freshwater clams in Texas

[DiscusKid]

In the creek behind my house i find small clams size of quarters, ill see if i can find some and take pics tomorrow

[JStrider]

in spring creek near my house I've seen smaller clam shells... havnt seen any live ones... but I'm sure there are some!

[Sea-agg09]

As for eating clams from here... I wouldn't. Of course I have seen the reports of what is actually in our water. Clams are filter feeders, so the tend to accumulate the bad stuff that gets put in our water. More so than fish and other animals that is.

If there are clam shells on the beach, its probably because raccoons are pulling them out and eating them. Raccoons don't dive for clams, so they must be fairly close to the shore. They are usually buried just under the mud, so you don't see them. I didn't know they were in our waters, till I was seining for fish. One somehow got into my scuba booty and really hurt while I was walking. I thought it was a pebble till I pulled it out. Then we pulled in our net and found the big ones.

As for catching them in the wild... the most honest answer I can say is just to ask for forgiveness, not permission. Most people are not going to care that you are in a creek digging around for clams. I go to the local cemetery (I know this sounds odd), to grab feeder fish for my Leaf Fish. I've been doing this for nearly 3 months, on one of the main roads on the island, and a cop has only driven by once, probably just saying "?!?!?!?!". Obviously don't try going into a state park, but you aren't going to attract enough attention in your local creek to make any difference. If someone stops and asks, just be honest and polite, and they wont think anything of it. It's sad to say, but I've been waiting for someone to question me about it. I have the NOAA badge burning a whole in my wallet and it does no good at all.

PS. It's not so much about Aquarium World, I just don't enjoy paying for stuff that I can get for free. And I like snakes as well. I just don't like the poisonous ones getting all defensive while I'm trying to pull a seine net...

[mahoro]

u can eat the oysters from the bay, y not the clam? both sw and fw is not that clean...

[OrandaMan]

I finally got a clam. Thanks for the tip, wvgdiscus, I did indeed find them at Fish Gallery. When I first called them, they were out, but I called again about something else and asked again and they had just gotten some in. The new clam is in my goldies tank and seems to be doing well.

I need to look up how they grow. With the hardness of their shell, I can't see how they expand it. But one thing I worry about is when I read about how they breed. More specifically, where the larvae develop. Is the clam likely to breed in this tank (with typical goldfish conditions, but the temperature remaining too high, which despite the fact that the water feels colder than my tropical tank, the thermometer shows the same temperature) and is there a way for me to tell that it's about to so I can move it to its own tank while it does? I read that the larvae grow in fish gills, causing stress to the fish and I'd hate for that to happen to my goldies (who are my babies).

[mahoro]

f/w clam in home aquarium is always bad idea...

[OrandaMan]

Why do you say that?