Clams - Inspired by Paul B

[Hitch08]

I was reading Reef Central last night and saw Paul B's post about what he feeds his fish. Decided to take advantage of being near the water and went clamming. Ended up with 37 clams.



I don't have a clam knife and could only find an oyster knife. Unfortunately, the edge of the oyster knife was too fat to push into the side of the clam. Ended up using a meat tenderizer to break open the clam.



Here's the bowl partially full.



Ended up with five bags like this:





Found a few of these snails while I was out there:



Since I wasn't sure what they were, I put them back.

Now I just need to figure out what fish I want to keep in the tank - preferably some that like clams...

 

[whosurcaddie]

Everything will eat the clams. It doesn't get much more fresh than that. I like it!:thumbsup:

 

[whosurcaddie]

Oh and those snails are whelks, I would definitely not add those. They are predatory snails.

 

[CStrickland]

For next time, any paring knife works fine for clams, it's not like oysters where you want a dull knife. You set the clam in your palm with the hinge against your thumb muscle, work a thin sharp blade into the gap and then wrap your four fingers over it. When you squeeze a fist it pushes the knife in to slice the muscle. Once you yank the top off you can freeze them on the half shell (I think Paul just opens them a little and the shoves a toothpick in maybe).
It's a lot easier than it sounds and you'll save more of the juices. There's vids on YouTube.

I haven't met a fish that turns down clams! My LPS like a squirt of the juice from a turkey baster too! Nice work

 

[Hitch08]

Thanks all!

Somehow we don't even have a paring knife here. Went from regular (dull) dinner knives to a few steak knifes to some knives in a butcher block. I didn't think to save more of the juices. I didn't save much. Oh well, I have a lot to learn.

Thanks for the ID on the snail too!

 

[CStrickland]

I been trying to go easier on the juice lately, I'm down to a couple times a week. I read a bunch of threads where folks were using coral food and had algae probs, so I figure you can have too much of a good thing.

I noticed a funny thing... Some of my fish are picky about which parts they like. The chalk bass prefers the meat, and my wrasse goes after the guts. I guess there's predigested plankton in there or something. Feeding whole food is fun

 

[platypusklr]

Organic fish food!

 

[Hitch08]

I been trying to go easier on the juice lately, I'm down to a couple times a week. I read a bunch of threads where folks were using coral food and had algae probs, so I figure you can have too much of a good thing.

I noticed a funny thing... Some of my fish are picky about which parts they like. The chalk bass prefers the meat, and my wrasse goes after the guts. I guess there's predigested plankton in there or something. Feeding whole food is fun

How do you cut up the clams? Paul B said to cut them thin. I ended up kind of mincing them. I figure my first few fish will be pretty small.

 

[hotelbravo]

He freezes them and literally shaves off thin sheets of clam.
In a side note I woulda personally added a whelk or two into your sump I have had a whelk in my sump for a long time now and its pretty cool.

 

[CStrickland]

They're a lot easier to cut when frozen. I leave them in the bottom shell and lay them on a cookie sheet with towels so they don't flop over. Once they're frozen I put them in a Tupperware and use a sharp knife to shave them to order for each feeding. My fish are small so the shavings are easy to eat.

I put some in my blender food too that I portion out, so it's not every feeding that I'm shaving them, maybe once a day.

 

[m0nkie]

you feed the fish enough with fresh clams, they will eat it out of half shell. just toss in the half shell and pick out the empty shell later

 

[laga77]

Throw a dozen clams or oysters in a food processor and put the resulting mush into mini ice cube tray. The end product is cubes the same size as the ones Mysis come and can be stored in a baggie. Thaw and feed.

 

[ps2cho]

Where do you guys get the best fresh fish food from? I went to my local grocery store and they don't sell anything like this.

I'd love to get some oysters/lobster eggs/octopus/clams etc and mix everything up and make my own fresh fish food. Not sure where to get this crap!

 

[CStrickland]

Your grocer doesn't have a fish counter?
Try Asian markets, or big stores like bjs or Costco. You can buy stuff frozen too, but check the label for preservatives. I don't buy eggs for that reason, but sometimes I find them in a fish and I always use them then.

 

[Paul B]

Unread 08/08/2015, 08:40 PM #3
whosurcaddie
Registered Member

whosurcaddie's Avatar


Join Date: May 2006
Posts: 1,913 Oh and those snails are whelks, I would definitely not add those. They are predatory snails.

They are actually Mud Snails. Very common and in some places they are so prevalent, you can't see the mud, just snails. I have a load of them in my reef, they are safe but will eat anything that is dead including algae. I have had them in my reef for decades.
My fish eat clams and worms every day of their lives. That is all you need, nothing else unless you have tangs.

 

[Hitch08]

Paul - Thanks! Those snails were found in a large inlet to/from the ocean, in Southern Delaware. The bottom is all mud. Are they OK in an aragonite bottom? If so, maybe I'll add some to my tank.

 

[Paul B]

They are fine, they live 5 or 6 months in a reef tank. I am not sure if they starve, can't take the warmer temps or just keel over from boredom.