Clams in Aquariums

[SalviniCichlidFan]

After eating steamed clams, I've begun a tradition of decorating my 75gal with the leftover shells. There's also always that one stub of meat that I can't get off the clams so I just feed it to my cichlids. I found this tradition to be particularly fun as it makes my aquarium more aesthetically pleasing and also provides the fish with fresh meat (instead of the pellets I usually feed).

Does anyone else do something similar with clams/aquariums?

Here's a picture of one of my cichlids next to a clam shell:

 

[FJB]

I don’t do anything similar because the fish I keep prefer soft water. But the shells look good and in addition to the looks and the tidbits of meat you describe, the calcium carbonate is good for your African cichlid tanks, particularly if one’s tap water is toward the soft side.

 

[aquaticeye]

You should raise a puffer

 

[SalviniCichlidFan]

I don’t do anything similar because the fish I keep prefer soft water. But the shells look good and in addition to the looks and the tidbits of meat you describe, the calcium carbonate is good for your African cichlid tanks, particularly if one’s tap water is toward the soft side.

Wow, I never knew the side benefits for my African Cichlids. But thanks for the info!

 

[TwoHedWlf]

I've got a bunch of coral and crushed oyster shells in my filters to keep the PH from dropping too much. So, effectively, yeah?

 

[SalviniCichlidFan]

I've also thought of setting up an aquarium with shells as the substrate. Maybe I can try Tanganyikans for that aquarium.

 

[duanes]

Any kind of shells can be added to help buffer water, above are shells in a algae dominated sump collected from the shore.