Another possible third crop species- clams or mussels

[Pat James]

I did a search on here and saw where people had discussed this a few years ago. Then the conversations seemed to drop.

Does anybody use freshwater clams or mussels as another food item? I was looking for something that would not add to the biological load but might even help water quality by filtering.

I do not want to introduce anything indiscriminately into my system that may be harmful.

[Pat James]

After I posted this it dawned on me how much trouble clams could be. While a group of growing clams would likely benefit the water quality, once they started reproducing they would spread throughout the system.... including inside the pipes.

[Craig Shevlin]

Hi Pat,

I thought about using freshwater Prawns, except that you need to breed them in salt water and then transplant them back into fresh water.  I bought 18 freshwater Red Claw Crayfish (Australian native) over a month ago of which 2 have died.  But I believe this is one of the ways to go.  They eat left over vegetables and table scraps, so not that much in food expense.  I know that I am going to need more fish to supplement my water based tanks but I thought this experiment was worth a try.  I have been told that there is fresh water oyster that gets as large as a saltwater one.  I am going to look into that also.

Craig
 
Pat James said:

After I posted this it dawned on me how much trouble clams could be. While a group of growing clams would likely benefit the water quality, once they started reproducing they would spread throughout the system.... including inside the pipes.

[Pat James]

Craig, Red-claws are definitely on my list.  Where did you obtain yours? I recently bought a group of marbled crayfish. I'm hoping they will reproduce and grow like I have read about. Many people refer to them as 'small' but I am not sure if they are comparing them to the red swamp crays (mudbugs) we eat down here or to the far bigger freshwater 'lobsters' they eat in other parts of the country.