Mussels as pets

[DreadMan]

Yo my family was making mussels and brussels for dinner and I was able to salvage two live mussels. The mussels were bought from Costco, so I am assuming they are blue mussels. Is there any way to keep them? I know they are primarily saltwater but would i need a full on saltwater setup for them? Can I just keep them on a plate until i get the proper equipment?

 

[The Snark]

In a word. no. How could you possibly give them a constant supply of fresh areated sea water and supply them with the spectrum of zooplankton and bacteria they require to stay healthy? Unhealthy they instantly start to recycle into bacterially loaded nutrients for other animals. Also, keep in mind, their habitat is the intertidal zone which is the oceans compost pile. Organism hyperactive. Concetrated ultra high proteins becoming deadly toxins becoming extreme allergens and around and around. A fascinating world but very problematic.
A place to start to get more info: https://marinelab.humboldt.edu/

Recalling the intro to a lecture from the lab. "You can't think of the individual species within the intertidal zone. They animals are parts of a living constantly changing chain of events."

 

[DreadMan]

In a word. no. How could you possibly give them a constant supply of fresh areated sea water and supply them with the spectrum of zooplankton and bacteria they require to stay healthy? Unhealthy they instantly start to recycle into bacterially loaded nutrients for other animals. Also, keep in mind, their habitat is the intertidal zone which is the oceans compost pile. Organism hyperactive. Concetrated ultra high proteins becoming deadly toxins becoming extreme allergens and around and around. A fascinating world but very problematic.
A place to start to get more info: https://marinelab.humboldt.edu/

guess ill be having two more mussels then

 

[Malum Argenteum]

Thirty year reefkeeper here. I've experimented with keeping filter feeding molluscs. Succeeded at keeping some alive for months at a time, at no small expense (shipping in fresh phytoplankton from California was ~$75 for two month supply, IIRC). Obligate filter feeders are generally considered to be much, much more challenging to keep in captivity than reef corals (specimens of which I have still going strong from the early 1990s).

 

[The Snark]

Succeeded at keeping some alive for months at a time, at no small expense (shipping in fresh phytoplankton from California was ~$75 for two month supply,

At that marine lab they sort of cheat. Pumps running several hundred gallons of fresh seawater an hour from the ocean a few hundred feet away constantly.

@Malum Argenteum Ed Rickett's book in your library?

 

[Malum Argenteum]

At that marine lab they sort of cheat. Pumps running several hundred gallons of fresh seawater an hour from the ocean a few hundred feet away constantly.

That's pretty much how they raise the mussels, too, I think. Find a dirty spot near shore, put in some cages, seed some mussels, come back in a year and yank them out. Sometimes, cheating is the only sensible way.

 

[The Snark]

Find a dirty spot near shore, put in some cages, seed some mussels, come back in a year and yank them out. Sometimes, cheating is the only sensible way.

Several locations in the SF bay area do that. Old abandoned piers get fenced off (underwater and seagull proof).

 

[schmiggle]

Thirty year reefkeeper here. I've experimented with keeping filter feeding molluscs. Succeeded at keeping some alive for months at a time, at no small expense (shipping in fresh phytoplankton from California was ~$75 for two month supply, IIRC). Obligate filter feeders are generally considered to be much, much more challenging to keep in captivity than reef corals (specimens of which I have still going strong from the early 1990s).

Can't you just fertilize tapwater in a pool or bottles or something? I know you need a lot to keep bivalves happy, but it seems to me that it shouldn't be that hard to grow a lot.

 

[paumotu]

Can't you just fertilize tapwater in a pool or bottles or something? I know you need a lot to keep bivalves happy, but it seems to me that it shouldn't be that hard to grow a lot.

Some people culture their own phytoplankton, but it can be difficult to create a sufficient amount to feed bivalves which are are filtering nutrient rich waters 24/7.

 

[Malum Argenteum]

Yes, you can culture your own phyto. You can't centrifuge it out, though (well, I cannot) to remove the excess ferts and so water quality maintenance in the target tank is that much more difficult.

People who raise rotifers to feed larval fish often raise their own phyto, but that's added to the rotifer cultures (which can be sieved out), not the larvae tank.

FWIW, I was trying to maintain filter feeders in a SW display tank, so the excess nutrient thing is a bigger (but not categorically different) issue than if someone were keeping mussels in a tub. This is the product I used -- highly recommended.

 

[schmiggle]

Yes, you can culture your own phyto. You can't centrifuge it out, though (well, I cannot) to remove the excess ferts and so water quality maintenance in the target tank is that much more difficult.

People who raise rotifers to feed larval fish often raise their own phyto, but that's added to the rotifer cultures (which can be sieved out), not the larvae tank.

FWIW, I was trying to maintain filter feeders in a SW display tank, so the excess nutrient thing is a bigger (but not categorically different) issue than if someone were keeping mussels in a tub. This is the product I used -- highly recommended.

Looks like chocolate milk. Wonder how it tastes lol. How much did you have to use per filter feeder?

Didn't think about removing the excess fertilizer. If the algae are really efficient it might not be that much of an issue, but I guess the chances that they approach their theoretical efficiency are pretty slim.

I've definitely used centrifuges that would have success with phytoplankton, but they cost thousands of dollars, so unless you had it for other reasons it'd be quite an undertaking.

 

[Malum Argenteum]

I recall getting about 2 months use out of a quart, in a 90g tank. It isn't 'per filter feeder', it is 'per gallon of system volume' since you have to get a minimum concentration of cells per unit of water.

 

[The Snark]

Working at a trout farm. After our second die off I went to HSU which referred me to Telonicher marine labs. Overwhelming complex is a gross understatement. It's not just about keeping the animals fed. Sea water always contains toxins, all shellfish are toxic to some degree. Keeping the toxicity threshold below certain levels is an integral part of maintaining the animals. Then nutrient content and unwanted but inevitable chemicals and particulates. And temperature. And nitrogen presence, and minimum and maximum oxygen levels being maintained so the shellfish grows much faster than the harmful animals and a few dozen details that washed over me like a tide.
Keeping trout healthy and growing was a cakewalk in comparison.

 

[schmiggle]

I recall getting about 2 months use out of a quart, in a 90g tank. It isn't 'per filter feeder', it is 'per gallon of system volume' since you have to get a minimum concentration of cells per unit of water.

I've read about people using a turkey baster to directly feed their clams a concentrated slurry, but I don't know much about that. I guess I had erroneously assumed that's what you did, since I'd be nervous that the plankton would otherwise be filtered out.

 

[The Snark]

Mussels: low tide dinners.