Clams, The Best Food for a Reef

[Paul B]

It is really hard to shave anything from those small clams so I would open those and freeze them as a bunch, then shave off pieces. Some fish like copperbands don't exactly have fangs and it is difficult to get enough to eat in a tank full of other fish if they are trying to tear a clam apart. Mine would work on that clam forever and he is big, but something would come along and take that clam out of his mouth. I think thin slivers is better as the fish can suck them down and go on to the next piece quickly.
Look at the video I posted on page 2 of this thread. The copperband can eat until he is full as can the rest of the fish. He can handle pretty big pieces if they are sliced thin enough.

 

[Neptune 555]

It is really hard to shave anything from those small clams so I would open those and freeze them as a bunch, then shave off pieces. Some fish like copperbands don't exactly have fangs and it is difficult to get enough to eat in a tank full of other fish if they are trying to tear a clam apart. Mine would work on that clam forever and he is big, but something would come along and take that clam out of his mouth. I think thin slivers is better as the fish can suck them down and go on to the next piece quickly.
Look at the video I posted on page 2 of this thread. The copperband can eat until he is full as can the rest of the fish. He can handle pretty big pieces if they are sliced thin enough.

Hi Paul,

I agree feeding live food absolutely increases the fish health and color. My question is nitrate control? Am I overfeeding my tank? The fish always look so hungry...

I have a 75 gallon w/ a blue tang / yellow tang / flame angel / Vrolik wrasse / blue spotted puffer / 3 chromis / clean up crew (might be diminishing) I feed a few times a week one entire clam / mussel. The other days they get frozen / pellets. I also do nori daily. My nitrates are up 40ppm in my 75 gallon? I also feed black worms when I can find them.

Feeding method - I crack the shell in 4 and drop in the tank so that I can have a few feeding stations b/c my blue spotted puffer is struggling to get enough food. The blue tang chases him away

Tang Police - I am getting a 180 tank this xmas. With that much water I won't be able to correct a nitrate problem b/c the water changes required would kill me.

Thanks!!
Neptune

 

[Paul B]

Neptune, you can't overfeed fish and no matter how much you feed them, they will look hungry. They are not like us and feel full as in the sea they rarely get enough to fill them so they have evolved to eat whenever they find food and if their stomach is full, they just push it out and eat more.
Feed the fish and worry about nitrate later or add an algae scrubber like I have.

 

[slowngreen]

I'll be the one to ask a dumb question....what about canned clams? My only local grocery store doesn't sell any seafood other than canned stuff.

 

[Paul B]

I would not used canned clams. They are cooked and have no bacteria. You would be much better of with a commercial food like LRS.

I know Idaho isn't the clam capital of the world and fish don't really like potatoes so you just have to move here to the coast.

 

[andyg1960]

I would not used canned clams. They are cooked and have no bacteria. You would be much better of with a commercial food like LRS.

I know Idaho isn't the clam capital of the world and fish don't really like potatoes so you just have to move here to the coast.

If potatoes were a good Reef food, he would have it made.

 

[ZoWhat]

Slightly disagree. Clams are good choices but IMO IME.......Mussels are best 4me, above clams, oysters, shrimp, octo, squid, anything. Even my tangs eat mussels like Halloween candy. All my tangs are thick side to side. Majorly thick

I've done 3years worth of fresh seafood shopping and have tried everything. I've settled on mussels bc of the feed response which is like a shark feeding frenzy

I buy mussels meat, deshelled. And it's cheap, like $4/lbs for meat only, lbs are without shells.

Freeze the meat flat in a large gal-size ziplock bag. Once frozen I lay out the ziplock bag flat and use a meat pounder with a flathead to pound the frozen mussels into smaller chunks. Then back in the freezer snd feed appropriate amts.

Fish see me coming and they gather and swim in circles excited that mussels are coming. its hilariou. whatever amt I feed it's gone in 1-2mins



.

 

[Victoria M]

now I am trying to remember clams vs mussels?
https://spoonuniversity.com/lifestyle/mussels-vs-clams-what-is-the-difference

 

[Victoria M]

I was concerned the "clams" I see at the grocery store were fresh water? Paul do you call muscles clams? or is this article baloney?

 

[Victoria M]

now I am googling the difference...
https://pearlsinternational.com/difference-oysters-clams-mussels/

 

[MnFish1]

Here on Long Island NY the streets are paved with them so they are cheap. You don't have to clean them and if they have microplastics in them, Then I am full of microplastics as I have eaten them my entire life, and I'm old.
I buy them live but I guess you can buy them in a bag, especially if you live in Tunisia or that place where Yoda came from.

Your fish won't care if you can't get the correct food for them, they just want the correct food. I would like to keep a Duck Billed Platypus but they eat a few pounds of earthworms a day so it wouldn't be prudent at this juncture for me to keep one.

Remember we don't have to use foods with a nice picture of an angelfish on the bag. Fish in the sea rarely get food like that and they don't have thumbs to open the bag. Fresh foods would "always" be better especially if, like me, you want the living bacteria which is the biggest advantage to feeding clams or live worms. If you would like to get and keep your fish immune, you really IMO need fresh or freshly frozen foods. Those frozen, bagged clams may have been put in that bag by Lincoln or Edison. I don't think Alexander Graham Bell packed clams because he was very busy inventing the cell phone and Tap a Talk.

If you freeze your clams as well - how are you getting live bacteria (i.e. wouldn't live clams be better than frozen. Of course freezing doesnt kill all bacteria - but each time a certain percent/

 

[Graffiti Spot]

What happened to live black worms being the best fish food Paul?

 

[Victoria M]

I was concerned the "clams" I see at the grocery store were fresh water? Paul do you call muscles clams? or is this article baloney?

@Paul B oh, no! I didn't mean to insult you, Paul! please don't be mad at me.

 

[MnFish1]

I didnt mean to insult him either. I agree that the term 'best' is not the 'best' for the title of the article. A varied diet is probably best for all reef fish. Im not sure that there is any good reason to feed 'guts' but thats just me....There is no real evidence that reef fish eat 'the entire fish' including guts (or is there)?

 

[madweazl]

I didnt mean to insult him either. I agree that the term 'best' is not the 'best' for the title of the article. A varied diet is probably best for all reef fish. Im not sure that there is any good reason to feed 'guts' but thats just me....There is no real evidence that reef fish eat 'the entire fish' including guts (or is there)?

When I had an aggressive tank, the first thing the triggers would eat was the belly (well, they usually liked to pluck out an eye first). I think that is true of just about all predators though. The rest of the inhabitants swallowed it whole so it didn't matter.

 

[Barry_Cuda]

Is there a trick to opening a live clam? I bought a few manilas to experiment with and found I couldn't pry the shells open, so I broke the shells with a mallet and scraped out the clam from the fragments. It worked, but wasn't the most efficient.

 

[Victoria M]

I think It looked like I was questioning if he " knows the difference between mussels and clams" shame on me.

 

[Paul B]

Slightly disagree. Clams are good choices but IMO IME.......Mussels are best 4me, above clams, oysters, shrimp, octo, squid, anything. Even my tangs eat mussels like Halloween candy. All my tangs are thick side to side. Majorly thick
.

Clams, mussels and oysters are all "The Best" food IMO. Mussels are the cheapest (I get them for free) then clams and oysters are the most expensive. All filter feeding shell"fish" are a great food.

Paul do you call muscles clams? or is this article baloney?

Mussels are mussels and clams are clams. I eat them all.

What happened to live black worms being the best fish food Paul?

I can't get them here. Live worms have living bacteria which I feel is essential , but so do clams if you can get them live and freeze them yourself. I can't get blackworms here but I still have my whiteworm culture going for quite a few years and I feed them every few days, mostly for the live bacteria. You can't get too much live bacteria in your fish. If you can't feed something with live bacteria, you can't get your fish immune. Just saying.

@Paul B oh, no! I didn't mean to insult you, Paul! please don't be mad at me.

You can't insult me as I am not a Snowflake and un-insultable

Is there a trick to opening a live clam?

Yes there is. But you should google it as a picture is best. The ones I use, the giant chowder clams are hard but the smaller ones are rather easy.

 

[Victoria M]

Thank gawd you replied to me Paul. I shoulda known better but I was sweating it! Why you do dat to me!!! ;Bored You were one of the first people to befriend me on RC and we met over a debate on immunity, ich and whatever. Then you friend requested me and I decided you were the coolest guy ever. Blushes...;Happy

 

[427HISS]

If your fish don't eat Larry's gourmet foods,.....their dead.

What are white worms ?
Where do they come from ?