So i was not exactly sure as to where i should post this but it has to do with food for my puffer so i figured maybe someone here has experience in this. So i was out fishing and waded out into the water and felt all these rocks and stuff get stuck between my feet and shoe. as i was taking them out i realized that a bunch of them were muscles/clams what ever then are called in fresh water. so i got the idea to collect a bunch of these small guys as food for my puffer. so now i have about 300+ clams sitting in a five gallon bucket and i have no idea as to what my next move should be. i was thinking of putting them in a laundry bag and trowing them in a stream by my house to keep them fed or i could QT them for a bit and then throw them into my sump and they can snack in there, or should i just let them sit over night in some clean water let them clean out a bit and throw them in a freezer. i got ahead of my self when i did this cause i was fish 2hrs away from my house and there is not anything to close to my house where i can just dig thsee little guys up so i thought it wise to stock up. i think that somes it up any ideas will help.... oh and also what is the best what to do about cleaning them?? or is some clean water and a bit of salt the best way???
Puffer food help.
- Thread starter pshtex
- Start date
Personally, i would probably let them sit in freshwater for a about 24 hours to spit out any waste / sand they might be carrying, then i would place them in a bag and freeze them for at least 1 - 2 weeks to try and kill off any possible nasties they might be carrying before contemplating whether or not to feed it to my puffers...
If they are Zebra mussels I wouldn't feed them to my fish.. period.
1. they are great at purifying water, which means tehy are great at filtering our toxins.. makeing them toxic.. keeping them in clean water and letting them flush out imo doesn't negate the lifespan of filtering they did. they will filter out alot of toxins that will kill many other inverts.
2. they are invasive for a reason once in your system it's hard to remove them. I would have concern for them getting into your filter and starting to propigate.. which seems good.. but I've had impellers destroyed by small snails in the past.. and have no doubt the shells would be just as destructive.
So I would deffinately ID them before feeding them, it doesn't hurt to do as Homer suggested with the flushing process/freezing ... but Zebras should be destroyed, not potentially allowed to propigate.
1. they are great at purifying water, which means tehy are great at filtering our toxins.. makeing them toxic.. keeping them in clean water and letting them flush out imo doesn't negate the lifespan of filtering they did. they will filter out alot of toxins that will kill many other inverts.
2. they are invasive for a reason once in your system it's hard to remove them. I would have concern for them getting into your filter and starting to propigate.. which seems good.. but I've had impellers destroyed by small snails in the past.. and have no doubt the shells would be just as destructive.
So I would deffinately ID them before feeding them, it doesn't hurt to do as Homer suggested with the flushing process/freezing ... but Zebras should be destroyed, not potentially allowed to propigate.
Though the concerns are valid I'm not sure I'd agree with Monsterminis on this, not totally at least:
1) Most/all clams are great at filtering water. That's their thing. Zebras are fantastic at it as they are little and plentiful and are now living in new places that never had such clear water before, so people reeeeallly notice the difference. I personally always have found that clams (not Zebra) starve to death over a couple of weeks in the aquarium as the water has little/no free-floating bacteria or plankton. Purging probably would work, if they don't starve or otherwise croak. Maybe purge them in a (big) bucket with a bubbler & corn starch (?) or brine shrimp (?) for a couple 'a days, then freeze them.
2) they are horribly invasive- don't let them anywhere near (wild) water, which includes you throwing away water from a water-change if you do put them alive into your tank. And yes, they will probably breed & make a mess as well, though a Synodontis or a couple of Botia will keep them under control in the main tank (oh yah, puffers... tankmates are out). The filter will be another story though... go with air-lift filtration & get a gigantic wire pipe-cleaner.
The issue no matter what is that you will have to Iodine, chlorinate or boil your purge and/or tank-change-water before you toss it away to make sure you're not spreading clam-pups into the wild waters. That responsibility will be on you.
Seems like a lot of work... Go get a block of frozen prawns at the market and be done with it.
1) Most/all clams are great at filtering water. That's their thing. Zebras are fantastic at it as they are little and plentiful and are now living in new places that never had such clear water before, so people reeeeallly notice the difference. I personally always have found that clams (not Zebra) starve to death over a couple of weeks in the aquarium as the water has little/no free-floating bacteria or plankton. Purging probably would work, if they don't starve or otherwise croak. Maybe purge them in a (big) bucket with a bubbler & corn starch (?) or brine shrimp (?) for a couple 'a days, then freeze them.
2) they are horribly invasive- don't let them anywhere near (wild) water, which includes you throwing away water from a water-change if you do put them alive into your tank. And yes, they will probably breed & make a mess as well, though a Synodontis or a couple of Botia will keep them under control in the main tank (oh yah, puffers... tankmates are out). The filter will be another story though... go with air-lift filtration & get a gigantic wire pipe-cleaner.
The issue no matter what is that you will have to Iodine, chlorinate or boil your purge and/or tank-change-water before you toss it away to make sure you're not spreading clam-pups into the wild waters. That responsibility will be on you.
Seems like a lot of work... Go get a block of frozen prawns at the market and be done with it.
ps: but make sure that they are coming from clean water, as they can and do bioaccumulate toxins, particularly really nasty stuff like Dioxins & pesticides.