mardaver

Anyone know about fresh-water clams?
My son wants to put one in our aquarium. They are available at our LFS, but they don't seem to know much about them. I don't mind having one, depending on their requirements...food, water, fish compatibility, etc.

sirdarksol

Welcome to Fishlore!

Freshwater clams need a very mature tank to survive. Without a lot of little bits of life in the water column, they will starve.

They're cool little guys if you can get them to survive, and they have the neat advantage of pulling nitrogen out of the water. Unfortunately, their fragile nature, and the fact that some fish like pecking at them when the feeding tube is extended, makes them difficult to keep.

mardaver

I guess a tank with 2 Firemouths and several Tiger barbs won't work-out well?
Sounds like a creature I'd like to build a tank around. I'm not sure what you mean by "lots of little bits of life" though?

KrisT

I've got three in my tank for about a week now and so far so good.

mardaver

Any evidence of life? What do they do?

sirdarksol

"Lots of little bits of life" means the algae and bacteria and other microscopic critters that live in our aquaria. These are the things that clams feed on.

The tiger barbs would probably peck at the clams. My gold barbs did so (they also liked removing the eye stalks from snails). Not sure about the firemouths.

I've been thinking about building a tank around clams at some point. I just need the money, time, and space to do it.

mardaver

What do you think you'd put with them? Any idea of their natural habitat? I have fresh-water clams living in the lakes and rivers in the area I live in, however, they look a little different

sirdarksol

I'm not sure about the species that are sold in the aquarium trade. I will probably put them in with small tetras and otos.

KrisT

I got my 30 gal used and when I got it, it had the clams in there. He got them from a local lake. They seem to be doing just fine. I myself think they are a little boring. They do like to dig into the gravel but other than that they don't go anywhere or move around the tank.

Amanda

Some info:
http://aqualandpetsplus.com/Bug,%20Mini-Clam%20.htm