Coquina clams

[WesMeeks]

Has anyone eve kept them? any advice? or warnings?

 

[returnofsid]

Well, they're going to be a cold water species, typically found off the North Carolina coastline. They won't be appropriate for a reef tank at all, as the water temperatures will be too high.

Hmmm, after a bit more reading, I see that they're found all the way down into the Gulf of Mexico, so might be fine, in the temperatures of our reef tanks.

I think I'd put them in the same category as the "sand cleaning" clams that some people keep. It'll stay buried in the sand, most of the time.

 

[skinz78]

I had never heard of them before and now that I look them up they are really cool looking. Keep us posted if you get some.

 

[returnofsid]

That's probably because you're usually eating them, not collecting them for your tank...lol

 

[skinz78]

LOL nope, the only one's I eat are Butter Clams and Geoduck's.

 

[Reef UP]

Looks like a good food source to have around for the idols I'm getting lol

 

[WesMeeks]

I got some for both my display and quarantine tank. So far they are doing alright. My water has never been clearer. I'll keep everyone updated.

 

[skinz78]

Can you post some pic's of them? Do they ever come out of the sand?

 

[WesMeeks]

Here is a pic of them so far

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I am here: http://maps.google.com/maps?ll=35.042688,-85.109023

 

[CJO]

Interesting.. I used to boil and eat them when I was a kid!

CJ

 

[sportzfish]

Interesting.. I used to boil and eat them when I was a kid!

CJ

How do you eat these when they look like they are so small?

 

[WesMeeks]

Bad news, most have died. Which sucks, but I had heard that b/c they are not photosynthetic, they don't do well in home aquariums without constant food added to water column, which in turn messes up the water. Oh well

 

[CJO]

How do you eat these when they look like they are so small?

When you boil them, they open up, but it takes lots and lots to make any sort of a dent in your hunger!

CJ

 

[skinz78]

Sorry to hear about loosing them.

 

[octoberfest]

Sorry, didn't read this until now but you experienced what everyone that I know who has tried them has experienced. You find them in the surf (at least in North Carolina) and they get exposed in between waves. From what I was told they're there to filter out the nutrients that the waves bring in. So yeah they won't last long in the home aquarium.

 

[Mary-O]

I loved coquinas as a child and as new owner of a beach front home, I would love to start a colony. Anyone know where I might procure enough coquinas to start a habitat on Georgia coast?

 

[skinz78]

I loved coquinas as a child and as new owner of a beach front home, I would love to start a colony. Anyone know where I might procure enough coquinas to start a habitat on Georgia coast?

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Are the Coquina clams native to Georgia?

 

[Lillmoya]

They go pretty far up and down the east coast from what I can tell. I grew up seeing them in Virginia and I see them all the way down in Florida with my son. I have seen them in other eastern states in between, so I’m sure they would be in Georgia as well. They go wherever the tide takes them and it’s pretty hard to skip a state.

 

[Joekovar]

They're found here in Tampa Bay in almost plague proportions. It's fun to scoop out a couple of handfulls of sand where the waves crash on the beach then watch what seems like hundreds of them dig themselves down further.

I can definitely see the appeal in wanting to keep them. They come in all sorts of purples and similar hues. Though, without something like waves to stir them up, I'm not sure you'd get to see them to enjoy them too much.