Scallops & Tunicates in the tank (experiment)

[Levinson]

I've always wanted to get some filter feeders, especially some Tunicates.
One day I went to the supermarket, was just looking at the live scallops that they were selling, and found one scallop with some tunicates attached to its shell, along with the likes of barnacles, tubeworms, etc. Well, so I bought 2 scallops, mainly just to get the tunicates attached to them.
I drip acclimated them and off they went into my 100 liter (29 gallons) tank. Now I didn't know if the tunicates will be able to survive in my tank but there was only one way to find out. I guess this was an experiment to find that out.
I didn't think the scallops would survive for long in the tank, especially 2 large ones at that, but I didn't want to kill them so they just went in together. If the scallops died, there were plenty of guys in my tank that would clean it up so I wasn't worried about that. As for the others that came together, my guess was that the tubeworms would live (I already had some small ones doing well) but wasn't expecting the barnacles to survive for long (I had one that came on snail shell but it died, the snail still live).

There seemed to be 3 different kinds of tunicates that came attached. There are far too many different kinds of tunicates out there (as it is the case for most marine creatures) and I didn't expect them to be well documented so didn't bother to find out what they are exactly.
1. the big chunky ones. The hole that's branching on the side is the ******s (or they have their ****** somewhere within that tube). It's interesting to see them open and close their holes.

2. small transparent ones. The side ****** thing also applies here.

3. flat white/transparent one. It's hard to see in this crappy picture but that while lump on top has two crater-like holes.

The scallops are the ones commonly called 'Bay Scallops' (Argopecten irradians). Not the photosynthetic type. The blue dots around its mouth (shown in other photos above) are their eyes. These guys can actually swim. They sometimes close shut their shells pretty hard and it creates quite a thrust of flow.

It's been 25 days since they came and to my surprise, all of them seem to be doing well enough. The barnacles are not as active as when they first came but not they are not dead and they would molt time to time (it was quite interesting to see them molt, I didn't know that they did). Sorry to say but I don't care enough about the barnacles to be honest.
I didn't feed anything extra for them other than the food I already feed to my shrimps but the tunicates are pooping their stringy poop everyday (the chunky tunicates, didn't get to see the other tunicates poop) and the scallops would spit out some lumps of crap which I think are their poop. I searched online to find any info on how scallops poop and what they look like but just couldn't.
This is just my guess but the things they might be feeding on include (but are not limited to);
- algae spores and other bits that come off from the ATS (the above the tank DIY ATS)
- sexy shrimp poop
- a small amount of leftover baby brine shrimps from my other experiment (some dead, some live) that I dump in the tank.
- other suspended detritus and dissolved organic stuff, especially when I blast the sand with a turkey baster. I do this sometimes when I feel like it, maybe 2~4 times a week.

Who knows how much longer they will live but they've already exceeded my expectations, especially the scallops.
They are quite interesting to look at, I hope to keep them for longer. Will see how it goes.

 

[Jay Hemdal Verified Community Expert]

I've always wanted to get some filter feeders, especially some Tunicates.
One day I went to the supermarket, was just looking at the live scallops that they were selling, and found one scallop with some tunicates attached to its shell, along with the likes of barnacles, tubeworms, etc. Well, so I bought 2 scallops, mainly just to get the tunicates attached to them.
I drip acclimated them and off they went into my 100 liter (29 gallons) tank. Now I didn't know if the tunicates will be able to survive in my tank but there was only one way to find out. I guess this was an experiment to find that out.
I didn't think the scallops would survive for long in the tank, especially 2 large ones at that, but I didn't want to kill them so they just went in together. If the scallops died, there were plenty of guys in my tank that would clean it up so I wasn't worried about that. As for the others that came together, my guess was that the tubeworms would live (I already had some small ones doing well) but wasn't expecting the barnacles to survive for long (I had one that came on snail shell but it died, the snail still live).

There seemed to be 3 different kinds of tunicates that came attached. There are far too many different kinds of tunicates out there (as it is the case for most marine creatures) and I didn't expect them to be well documented so didn't bother to find out what they are exactly.
1. the big chunky ones. The hole that's branching on the side is the ******s (or they have their ****** somewhere within that tube). It's interesting to see them open and close their holes.

2. small transparent ones. The side ****** thing also applies here.

3. flat white/transparent one. It's hard to see in this crappy picture but that while lump on top has two crater-like holes.

The scallops are the ones commonly called 'Bay Scallops' (Argopecten irradians). Not the photosynthetic type. The blue dots around its mouth (shown in other photos above) are their eyes. These guys can actually swim. They sometimes close shut their shells pretty hard and it creates quite a thrust of flow.

It's been 25 days since they came and to my surprise, all of them seem to be doing well enough. The barnacles are not as active as when they first came but not they are not dead and they would molt time to time (it was quite interesting to see them molt, I didn't know that they did). Sorry to say but I don't care enough about the barnacles to be honest.
I didn't feed anything extra for them other than the food I already feed to my shrimps but the tunicates are pooping their stringy poop everyday (the chunky tunicates, didn't get to see the other tunicates poop) and the scallops would spit out some lumps of crap which I think are their poop. I searched online to find any info on how scallops poop and what they look like but just couldn't.
This is just my guess but the things they might be feeding on include (but are not limited to);
- algae spores and other bits that come off from the ATS (the above the tank DIY ATS)
- sexy shrimp poop
- a small amount of leftover baby brine shrimps from my other experiment (some dead, some live) that I dump in the tank.
- other suspended detritus and dissolved organic stuff, especially when I blast the sand with a turkey baster. I do this sometimes when I feel like it, maybe 2~4 times a week.

Who knows how much longer they will live but they've already exceeded my expectations, especially the scallops.
They are quite interesting to look at, I hope to keep them for longer. Will see how it goes.

Where did the scallops come from? They, and the tunicates look like a temperate species from deeper water in the Atlantic. Long term, temperate species won't do well at tropical temperatures.

Feeding scallops is VERY difficult. They can live for months without food, so it is impossible to judge if the feeding technique being used is working or not, until they suddenly die.

The trouble with scallops is the food size has to be just right. Too large and they just eject it. Too small, and they waster energy binding it together in mucus to make pseudofeces, which they then eject.

I've never been able to keep barnacles or scallops more than 8 months, even with multiple species of live algae cultures and live baby brine..


Jay

 

[EricR]

I buy live clams, mussels, etc, one at a time, from the supermarket.
Leave them filtering in unheated saltwater for a couple/few hours or overnight (((before chopping and freezing 'em <-- I feel bad but my inverts like treats!)))

Been tempted to throw a couple into a small tank for better viewing for a bit but have been too lazy.

...following since I've never bought any that looked as "cool" as that tunicate-covered scallop you got!

 

[Fishfreak2009]

Where did the scallops come from? They, and the tunicates look like a temperate species from deeper water in the Atlantic. Long term, temperate species won't do well at tropical temperatures.

Feeding scallops is VERY difficult. They can live for months without food, so it is impossible to judge if the feeding technique being used is working or not, until they suddenly die.

The trouble with scallops is the food size has to be just right. Too large and they just eject it. Too small, and they waster energy binding it together in mucus to make pseudofeces, which they then eject.

I've never been able to keep barnacles or scallops more than 8 months, even with multiple species of live algae cultures and live baby brine..


Jay

I know it's an oyster and not a scallop, but I had a thorny oyster for almost 3 years that thrived and grew over 2" on a diet of live phyto daily and reef roids daily. Fed Nannochloropsis, Tetraselmis, Rhodomonas, Isochrysis, and Chaetoceras.

Sold him with the tank when we moved. He lived with seahorses, a pair of bluestripe pipefish, a firefish, and a lubbocks fairy wrasse.

 

[Jay Hemdal Verified Community Expert]

I had a thorny oyster for almost 3 years that thrived and grew over 2" on a diet of live phyto daily and reef roids daily. Fed Nannochloropsis, Tetraselmis, Rhodomonas, Isochrysis, and Chaetoceras.

Yes - thorny oysters are a bit easier to feed - but large ones take a huge amount of food. The same feeding regime just doesn't seem to work for scallops.

Jay

 

[Chrisv.]

This is a really neat thread! I've never seen live scallops in my grocery store. They probably won't live, but let's face it-- it was this or the dinner table! Cool find!

 

[Levinson]

Where did the scallops come from? They, and the tunicates look like a temperate species from deeper water in the Atlantic. Long term, temperate species won't do well at tropical temperatures.

Feeding scallops is VERY difficult. They can live for months without food, so it is impossible to judge if the feeding technique being used is working or not, until they suddenly die.

The trouble with scallops is the food size has to be just right. Too large and they just eject it. Too small, and they waster energy binding it together in mucus to make pseudofeces, which they then eject.

I've never been able to keep barnacles or scallops more than 8 months, even with multiple species of live algae cultures and live baby brine..


Jay

Thanks for the info. These scallops are locally aquacultured (not local species in origin but brought here (Korea) to be aquacultured). Don't know how and in what depth they aquaculture it though. Had no idea they could live for so long without proper food. Sad to hear they won't make it.
Hope I have better luck with the tunicates.

 

[Levinson]

I did a quick search and they say they feed these Atlantic bay scallops mix of the following species of phyto when they contain them for breeding.
Isochrysis galbana, Chaetoceros calcitrans, Pavlova lutherii, Phaeodactylum tricornutum

As much as I like the scallops, I don't think I can culture any of them. Though I would like to culture some phyto in the future for other purposes.

I also read they were brought here to be aquacultured because they grow way faster than the local scallop species, like over 3 times faster. It only takes 6 months to be market-worthy. They grow them out in the ocean inside a long cylinder of net with multiple levels hanging off from a floating object of a sort.

Since the scallops were grown locally, I would assume the tunicates are local species.

 

[Jay Hemdal Verified Community Expert]

Thanks for the info. These scallops are locally aquacultured (not local species in origin but brought here (Korea) to be aquacultured). Don't know how and in what depth they aquaculture it though. Had no idea they could live for so long without proper food. Sad to hear they won't make it.
Hope I have better luck with the tunicates.

Well, since they are East Pacific, I'll retract my comments, I don't know anything about those!

Jay

 

[Levinson]

Well, since they are East Pacific, I'll retract my comments, I don't know anything about those!

You were right about the scallops being from Atlantic. They are Atlantic bay scallops.
The tunicates are from East Pacific.

 

[Lyss]

This is really cool!

I have a trio of some type of clam or scallop on one of my Trochus snail’s shell. They came with the snail 9 months ago and I decided to leave them there to see how long they’d survive. They survived, and now get daily phyto I feed for my feather dusters and porcelain crabs. It’s sometimes fun to shine a flashlight on them and watch them close up in reaction — that’s how I know they’re still alive.

I’ve been wanting to try tunicates but have been afraid to pull that trigger.

 

[Paul B]

Those tunicatres I can scrape off the bottom of my boat by the pound. I can probably get ten pounds off the moorings in my marina. Like Jay said, they eat a lot and won't last long. But good luck and I wish they would starve on my propellers.

 

[Shon]

The brown tunicate looks like the common leather sea squirt, styela plicata. Had to google leathery sea squirt to find the name. Seems it is actually called pleated sea squirt. There is also a knobby, styela clava.

I'm still calling them leathery, because what is a common name anyway.

 

[Levinson]

Those tunicatres I can scrape off the bottom of my boat by the pound. I can probably get ten pounds off the moorings in my marina. Like Jay said, they eat a lot and won't last long. But good luck and I wish they would starve on my propellers.

Wow! Paul B replied to my thread!! Thank you Paul!

 

[Levinson]

The brown tunicate looks like the common leather sea squirt, styela plicata. Had to google leathery sea squirt to find the name. Seems it is actually called pleated sea squirt. There is also a knobby, styela clava.

I'm still calling them leathery, because what is a common name anyway.

Thanks for IDing the tunicate. I think you are right about them being styela plicata.
That's quite interesting. They are also not native to where I live (Korea) but brought in from overseas to be aquacultured.
Their cousins, 'Styela clava', are native to Korea and are eaten as seafood but they brought in 'styela plicata' to aquaculture them because they are hardier and they taste quite similar. You can buy both species from the seafood market. As far as I know, Korea (and maybe some parts of Japan) is the only place that eats them.
I've also eaten both species myself in the past but it's been a while so I didn't quite recognize it.
Styela plicata are generally considered to be a pest in most countries as they often out-compete other local species.

Other tunicates consumed by people here include the sea pineapple (Halocynthia roretzi). These guys are quite a bit bigger and live in colder water so I don't think I can keep them in my tank.

 

[Paul B]

Wow! Paul B replied to my thread!

I reply to all the cool threads.

 

[Levinson]

Update:
One of the scallop finally died (the one with the flat tunicate on its shell) this morning. I've just left it in the tank for the cleaners. It lived for 1 month & 3 days in my tank.
The flat white tunicate on it has actually got slightly bigger.
The other scallop and the common leather sea squirt on it are still alive for the time being.

 

[MartinM]

Although it’s hard to tell from looking/a photo, I seem to have those same tunicates and multiple bivalve species in my tank (hitchhikers on live rock and maxima clam shells, I believe Spondylus spp. oysters and some unknown scallops) for a year now, they’ve grown a lot. I feed heavily, a liquid food formula I make myself from mixing a variety of liquid, powdered, and seafoods. In part it includes several Reed Mariculture products, reef-roads, Goni-power, Red Sea AB+, and Selcon. My rock is covered in tunicate colonies, featherdusters, and the goniopora grow like crazy also. You’ll want to feed a variety of micron sizes and consistently.

I’ll note that everything came from topical environments, most grocery store species will be temperate/coldwater.

Btw, you’re a quick flight away from me

 

[Levinson]

Although it’s hard to tell from looking/a photo, I seem to have those same tunicates and multiple bivalve species in my tank (hitchhikers on live rock and maxima clam shells, I believe Spondylus spp. oysters and some unknown scallops) for a year now, they’ve grown a lot. I feed heavily, a liquid food formula I make myself from mixing a variety of liquid, powdered, and seafoods. In part it includes several Reed Mariculture products, reef-roads, Goni-power, Red Sea AB+, and Selcon. My rock is covered in tunicate colonies, featherdusters, and the goniopora grow like crazy also. You’ll want to feed a variety of micron sizes and consistently.

I’ll note that everything came from topical environments, most grocery store species will be temperate/coldwater.

Btw, you’re a quick flight away from me

Thanks for sharing. Interesting indeed.
Do you also have sponges growing in your tank?
Also, how quick of a flight away would that be?

 

[MartinM]

Yep, lots of sponges, no idea about species though. Some hitchiked on my clams and grew, some on the live rock. I only use live rock, and I always make sure the ‘ocean to aquarium’ time is 8 hours or less. So there’s lots of life!

I’m in Japan