Asian clam Corbicula breeding and reproduction

[Pryfed]

Hello,

I project to launch Corbicula breeding and to try its reproduction in aquarium. While clam maintenance seems quite well documented, I found very few information about its reproduction and how to grow veligers into juvenile and finally, adult clams. Corbicula clams seem to brood the larvae in their gills during the first instars and the veligers are no fish parasites.

Actually, I am asking very practical questions : which conditions are well-suited to allow clam reproduction in aquarium ? Are these conditions adapted for veliger growth ? Would the filter pump be dangerous for free swimming larvae ? How to make sure the nitrite/nitrate level would not become harmful for young and adult clams if we decide not putting a filter ?

Has anyone ever obtain adult freshwater clam from larvae ? Which tips could you provide about it ?

Thank you.

 

[Tifftastic]

I've never reared clams or even thought about trying, but I did a little bit of searching on Google Scholar. I found an old paper from 1981, it was for salt water clams but it had some good advice. Essentially, its hard to induce spawning. They had to add freeze dried gonads to the water and give them a ton of food.

Larvae were left undisturbed for 48 h, by which time the first larval shell (prodissoconch 1) had formed. Food was provided by a green algal bloom. When the first pedivelgers appeared in the cultures, test settlement substrates were placed in the rearing bins. After 2 days, cultures were transferred to a large rectangular fibre-glass tank with sand-filtered sea water dripping in at one end and out through a 25 p nylon sieve at the opposite end. Substrates were placed on the base of the tank under 15 cm water.

So, they left them alone in bare bottomed tanks with no filtration for 48 hours and then they transferred them every two days until the next stage and then they moved them to a tank with substrate. They didn't use any filtration at all, but used a drip system to constantly change the water.

Source:
Spawning induction and rearing of larvae of tridacnid clams (Bivalvia: Tridacnidae)
Author links open overlay panelJ.GwytherJ.L.Munro https://doi.org/10.1016/0044-8486(81)90057-0

Hopefully this helps, or gets you started. But I would suggest from my reading that a filter wouldn't be a good idea in the rearing process.

 

[Pryfed]

Thank you for this answer. For Corbicula, I've read that a slight raise of temperature would promote spawning induction. I also found some videos on You Tube, where they indeed add the gonads of a sacrified specimen in the water to make other individuals eject their veligers, or they induce pH variations for the same aim. I contacted the author of these videos to know more but with no reply since now. I am also concerned about how to grow these veligers into adult clams. I retain this idea of a drip system, simple but clever. This would help controlling the nitrate level. I think in the case of Corbicula, the first 48h they are talking about have no purpose, as the veliger are first brooded in the gills. What do you think about it ?

 

[Tifftastic]

I think unfortunately, I'm just not familiar enough. I think it's kind of a specialty area where you aren't likely to find many of us on here that have had the experience of rearing clams. I would suggest looking in google scholar for someone that has worked with this species in the last ten years. All papers will have an email for the corresponding author, which in my experience, are usually really willing to talk about their work. You may be able to get some advice there.

 

[SantaMonicaHelp]

I've never reared clams either, though I would like to know how your project goes, Pryfed.

-Kamran