Freshwater Clams? Help Please!

[PrincessKiara]

Hello all! Sadly something in my dad's network is blocking out the chat and it will now never load for me! :'( So I am forced to resort to this method of communication instead. I want you all to know that I miss you guys over there! (Teacher, WB, EJE, I'm talkin' to you!)
Anyway, tomorrow I'll be buying a pipefish and two mystery snails; my veterinarian uncle has assured me that pipefish do indeed eat flake food if trained from fryhood (LOL) and although I just got some tall spiral shelled snails that look like MTS (hahaha my third species so far; I have some small apples and 2 colors of ramshorn, but I do so love inverts!), I want some more snails LOL. And my friend who's going to sell me the pipefish also told me she has a freshwater clam to sell.
I know feeding's rather complicated, but could I feed the clam on infusoria? Is it wise to get one? I don't mind not seeing it much, as long as it comes out sometimes. Would it uproot my plants (thinking of getting a leafy type ground cover plant)?
Thanks guys! This is an awesome opportunity, I want the clam, but I definitely don't want it to starve! Will the "dirt" in my aquarium be enough for it? I've heard snails help microorganisms to grow, and I definitely have more than I can handle of those even with my angels and betta eating the babies! Also the sump bottom is full of fluffy brown stuff which I can't really seem to remove...Would an infusoria supplement like for baby fish (made with plantains or crumpled lettuce) feed them OK? What about brine shrimp? I can now buy live brine shrimp on occasion...
Will the clam eat the leftover flakes, or crushed shrimp/snail/turtle/frog food? I always make sure some sinks anyway for my Cory cats, and they look fat, sleek and healthy lol! Also assuming it buries itself, how often should I uproot it to see if it's still alive? And, if it does die, is there any sort of scavenger that could dig it out and eat it before it becomes a problem?
Thanks in advance, you all! I will be back on chat ASAP!
~PK.
 
EDIT: Woah, just noticed the "aquatranslation" tooltip says MTS means multiple tank syndrome lol. I meant Malaysian trumpet snails here! At least that's my new snails' shell shape. They buried themselves the moment I brought them home.

 

[techen]

That's a lot of questions and it's hard to make out with the coloured texted and stuff.

What size of tank do you have?

 

[Baccus]

As Techen said we really need to know the size of your tank to be able to give good advice.
 
The pipe fish may take flake foods but it will probably need more than one small feeding a day. I would also look at getting some daphnia and Cyclops cultures happening to help with feeding the pipe fish, or at least invest in fresh frozen ones and thaw them out prior to feeding to the fish.
 
Personally I would avoid the clam, how long has your friend had the clam? because it may already be in the process of starving to death, they are specialist feeders. Also a clam will disturb any plants with its roaming about through the substrate. And once a clam dies in the water/substrate depending on the tank size and the clams size it is going to foul the water very quickly

 

[PrincessKiara]

Not getting the clam anymore, the WWM crew told me why it's not a good idea...But I did get the pipefish. I think it's either a Doryichthys deokhatoides or a Doryichthys martensii, based on Tropical Fish Finders' description of both. My friend told me it eats flake (her father owns a fish store so that's why I buy my fish from her). I am SO IN LOVE with these fish! Mine can't be over 2.5 inches long yet, and that would be seriously pushing it.
I just got it today, but he doesn't seem to eat flake (or I haven't seen him), and I can't have him starve, yet I don't trust live food here in Mexico. All I'd risk is brine shrimp since it's saltwater and any parasites it might carry will likely die in freshwater, and also it's cheap and easy to get. Would it be a good idea to house some pregnant guppies with my pipefish...and wait for the angels to eat the mother once they grow big enough? LOL I can buy small feeder fish but again don't want to risk the parasites. I cannot get any other aquarium in which to breed the guppies.
If I can only figure out either how to make him eat flake and supplement with brine shrimp or else get enough of a good live food culture going, I'm gonna want more of these! The ONLY other fish I love this much are the Discus and Angelfish.
My tank is 240L with a 100L sump. I have hundreds of small ramshorn and apple snails, some Malaysian trumpet snails (can't find them though since they burrowed into the sand), 2 mystery snails, 2 young angelfish (both male I'm told), 3 paleatus cory cats and a pair of orange swordtails. No trouble so far, from any of the; the angels ignore everybody else and even don't eat like I'm told they usually do, so more than enough flake gets down to the Cories. I'm getting some hatchetfish later.
I have a row of hornwort in the back of the tank and a mass floating at the top. I'm gonna tie the strands to a long branch of driftwood, in a sort of curtain. I also have several propagating corkscrew Vals, a tiny bit of some light green ground cover plant, some Elodea and a huge Amazon sword, but this is nowhere near enough plants for me and so I'm going to get a bunch of Cryptocorynes, dwarf hair grass and pygmy chain swords to round out the view. I'd also like to place a large piece of driftwood in the middle, next to my lava rock arch, make interesting cliffs with rocks and cover it all over with ferns to make a 'lost jungle river' effect.

 

[Baccus]

I don't know if any cherry shrimp are available in Mexico, but they would be perfect to allow to breed up and then start a colony in the pipefishes tank, the pipefish will either be able to eat the adult shrimp, but more likely it will feast on the newborn shrimplets.
 
A way to get Cyclops and the like that is relatively parasite free is to collect the dried mud from any temporary water holes. Just try not to collect the dried mud/ dust from any where that is possibly heavily polluted. Put the dried mud back into a tub of dechlorinated water and any eggs laid by the deceased parents should hatch.
 
Another option would be to leave a tub of water outside and allow mosquitos to lay their eggs in it, then collect the wrigglers for the pipefish to eat.
 
Depending on your pipefishes mouth size then even newborn guppy fry might be too big for it (and I would not usually advise keeping guppies just for the purpose of providing food), instead a small species of livebearer might be a better option, BUT it would need to be a LAST resort not the normal practice.