Freshwater clams?

KPainter

I'm from FL and live on a canal/lake that has a sandy bottom with tons of freshwater clams in it (and yes, gators too). Any chance I could put some of those in my sand substrate aquarium or is that asking for trouble?

Mikaila31

clams are filter feeders and often do poorly in filtered aquariums unless they are target fed. Also some clam larva is parasitic to fish.

Pearl2011

You should definitely QT then for a while, longer then you would a fish. If the canal is polluted I wouldn't use them.
My friend got me rocks from her river and she did tell me to clean the heck out of them.

Maybe you could get a gator? :p

KPainter

I'd get a gator, but then my cats would want to ride it around the house. ;o)

I might order some of the aquarium specific freshwater clams off ebay. I think they'd be really cool in a tank and from what I've read, they really help keep the water clean.

Fresh10

I had a clam years ago. It lived for a long time until one of my fish ate him.

Pearl2011

lol, you have a freind over and there: Why the heck is your cat riding the crocodile?! You: Its an alligator :P
Ordering online would probably be your best bet.

Varkolak

I bought one from a petstore a few years ago but it never did well, barely opened up to try to feed and i ended up taking it out because it began to stink. If you really want one make sure your tank is capable of feeding them and has the sand they need to dig into. I also have wild clams around here but its highly illegal to have them, their shells, or bother them in any way but not sure on Florida laws.

thekoimaiden

Considering there are a lot of species of freshwater clams, it depends on what species you get. The native NA clams are almost all protected and illegal to collect. These are the ones that have parasitic larvae although some are specific the one or two species. The invasive species of clams such as corbicula (asian clam) are fine to have, but as Mikaila mentioned, they do need to be target-fed or else they die. They also have rather high oxygen needs. If you want them, it's probably best to keep them in a species-only tank.

slojko

if you have sand i wouldn't recommend them, they like to dig into the sand and if they die you wouldn't know and release toxins in the water