing fine filtering the aquairum water

Mark


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## SolarityBengals (Feb 10, 2006)

Do the clams ever die when they are buried? Thats what I would be most concerned about... I think they look really interesting too.


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## ShortFin (Jan 13, 2006)

I once put a few clams in a 10g tank when my parents bought them at an Asian Market for eating. They did fine in there.


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## PiranhaStein (Feb 10, 2006)

Good idea, i'm going to the grocery store tommorw and picking up a couple.


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## Naja002 (Nov 15, 2005)

> Do the clams ever die when they are buried? Thats what I would be most concerned about... I think they look really interesting too.


They will come to the surface and be completely open when they are dead. There's no need/reason to dig them up to check them--You will know when they are dead. Just takes a little experience.

I purchased ~80 from Oceanaqua probably 6 months ago. Many have died over time, but I still have some left. They seem very sensitive to one or more chemicals that we add as ferts. I don't think its just copper--but I'm not sure. It does seem to help *Some* to dose on the other side of the tank, but not completely....

They don't create the "Foul" that people claim when they die. Maybe in a Nano or something really small, but that's about it. The scavengers-snails, shrimp, fish, etc--will have it eaten before You even realize one died....
HTH


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