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Grocery clams

post #1 of 12
2/10/11 at 9:19pm
Thread Starter 

My wife got 2 clams for a whopping $0.25 and wanted to put them into the tank.  We floated them for a little bit and then put them into the sump.  I just checked on them and one is open and looks to be filtering out stuff.  The other had the foot way out and 2 or 3 bristle worms going inside the clam.  Is it a good bet that the one with the worms is dead and needs to be removed?  Arent these things supposed to burry themselves in the sand?

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post #2 of 12
2/11/11 at 5:54am

Yes, in my experience, they bury in a few hours and you won't see them.  Did they burp?

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post #3 of 12
2/11/11 at 6:03am
Thread Starter 

some air came out last night.  Was going to check them right now.

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post #4 of 12
2/11/11 at 7:51am
Thread Starter 

the one is dead and pulled from the tank, the other seems to be ok.  we shall see how this goes over the course of the day.

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post #5 of 12
2/11/11 at 8:30am

Aren't they cold water clams?

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post #6 of 12
2/11/11 at 8:35am

If they are Littleneck clams they could possibly be Tapes sp. which are tropical Clams.

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post #7 of 12
2/11/11 at 5:41pm
Thread Starter 

I believe they are little neck but not sure.  Maybe the wife will chime in on what they are.  I think she said the seafood counter guy said they were from maine though.  The one that was alive last night is still alive right now.

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post #8 of 12
2/11/11 at 11:05pm

All of those smaller clams for the restaurant/seafood/grocery industries are aquacultured Mercenaria sp., not Tapes sp.

 

They range from Maine to Florida, they are quite hardy. I would bet that most of them are conditioned to temps far below our tropical reef tanks. However, IMHO it's the shipping process that does most of these guys in. Being kept on ice for extended periods (I've heard up to a few months :eek:). It's enough to keep them alive and not spoil, but not enough usually for them to make the transition back to tank life.

 

"Littleneck" actually refer's to the graded size. Smallest are countnecks, small-mediums are littlenecks, topnecks are medium, cherrystones are large, and quahog's are usually the largest. Though I typically only see Littlenecks or Cherrystones available.

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post #9 of 12
2/11/11 at 11:35pm
Thread Starter 

think the one I have left will live?  If I post a pic, you think you can ID it?

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post #10 of 12
2/12/11 at 1:15am

Maybe, but the odds are slim, at least IME. I used to get a dozen every other week when I had several Butterflies. It seemed after the first day or two hurdle, the bulk of the ones I didn't feed would live a couple weeks to some living a couple months. I do have some I believe are years old, however.

 

 

From a grocery store in NY, I can assure you, it's Mercenaria sp.

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post #11 of 12
2/12/11 at 7:34am

That's interesting.  It's the cherrystones that I buy here.  I have had excellent luck with mine, probably because my store is so insistant on providing "fresh".  In all the years I have been doing tanks, I have only lost one and when I got it home and was fixing to put it in the tank, I saw a little opening so I knew it was likely dead or dying when put in the tank.

 

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post #12 of 12
2/12/11 at 7:39am
Thread Starter 

well the other one died last night.  So it was a good experiment for only a quarter.

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