Freshwater Clams

[Paradise_Gourami]

I am going to get some fresh water clams soon and was wondering if any body has any recommendations or information about them pictures of them are here http/cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewI...bayphotohosting

 

[jayjay]

If they breed they will leave parasites on your fish which will be the baby calms so if I was you I wouldn't get them. Also if they die they pollute the water very badly.

 

[Gankutsuou]

hmmmm... better hope they don't get big either. I've heard plenty of stories about fish getting stuck and dying in things like these.

 

[Paradise_Gourami]

is their anything else that anybody can tell me? has anyone ever had them before?

 

[The-Wolf]

the pic on the advert looks to me like Swan Mussel Anodonta cygnea which are a coldwater molusc. they will die in tropical water and lead to an ammonia spike. also as stated above
they carry parasites that are a danger to fish.

My advise; save you money and buy some apple snails

 

[voo]

I bought a clam once when i got my first apple snails. Personally i will never buy one again - they're pretty boring. They dont move around the tank, just sit in the same place and open very slightly, occasionally.

Then to feed them, you're meant to use a turkey baster to drop the food right in front of them

When mine eventually died, as mean as it sounds, i was quite happy. All it did was take space in the tank and bore me.

Apple snails are a lot more exciting. Watching them travel to the top of the tank then just let go and crash land on the bottom

 

[Covert]

won't apple snails breed too much and cause problems? and do they acctually eat algae well?

 

[Dude]

you could allways take the eggs out

or keep just one

i dont recommend clams

i also though about it once cuz it works like a filter...

but its not worth it
in my opinion

 

[diburning]

when the clams spawn, they will release clamlets that will attach to the gills of your fish and your fish will probably die because the clamlets are intended to latch onto big fish that can withstand a couple thousan parasites.

Fluke medicine is the way to go but then it would kill the clam.

The clams that I see in the ebay auction are the malaysian kind.

If you want good quality stuff and low priced aquarium livestock and plants (including clams), go to my friend amanda's site:

www.sierraaquarium.com

 

[voo]

my apple snails are doing a real good job of keeping the tanks algae free. Apple snails breed sexually, so if you just have one there's not much chance it'll lay eggs i dunno if they store sperm though...
I currently have 4 in my tank, and havent had any eggs for the last 6 months and they're about an inch big now, so fully grown i'd say.

Another thing is they lay their eggs above water - in the hood of the tank - so it's real easy to remove them if you dont want them.

 

[Paradise_Gourami]

Hey thanx for all the info you guys have given so far. after reading your comment i did a little fallow up research and found that all but one species of fresh water clams have a parasitic larval stage in which the larvae latch on to the gills of a fish. Unlike regular parasites these do this in order to travel far upstream, where they could not otherwise go due to strong currents. also i found that clams are filter feeders that consume bio-matter such as microbes, bacteria, waste, and so on which helps to maintain lower ammonia levels.

and about snails... yeah, um personally i cant stand snails because they reproduce way to fast, and even if you do look for eggs around the tank you can never find them all (i know this from personal experience). also many snails are know to reproduce asexually and many can store sperm. so no snails for me

 

[wodesorel]

The apple snails that are sold as "mystery snails" (Pomacea Briggesii) reproduce sexually. They can store sperm for something like 9 months, but the great thing about them is they lay bright pink eggs above the water in VERY large clutches, so they're easy to spot. If the eggs fall in the water, the babies die, so there's no worry of missing clutches and having them hatch. I had played with the idea of getting a clam in the begining, and ended up falling in love with snails instead.

 

[Paradise_Gourami]

The apple snails that are sold as "mystery snails" (Pomacea Briggesii) reproduce sexually. They can store sperm for something like 9 months, but the great thing about them is they lay bright pink eggs above the water in VERY large clutches, so they're easy to spot. If the eggs fall in the water, the babies die, so there's no worry of missing clutches and having them hatch. I had played with the idea of getting a clam in the begining, and ended up falling in love with snails instead.

yeah about the pink eggs, i had an outbreak of snails from plants i bought from petsmart and they only sell "gold mystery snails" and "black mystery snails", and the eggs around my tank were definatly clear and in a heavily decorated or planted tank they're especially hard to find, so then i got a few clown loaches and that fixed my problem. i want clams not so much for algae but for amonia and to try something new.

 

[wodesorel]

Those were either pond or marisa snails - they lay their eggs underwater. Pet stores don't usually sell them, they're just unwanted guests on plants.