Need a Fish or Invert that will move the sand/burrow/stir in it

  • We are currently upgrading MFK. thanks! -neo
I have lake snails that will stir up my sand, and also had monster FW clams that trash my tank by rearranging my nicely placed fake plants and driftwood. But even tiny fingernail clams will do it. I currently only have one deformed clam in my 55 along with my horde of snails, and they do OK, but I still have to stir it up. But they keep my sand from going stagnant. Just avoid ghost shrimp or crays until your baby is big enough to eat them, otherwise they'll get him first.
 
Freshwater clams would be cool :) How many though(Ill try them in a 75) and do they sell them at a LFS or do I need to go elsewhere? There just called "Freshwater Clams"? Corbicual sp

I also read though that they don't live long in a clean tank, I have Tank cleaning OCD so that might not be good for them lol!
 
If you are a clean freak, or at least really particular about what grows in your tank, don't get a clam. I've had them for a long time but you have to have microorganisms and junk reproducing. I tend to have better luck with clams when I use a small gravel because the food source is more readily available.

MTS are good but IME once a dead spot develops, they avoid it.

I know you said you didn't want anything common but when I had my oscar, she had a pet goldfish that would turn the sand. She would eat every goldfish except that one and would even protect it from the other fish. That oscar was definitely a strange fish.
 
I +5 the trumpet a snails. It is very easy to acquire thousands of them. In some of my tanks I purposely overfeed. And the tank is overrun by them. They help break down fish waste also because a fish that is overfed does not digest all of it's food the snail will sift through and break it down further. When I do water changes the particles I remove are broken down to the smallest compound. Perfect for plants. Or underfiltered tanks. And like mentioned they prefer to hide.

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