Coquina clams

[Jessie J.]

Hi everyone. I might be getting some coquina clams soon. I already know that they are going to be a challenge to care for, because they can't get enough food in a reef tank, but I was thinking about keeping them in a shallow tank with some oysters or sltwtr. snails. I'm going to hand-feed them a mix of ground and moistened paste-style fish foods (with meat in them) and use the oysters to help keep the water clear. What do you think?

 

[Colin_T]

Don't bother getting them. They bury themselves in the sand and you never know if they are alive or dead.

Clams and oysters are filter feeders and will remove fine particles of food and plankton from the water, but they still need a filter to remove ammonia. You can use live rock as a filter and grow Caulerpa and Halimeda in the tank.

 

[NickAu]

Don't bother getting them. They bury themselves in the sand and you never know if they are alive or dead.

The smell will tell you if they are dead.

 

[Colin_T]

The smell will tell you if they are dead.

Not always. They can die and their shells remain closed and they remain buried in the sand. The ammonia levels go up and you stir the gravel up and a black rotten clam pops up and then the smell hits you.