Clams in the Tank?

[NoчnoyGostь]

Hi. Does anybody keep those Golden Clams, or what ever they are called, in their tank? If yes, could you please share your experiences with them. Thanks.

[Hrafnkel]

I'd like to know, too. I've always wondered about keeping clams.

[blitzen25bm]

its usually not recommended because they can die unnoticed. once it starts to decay the water will get bad pretty quickly.

[NoчnoyGostь]

I actually have a couple in my tanks, bought them sometime ago with plants, I'm asking only because no one seems to be keeping them and because I'm not sure that they are getting enough to eat in my tank... At first their filter-mouths were open, but now about two month later they are all closed...

As for them dying unnoticed, I'm not worried about that, since I have ghost shrimps in the same tank and they are quite efficient at eating anything that is dead. I once lost an angelfish and wasn't able to find it anywhere, but after about a week I found its skeleton, it was perfectly clean without a single spot of decaying matter. (I'm sure shrimps didn't kill it)
Thanks.

[knashash]

I have experiences with these and I wouldnt reccomend them for the reason mentioned above. They like to bury themselves deep in the substrate where they will die unnoticed...and your ghost shrimp wont be able to get down there. Furthermore because of the fact that they like to bury themselves, you really dont get to see them........so you really get no benefit from clams in the aqaurium and run the risk of them decaying in your substrate.

[TKOS]

They are filter feeders and there are different varieties. Feeding them can be tricky.

[Emg]

I have some in a few of my tanks......they seem to be doing fine...the bettas get one once in awhile though, but no problems with them.

[NoчnoyGostь]

I can only judge by the clams in my tank, but in my case, the clams never actually bury themselves, their filter-mouths are always sticking above the substrate...

As for them decaying, when they die they open up, so if they are not buried you can see dead ones right away. And even if they die below the substate MTS snails will eat them, or at least loosen up the substrate around them, so it can open up an then the ghost shrimps will eat them. In addition clams usually don't move around, they only go up or down (again from my experience only), so if you know where you initially put them, you can uproot them when doing tank maintenance and check if they are dead. So I'm not worried about them dying, what I am worried about is whether or not they are doing well... :huh:

What I'm also wondering about is, since they filter feeders, do they consume parasites and bacteria harmful to fish??? I've read that they eat infusoria and other unicelled organisms, but it never actually specified what organisms. If they indeed do consume parasites, I don't care whether I see them or not, but whether they are doing some positive service to the tank... Thanks for all replies.

[fishfreek4life]

I DO recommend them, as they are nice to have. They are filter feeders, and in a community tank or medium aggressive tank, they filter out particles. No more than 1 per 10-15 gallons, but they are cool to have chilling at the bottom.
They dont need any special care, as long as nothing in the tank will munch them. They wont reproduce easily, and as long as they are in a tank with some fish that get fed regularly, and dont get picked on, they shouldnt die.

I have many of them, too many to count off the top of my head. I have lost one, and that one was a product of a ticked off Dempsey. They are hard to kill under normal circumstances as far as I have found, and they dont bother a thing. Its fun to watch them crawl across the tank to move, and kids that come over to see my tanks are always looking for open ones.

They are good to have around if you take simple care of them ( which is little to no care at all), and make your tank unique.

[Emg]

I picked mine up at a local lake. We were there with the kids and all of a sudden I noticed all these little clams in the sand...so we gathered a few up and put them in cups with water and brought them home.

I was a little concerned about parasites....I put them in a small tank with one betta and just waited a bit to see if anything would crop up. When nothing did after awhile I put some in a few other tanks. They are pretty cool little critters. Mine also don't bury themselves too deeply and you can see them sitting there syphoning away. Sometimes they move about, which is cool.

I've had two of them die on me, I don't know if the betta nabbed them or what, didn't see what happened...but they were eaten pretty quickly by the fish so no problems there.

[telecubby]

if you have loaches they scare them into staying in one spot more or less.they dont like alot of movement around them .if you have corse gravel they can't burry themselves. if they are ontop of the substrate you can see if they are alive . mine seem to get up & chug food once a mounth with alot of movement. the only time I loose them is when I vaccuum the gravel but am carful to unburry them.their a nice brown that matches the tank,except for that whitish area they get on their shoulder on either side. all algae covered @ 1st my algae eaters have scrubbed them clean. I don't think they liked all this attention @ 1st so have always been shy about comming out & moveing around.If they smell food nearby they stick out their white tounges realy far when they eat & move it down into the substrate & I saw once bucking an inch one day ,maybe swallowing or ? doinit with a rock? I dont know it was so strange.Otherwise they are open slightly as suggested above by someone else FILTERFEEDING If you flick them on thier side they will heel.

[Emg]

Here's some thumbnail pics of my clams....pretty cute little guys/gals..."whatever"....lol...

Click on them for a larger pic....

http://i3.photobucket.com/albums/y82/morroman/emgfishpics/th_DCP_5951.jpg (http://i3.photobucket.com/albums/y82/morroman/emgfishpics/DCP_5951.jpg) http://i3.photobucket.com/albums/y82/morroman/emgfishpics/th_DCP_5957.jpg (http://i3.photobucket.com/albums/y82/morroman/emgfishpics/DCP_5957.jpg)

[telecubby]

oh wow those are realy different than the ones I hve , cool! send me 2 someday & ile send you back a couple of thease.I'm trying to get zebra muscles but I went back & couldn't find them & it's getting colder.I'm thinking sure everyone hates them but have you seen how they an clog a pipe? it's incredible.So what if you had a muscle filter tube ,lol don't they filter the water.Can anyone else see them being useful in this way.I wanted to monitor a couple over the winter to see what they're about. They are new to this area. I realy like your yellowish clams.