Anyone have golden freshwater clams in there tank.

I picked up six mussels from a drawn down lake the other day.

Most of them are dead, partially because they were stuck in drying mud until I rescued them.

Bivalves need lots of filter foods
 
Veneer,

If the muscular 'tounge' is not hanging out, does that mean the bivalve is still alive?
 
Gambusia said:
Veneer,

If the muscular 'tounge' is not hanging out, does that mean the bivalve is still alive?
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If the shell remains tightly sealed, most likely so - the muscular tension necessary to do so really cannot be sustained after death; healthy specimens will, however, occasionally extend their "tongue" whilst moving about.
 
Ok ...... now that I have received all of this input ,which I thank everyone for very much.......is there any benefit to having them in a planted tank.
 
A clam will (a) filter phytoplankton from the water column and (b) add DOM back into the water column.

BTW, the only sure way to monitor a clam’s health is by weighing them. Clams and mussels starve slowly, and depending on water temperature some species can last up to a year without food. You'll need to weigh them to determine if they’re losing tissue mass. And considering the size of fingernail or pea clams you’ll need a fine scale at that.


Tom
 
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A few years back I had several golden clams and was planning to sell them via the internet with my plants. Within a month the tank that housed them turned the most foul odor I have ever experienced. It literally made me vomit. All the clams were dead and their rotting bodies polluted the entire tank. It was the most disgusting thing I have ever experienced. The odor was so strong it stunk up the whole house, and one of my neighbors actually complained about it. It was somewhere between 50 and 100 clams. I have never had anything to do with clams since. I don't even eat them any more!

Now I am no expert on clams, but there must be hundreds of different species, and many that have different characteristics. Not all are filter feeders. Some are burrowers. It is a novelty animal and has no real practical benefit one way or the other for a planted tank, or any freshwater tank in general. Mussels, (Zebra mussels) are illegal in just about the whole country. They are an invasive plague and cause severe damage to the enviorment.
 
Tom.E said:
A clam will (a) filter phytoplankton from the water column and (b) add DOM back into the water column.
BTW, the only sure way to monitor a clam’s health is by weighing them. Clams and mussels starve slowly, and depending on water temperature some species can last up to a year without food. You'll need to weigh them to determine if they’re losing tissue mass. And considering the size of fingernail or pea clams you’ll need a fine scale at that.
Tom
Click to expand...

Whats DOM?
 
Robert H said:
A few years back I had several golden clams and was planning to sell them via the internet with my plants. Within a month the tank that housed them turned the most foul odor I have ever experienced.
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Nothing like dead invert to make you loose your lunch. When I first got started out in large aquaria, I bought a fist-sized apple snail for a novelty pet. Bad mistake... it died about three months after I got it. I reached into the water to retreive the body, but it had already decayed to the point of liquefaction. When I pulled the shell up, the watery remains spilled out into the tank and some of it came out into the air with the shell. I puked right on the spot. Took me almost a month to get the smell out of my apartment. :(
 
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