ok...fresh water muscle?

judgemax

judgemax

I once was lost...
Feb 18, 2005
537
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bellefonte PA
Real Name
Julie Probst
ok...fresh water mussle?

ok heres my sitch! my neice the lovely little darlin that she is has brought me a fresh water mussle. i remember reading a post about these awhile back and was wondering if anyone had any info ...i do intend to research ...but was interested in anyone elses opinions as well...every one at home here with little fish knowledge says oh just drop it into one of your tanks! ..ummm....yeah ok... help!please!
 
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Well, I don't know much about them specifically, but muscles are filter feeders, so there shouldn't be any risk to your tank inhabitants as far as getting eaten. ;)

My general POV is that anything that you can add to your tank to increase biological diversity is a good thing. Having some filter feeders should help improve your water quality.

I would follow the same QT procedure that you would normally follow with a fish. Keep it seperate for about a month and observe. The only catch about QTing is that you'll need to find something to feed it. If you have any sinking bits or little food pellets you might try soaking them in water until they fall apart.

Hopefully your research will turn up something better than my wishy-washy post. I've seen some at my lfs and am intrigued.
 
Thing about clams and mussels in the aquarium us that if they die, you may not know and they will seriously foul the water. They need enough food to filter out of the water. I heard some clams slowly starve to death. Some species of freshwater mussels have a larval stage that is free swimming and can attach to fish as a parasite. This is often identified incorrectly as a danger with clams. I think its very species specific though.
 
The first thing you should check is the local laws on harvest and possession of these guys. That is if your niece found it and didn't buy it at a store.

Many species of mussels are protected, and all of them to my knowledge fall under local fish and game laws even if not protected. It is definately worht your while to check the laws so as not to end up in any type of trouble.

You might try liquid fry food for him, but this will require some serious water changing as well. From everything I have heard these guys are really difficult to keep mostly because of the difficulty in feeding them.
Dave
 
I find them fascinating. Same thing with the SW types.

Do you have any pictures?

Btw, veneer got me to thinking. A river tank with mussles would be pretty cool! :cool:
 
Leopardess said:
I find them fascinating. Same thing with the SW types.

Do you have any pictures?

Btw, veneer got me to thinking. A river tank with mussles would be pretty cool! :cool:
Click to expand...

well no pics my scanner needs usb and havent gotten one as of yet . but i have found out that they eat water born parisites and debree like rotting leaves ...so ..i have been fortunatly setting up a tank slowly with live plants and was hoping to turn that into a killie fish tank ...i will be qting him in there and i put a thirty gal hob wisper on it so it should be good with the current as for food that and water temps are my bggest worries ..i am hoping with the strong current that i will not kill all of my plants but enough of them to feed this thing!
i know for sure she caught it at a state park, and she had it in a tupperware bowl, so i am assuming that its life will be better here so i am still dilligently researching, he is quite active opining and closing ..filtering his water ..and yes i came across a website with info on the whole parisite type where they reqiure a host fish for the mussle to be able to breed ..they musscle young will grow on a fish ...since i only have one and i am not sure right now it is in qt and ill continue to research..most sites i find pertain more to eating and cooking them lol ..so thanks for the info everyone and please keep any updated info coming and i will keep you all updated on me and popeye which is what i have decided to name him ..lol
 
ok heres the end to popeyes story ....popeye is a strand of eastern floater...they are not sure what strand and didnt even know that freshwater mussles were located in the area popeye was aquired! so popeye now has a new home with the penn fish and wildlive division of endangered species and has spawned a new interest in the park that he was picked up at! i actually got the correct info on how to care for them and was informed that i could purchase a fishing license and harvest several if i wish to try ...so i might just do that ..it was also interesting to learn that this muscle was a different strain then they had ever noted in this general part of the state..different coloring and markings but was definatly an eastern floater ..it most assumebly got to the park by picking up a host fish ..where they attach themselves to the gills of a fish and when they are in a suitable area will release themselves from the fish and the free float untill finding bottom then attach themselves there....so popeye is now home somewhere and hopefully quite well...and i have now spawned a new interest myself and am hoping to gain a few mussles for a tank my self!
 
That is a neat conclusion:) So, basically, Popeye is famous...at least to the people at the wildlife center. :D Do you think he was using you for your connections? :eek:

What did you do? Call and ask what they thought or did you swing by with him?
 
Leopardess said:
That is a neat conclusion:) So, basically, Popeye is famous...at least to the people at the wildlife center. :D Do you think he was using you for your connections? :eek:

What did you do? Call and ask what they thought or did you swing by with him?
Click to expand...

actually i called :o , i couldnt find much info for freh water mussle and was a little dissapointed! so i called f&g and after being switched to like 400 people ..i finally got a guy whos spcialty it is to deal with .......i cant remember what the study of its called ...the gentleman actually took my email and emailed me to let me know hes doing ok ...and thanked me for calling ..i gues most people call after its dead and dont really care about things like location ect ...so ..although i really would have liked to keep him ..i learned alot and have the ability to "fish "for them if i chose to ...and i was told on here that they might be endangered and didnt want to ruin my hobby by making it illegal...lol si i called and they did offer me a special permit to keep but ..i thought well ...ill learn more before i try to house one
 
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