Long Beach, L.I. Baby Clams

[67Stang]

Here's a question for the fellow L.I. reefers

I was on long beach, LI yesterday.
My kid was digging in the sand right on the shoreline and found hundreds of baby clams. (about 1/2" in size)

What's your opinion of taking a few of them to add to my 200gal reef tank?

Pros and Cons appreciated.

thanks
Bruce

 

[danmhippo]

I never wade in LI water, but about how cold/warm is the water temp up there? Temperate clam species won't stand a chance in reef tank. You can also try out by placing them in a small 5G tank separately.

I know that I have tried placing some market manila clams in my tank. Within 20 min, its dead with shells ajar for fishes to feed.....Good luck

 

[SuperLeet]

are they different colors, (purple with white, ect) and oblong? If so, those arnt makatable, and they arnt babies, those are the normal size. I put some in my tank, I see some, but something is eating them. Good canadate for the refugium, or something to add diversity to the sand. Hope that helps

 

[davelin315]

My opinion is that you are playing with fire with these wild caught clams. The bacteria that periodically close beaches from run off and drainage (at least here in Illinois) can have adverse affects on your tank, and also, clams are a filter for the water, so if they die, they are releasing whatever they have filtered out of the water in the ocean, and being a Chicagoan who believes that NY is a very dirty place (I have gone swimming at the beaches there, and know it's pretty clean), those clams probably have a lot of crap stored up in their flesh that you don't want in your tank or in your fish.

 

[fishfarmer]

I doubt they would survive very long and probably would be illegal to take if they are a marketable shellfish. I would keep my eyes peeled in the warmer estuaries for tropical fish though. You have a good chance of finding juvenile butterflies and others in relatively shallow water. Back in college in R.I. we seined up a couple of butterflies in October. Water temp was in the mid 50's at that point.