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Swan Mussles Any Info? | |
juwel-180 Enthusiast Posts: 291 Kudos: 212 Votes: 17 Registered: 07-Dec-2005 | hi guys i was looking at getting some Swan-Large-mussles as seen in the link link any one know any thing abou them |
Posted 09-Jun-2007 15:48 | |
sham Ultimate Fish Guru Posts: 3369 Kudos: 2782 Votes: 98 Registered: 21-Apr-2004 | The main difficulty in keeping mussels is feeding them. Without alot of suspended particles and high water flow quite a few of them starve to death. The small ones like the golden asian clam won't need quite as much food but I still had 1 every couple weeks that starved to death. Usually because it got itself behind some decor that blocked the water flow. Larger species are going to need to take in alot more food and will probably need target fed with either a liquid food(the ones designed for marine inverts work well) or a mix of small foods(very finely crushed flakes or shrimp pellets) dissolved into water and squirted directly over them. Your next problem with keeping them in fish tanks is that alot of mussels(including the swan mussel) release parasitic larvae. These attach to fish and then drop off when they reach their adult form. They will leave a tiny cyst behind. Small numbers of them on fish that aren't too tiny won't really be noticeable. In an aquarium though you can end up with a high concentration and in some cases it's enough to kill the fish. It can at least leave behind little white dots that make the fish look like they are constantly suffering ich. The last annoyance is that you can never treat the tank with anything unless you remove them to another tank. Even melafix leads to their death. Personally having tried it with the asian clam I wouldn't suggest keeping such critters unless you really want to setup a special tank for them and put in quite a bit of effort to keep them fed and healthy. All for something that's gonna bury itself in the substrate so all you see is the tip of the shell and it may never move again. Maybe if I was throwing them in a pond to be forgotten about but in a tank they were interesting for about 1month and a real pain for the next 2years before they got wiped out by melafix. |
Posted 10-Jun-2007 02:03 | |
juwel-180 Enthusiast Posts: 291 Kudos: 212 Votes: 17 Registered: 07-Dec-2005 | thanks sham ye i was goin to put them in the pond. it is a natural pond with loads of stuff to eat. Do u think it would matter that the pond has no current flow? |
Posted 10-Jun-2007 11:48 | |
sham Ultimate Fish Guru Posts: 3369 Kudos: 2782 Votes: 98 Registered: 21-Apr-2004 | Alot of organics gather at the bottom of ponds so they have more food source and don't need the water flow to deliver food. Doesn't mean they can't starve since there are a ton of factors but they have a better chance of surviving a pond than a tank. |
Posted 10-Jun-2007 17:46 |
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