Mussels?

[Windy Elliott]

I'm not big on eating fish and killing things with faces. So I would like to grow some mussels in my tank. That way I can just keep fish as pets and eat the mussels. But I haven't been able to figure out where to get fresh water mussels that I can put in my tank. Any help?

[TCLynx]

I've wondered the same thing myself.  Seems most of the muscles you buy at the store are from far colder waters than would be appropriate for my systems so it isn't likely that I could simply buy them as food but keep them alive in my system.

[Windy Elliott]

So far no luck. My local fish store has offered to look into buying clams for me, but wasn't sure if they were the edible type. He also thought that getting some from the store and just putting them in the tank and seeing what happens might be the way to go. I am seriously considering it at this point.

[Jeff Hess]

Keep us posted on this. I wanted to add some mussells or clams to my sump to help with the filtering! Jeff

[Windy Elliott]

Well, I was walking the dog the other day at my local pond and there were some guys gathering mussels out of the pond. Really big ones too. They were going to eat them. I asked if I could have one. So for right now I have one in a flower pot in gravel and I am adding baby brine to the tank every day to see if I can keep it alive. If I can, I will consider setting up a tank just for them with some koi as host fish and see if I can get them to breed.

[Jeff Hess]

Cool! Let us know how i goes!

[Windy Elliott]

I will. It's kind of cool watching him open his mouth to eat. I really hope I can figure this out.

[Shawn Cruze]

How is he doing?

 

[Windy Elliott]

I ended up releasing him back where he was found. It turns out freshwater mussels are endangered in VA. They also require a specific host fish in order to breed. So I am going to stick with tilapia for now.

 

[txdurk]

i'm from Houston. Digging mussels in Texas would get them fined since most, if not all native species are now listed as endangered. They could dig all the zebras they wanted though. I was thinking of findind a mussel type to raise for a planned AP rig later this year but I can't find a source. Texas Parks and wildlife is good about telling us what's illegal but no one seems to be able to tell me what IS legal.

[Windy Elliott]

I was told fresh water clams are legal and that I can harvest as many as I want because they are considered invasive. But there is just no replacing the taste of mussels.

[txdurk]

Your mileage may vary depending where you are but I was looking at this for Texas:

http://www.texashuntfish.com/app/view/Post/27233/15-Texas-Freshwate...

[txdurk]

This is the only invasive mussels I'm aware of in Texas and they are nasty and sharp.

http://www.texasinvasives.org/action/report_detail.php?alert_id=2