Two to three weeks ago I bought two clams from my local Kroger's fresh fish section where I get my fish food from. My thinking was to let my two puffers chew on them trying to get at the meat and file their teeth down. Which they never did and decided to chew on rocks instead... Putting my hand down to the sand in my tank is like asking to get attacked by the grouper so I just left them. Well last night I looked down and saw the darn thing move and upon further inspection I could see it's foot slowly push it 4 separate times in about 20 minutes only moving around 2 inches total. On the side I could also see two separate feeding ports (can't remember their name) with their testicles catching the coral food I just put in there. So to recap I bought a clam that you eat from a grocery store which was on ice and then lived in my fridge for 3-4 days then threw it in my tank, and a few weeks later it is alive!!! Today it is closed up tight so I feel confident it really did live through everything and I'm not completely crazy. The white fleshy part at the bottom left part of the clam is the foot that I saw pushing the clam and over to the right where you see a small brown line is one of the mouths that I noticed. I'm going to try and get a video next time I can to prove to my girlfriend that I"m not full of it haha. I didn't want to risk turning the lights on and having him close up just so I could snap a better picture of a closed up clam. So I'll work on that as well.
I have been using these clams and even the oysters you buy at Kroger for several years. They are great for filtering your system. In a deep sandbed they burrow to the bottom and extend their feeding tubes. I have not had them live very long, the most a couple months, I guess from the stress of being out of water and on ice for so long. They are interesting to watch and make an nice addition to your system.
This is an interesting thread. Thanks Wlyon. Aren't the clams from cooler water areas? I pulled that from some subfolder in the back of my brain so I'm not sure. Anyway, maybe this is why they don't last longer in the tank.
http://www.saltwaterfish.com/Cleaner-Clam--Group-of-5--Limit-1_p_5420.html It looks like the clams Saltwaterfish sells as "cleaner clams"
wow how crazy is that lol.... i wouldn't think that its possible for it to come back to life after all of that haha good to know though
