[SpaceLord]

Does anyone here ever keep freshwater clams?

Do you know if you can keep them in gravel or eco-complete?

The website recommend a fine sand however the Petstore just had them in normal gravel.

The person at the fish store just recommended burring them in the substrate.

Do you know if that is good enough?

Thanks

 

[WaterLife]

Haven't kept them, but was interested in them before, but heard they burrow into the substrate and just end up dying and rotting in the tank. Pretty sure they can still burrow in most gravel and eco complete. They are filter feeders from what I hear so they would need good flow with lots of food particles in the water, though form most experiences I hear, they still end up burrowing, mostly never seen, and still end up dying regardless. So I don't know what it is, but most experiences say they are not worth getting.

 

[SpaceLord]

Haven't kept them, but was interested in them before, but heard they burrow into the substrate and just end up dying and rotting in the tank. Pretty sure they can still burrow in most gravel and eco complete. They are filter feeders from what I hear so they would need good flow with lots of food particles in the water, though form most experiences I hear, they still end up burrowing, mostly never seen, and still end up dying regardless. So I don't know what it is, but most experiences say they are not worth getting.

Wow, that really sucks.

I just paid a bunch of money for a 3 pack of them from an aquarium place that had a lot of hard to find plants and fish.

Why do they die, not enough food in the water for them?

Perhaps I would need position them next to the filter intake in order to get a lot of water current by them.

 

[WaterLife]

I am not certain why they die, as I've read, even when provided with good flow and food, they still seem to die.

Maybe the clams dug into gas pockets in their anaerobic substrate?
Maybe they didn't meet the other necessary water parameters to keep the clams healthy?

Can't say for certain as none of that was mentioned.
Though as far as I can see, if all the water parameters and temperature are right, and you have good flow and provide enough food, they should be able to survive. I am sure some people manage to keep them alive in aquariums, so it shouldn't be impossible.

I haven't fully read up on them as to why they need to burrow, but if they don't seem to be able to burrow in your substrate, at least try pouring a sand area in a place of good flow so the clam has somewhere it can burrow (preferably with good flow so they can still filter feed in that area).

 

[AWolf]

Out of curiosity, I looked up some clam hatcheries, and it appears that many of them don't use any substrate at all...? Just looking at pictures. So if that's the case, then I might try them in a tank with no substrate, just for fun and see what happens. Yes, they have major water movage in those tanks. We probably don't supply enough movement in the average hobby tank. Good idea to try them next to an outlet. But, because they filter the water, I wouldn't put them in a tank with a filter. I would put them in a tank with powerheads. Probably die from lack of food in a filtered tank.