Ok to put in tank ???

[bjonesjr1]

I live in Florida, and today at the beach with my daughter, I noticed in the sand right where the waves break, Where my daughter was playing... Their was these clams or so I think...

They come in all different kinds of colors, and they are so neat they try to dig their way back into the sand when they get washed up by a wave and the colors are so awsome... They seem to be some kind of, I don't know ??? But being that they like the sand I was wondering if they would be ok to put in my tank because they might help to the live sand, that they may be some kind of good to my sand bed ??? What is everyone's opion on this before I go ahead and add some of these to my sand in my tank ??? I must of picked up almost 200 of them today in just like 30 minutes sitting in the water with my daughter...

Here's some pictures...

Thanks for the input...

 

[bjonesjr1]

Does anyone have any input on these clam looking things for my tank I think they would be a cool addition to the sand but not sure ??? Thanks for anyone that might know

 

[coyoteseven]

They are called coquina clams and are filter feeders that live in the shoreline. Their lifespan in an aquarium setting is very limited and not recommended. Especially if 200 of them die within a short span of each other, you're potentially looking at a serious ammonia spike that could kill off quite a bit of any other livestock in your tank.

If you haven't put them in already... don't. And there's no use in taking them back since they will probably be dead before you can. Sorry for the bad news...

Just my 2Ã"šÃ‚¢

 

[bjonesjr1]

I haven't put any of them in my tank yet, and I certantly wouldn't put 200 of them, as you said I would be afraid of their lifespan, which if it was short then their would be a huge ammonia spike... I was just wondering what their life span was, for the possibility of adding 10 or so to the sand if they did have a long life span and to see if their would be any benefit to the tank and the sand

 

[Swanwillow]

I'd contact a local collector and ask them... floridapets would probably be the best bet... actually, octopets sells those, I think??? could go on thier site and see.

 

[IslandCrow]

That's funny, I just recently submitted a post in a different forum with the same question. I just picked up one purely by accident. I'm probably going to just throw him in my tank and see how it goes. He's been sitting in QT for about a week now, and I'm feeling pretty bad about not giving him any sand to bury in, though it looks like he's doing just fine. Not that I'd really know if he was dying, but his feeder tentacles still come out every day.

 

[coyoteseven]

When I go to the beach, I collect a few coquinas and sand sifting crabs (sand fleas) to feed to Pookie... so their lifespan is fairly short when I get them home.

Prior to that, the longest either have lasted in my tanks, and I tried quite a few times before giving up, was approximately 2 weeks... probably not enough microflora/fauna to sustain them in my setups. Maybe if you do a lot of planktonic feeding to your tank(s), they might just have a chance to thrive. If you can keep them alive, they should make excellent sand stirrers.

If you decide to give it a try, let us know how things are going... good, bad or ugly. I would definitely like to hear about it, especially if you're successful and how you did it.

 

[bjonesjr1]

I will definatly let you know if I do decide to put some in the tank, The one's that I collected the other day and put in a bowl with some sand in it to keep them happy, they are doing fine, none of them have died, and you can see their feeder tubes poke up from the sand that I put in the bowl and from what I can tell they seem to be doing fine.

I'm going to see how long a few of them can last in the salad bowl I set up for them and I put a small drop of DT's in the bowl and they really seemed to like that and stick their feeding tubes out right away, I'm trying to get more imput on putting them in the tank but I may just go ahead and add like 25 of them to my tank and see how they do and just monitor my water tests every other day to see if anything changes maybe it will be a success and I'll have found a new thing to add to the tank safely without hurting my tank, and also benefitting my tank at the same time...

Will try to keep this thread up and running and updated to keep everyone informed on my little project...

 

[HBtank]

They will die.

Make a necklace when your done with them.

I was sad when I saw your pic.

 

[bjonesjr1]

They have been doing fine so far, And I live right on the water so most of those that were in the picture went back in the water with in minutes, Like I said the ones' I have are doing fine... None have died.

 

[HBtank]

Well you would be the first to succeed!

Did you know they actually surf in the waves?

Just one tidbit of info that might let you know there is no way for you to reproduce their requirements adequately.

 

[bjonesjr1]

Yea I did know that they surfed on waves, as if you would've read from the begining of this thread you would have read that I was at the beach with my daughter where the waves break when I noticed these little clams, And I'm not trying to reproduce their environment I'm just trying alittle experiment in my tank to see if they wil survive...

 

[HBtank]

NM, was actually trying to tell you a little about their natural behavior. They "surf" on the waves like I do on my board. Whatever, you oviously don't care..

Hate to see your tank after a grunion run. :lol:

 

[bjonesjr1]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=7000523#post7000523 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by HBtank
Just one tidbit of info that might let you know there is no way for you to reproduce their requirements adequately.

The way that you worded your reply made it seem like you wanted to make me look like an idiot for even talking about this whole subject...

 

[bjonesjr1]

And to say that I don't care then why would I have put back all the clams that I got from the water with in minutes to ensure that they would survive.

 

[IslandCrow]

Surf the waves, huh. That would explain how the one I have found its way into my water bucket. I put the little guy in my tank last night by the way. The first issue I'm seeing is that my sand is probably too coarse for the little guy. I know at the beach they bury themselves pretty quickly, but this guy has been hanging out on top. I guess that'll make it easier for me to keep an eye on his progress, though. He was hanging out by my anemone this morning. I'm not sure if an anemone and crab mix very well, but I went ahead and moved him just to be safe.

Maybe I can add a few more powerheads and get him surfing. . .

 

[IslandCrow]

OK, at around the three week mark, I have one dead clam, so it sounds like coyoteseven's estimate was pretty good. Actually, I'm not 100% sure mine died of natural causes. The good news is someone in the tank got a meal out of him, so chalk one up to the great circle of life. Maybe I'll try them out again in the future as long as they'll serve as food at the very least.