Clams, The Best Food for a Reef

Paul B · Nov 10, 2018

Clams, the absolute best food for salt water fish

The title says it all. If I could only feed one type of food, it would be regular, common, cheap, (near the coasts of the US) available, clams.

I myself feed clams almost every day to all my fish and have been since the 1960s. Virtually all the fish eat it, including mandarins, pipefish, queen anthias, moorish Idols etc. All invertebrates also eat it such as crabs, urchins, shrimp, anemones and coral.

Not only do they eat it, but it is probably the best thing they can eat just short of eating tiny fish which are hard to come by in the quantities we need. I have spoken to fish food manufacturers about this but apparently they are unavailable to them to make fish food out of, which is surprising as the sea is loaded with them.

Another great thing about feeding clams is that as the fish are chewing them, tiny pieces and juices come off and spread around the tank feeding the corals and filter feeders. I have never directly fed my corals, the clams do that for me. The microscopic particles also feed the pods, and I want as many pods as I can get. My tank is always filled with them which is how I am able to keep so many mandarins, pipefish, scooter blennies etc.

I copied this from an online source on shellfish nutrition:

5. Shellfish
Out of all the wonderfully nutritious organisms found in the sea, shellfish may be the most nutritious of all. Commonly consumed types of shellfish include clams, oysters and various others.
Clams are among the best sources of vitamin B12 in existence, with a 100 grams of clams supplying over 16 times the RDA! It is also loaded with other nutrients, including Vitamin C, B-Vitamins, Potassium, Selenium and Iron (25).

Oysters are also incredibly nutritious… with a 100 grams supplying 6 times the RDA for Zinc, 2 times the RDA for Copper, along with large amounts of B12 and Vitamin D - along with a plethora of other nutrients (26). Really, shellfish are among the most nutritious foods in existence. Unfortunately, people rarely consume them.

I buy the biggest clams I can find and here in New York; the bigger clams are the cheapest which is good news. I get the clams live and freeze them myself. Usually I buy them for myself to make clam chowder out of, and I keep some for the fish. A large chowder clam, about 4" long will last me a week or two as I also feed other things. A clam of that size is less than fifty cents. After the clam is frozen, I shave off paper thin slices depending on what I am feeding.

Most fish can handle a rather large piece of clam if it is shaved very thin. Copperbands especially love this food and try very hard to smile while they are eating them but the shape of their mouth makes it difficult for them.

When we feed clams we are feeding an entire animal, organs and all and being clams are filter feeders, their organs are loaded with the things fish are supposed to eat. If we feed table shrimp, fish fillets, octopus, scallop or squid, we are just feeding the muscle which is the least nutritious parts of those creatures. We as humans eat those parts, but fish need the guts.

Most of us also feed mysis and that is not a bad food but most of the frozen mysis we can buy are shell and that shell is not calcium and is not digestible so it just goes to waste. Looking closely at a single mysis, you can see more shell than anything else but a clam is all nutrition and will keep your fish in spawning mode. If you keep a natural tank, and if you can get your clams fresh, it will also keep your fish immune.

I eat them all the time myself which Is why I seem to be immune.

~~~~~

We encourage all our readers to join the reef2reef forum. It’s easy to register, free, and reefkeeping is much easier and more fun in a community of fellow aquarists. We pride ourselves on a warm and family-friendly forum where everyone is welcome. You will also find lots of contests and giveaways with our sponsors.

Last edited: Today at 7:47 AM

Flippers4pups · Nov 12, 2018

Nice!

andyg1960 · Nov 12, 2018

I completely agree. I first started feeding clams ( and mussels) after I got my Valentini Puffer to help keep his “beak” in check, but I noticed that everyone ( except the clowns) dove for that shell and chowed down. I always keep a small supply of frozen little necks in stock, just open and drop it in.

TheHarold · Nov 12, 2018

Interesting article, Id love to try it. Only criticism would be that the word "best" can be confusing- I did not see a scientific study, nor multiple foods compared. It could be "my favorite" or "excellent", but "best" is very strong!

427HISS · Nov 12, 2018

My concern is habering disease or from toxic manmade chemicals bleaching the clam's meat.
I watched a TV show about this issue, from collecting from nature or clam farming. Some of the area's filmed were God awefull, discusting gross waters, even the two clam farms they reported on. One was shut down immediately after a county official was called in.

The one,...time that I bought some from a local fish & clam importer, I fed our young 3" Clown Trigger, the next morning we found him dead. We looked at his body very carefully and he looked in good condition. But, I realize it could have been from a different issue, it's hard for me to trust fresh store bought foods.

I'd love, to save cost's and make our own meaty foods for our fish & corals, but I'm hesitant on finding quality meat ?

What can be done on finding clean clam's, shrimp etc ?
Winter is coming here in the midwest, so having someone or a business ship frozen foods should be fine.
I and our fish/corals love "Larrys Food" great products, but are expensive for the high quanity we use, so choping up a variety of meat and vegies with like selcon would be wonderful, if......we can find trust worthy products.
Kevin

BigJohnny · Nov 12, 2018

None of my fish like clams! I try all the time. Midas Blenny, helfrichi firefish, 2 blue star leopard wrasses, copperband butterfly, melanarus wrasse, and flame angel. They prefer live blackworms, lrs fish frenzy (which they dont eat the clam out of), pe mysis, and brine shrimp. Thoughts?

BigJohnny · Nov 12, 2018

None of my fish like clams! I try all the time. Midas Blenny, helfrichi firefish, 2 blue star leopard wrasses, copperband butterfly, melanarus wrasse, and flame angel. They prefer live blackworms, lrs fish frenzy (which they dont eat the clam out of), pe mysis, and brine shrimp. Thoughts?

427HISS · Nov 12, 2018

BigJohnny said:
None of my fish like clams! I try all the time. Midas Blenny, helfrichi firefish, 2 blue star leopard wrasses, copperband butterfly, melanarus wrasse, and flame angel. They prefer live blackworms, lrs fish frenzy (which they dont eat the clam out of), pe mysis, and brine shrimp. Thoughts?

Yes,....THEIR WIERD !

lol...

I'm sure like us humans, we all don't like spinich ya know, so fish feel the same.
Mine like and dislike different foods too, some are just too spoild. No problem.

USMA36 · Nov 13, 2018

3 months ago I picked up a copperband butterfly. Of course once I put him in my tank he refused to eat. I tried everything I could find including blackworms to no avail. Luckily, After about 3 weeks he started to slowly eat the blackworms. Now he’s a black worm pig. Absolutely chows down on them and is aggressive about getting them before my other fish. I figured I should try the clams again. I would buy and freeze them. Then crack them open and shave off small pieces. No luck. Next I tried a diy pvc butterfly feeder and again no luck. He wouldn’t touch the clams or any other food other than the worms. Finally I figured let me just stick a frozen clam in the sand and watch what happens. Within a few minutes the frozen clam opened up just enough for the butterfly to get his beak in. He loves the whole clams! Putting them in frozen and them opening up as slowly as they do gives him an advantage. None of the other fish can get their snouts in the clam to eat it. After about 15-20 min the clam is opened up enough where my other fish can eat him and most go to town. A 2" clam is completely devoured in about 35 minutes. She’ll is totally picked clean! I’m glad I stumbled upon the writings of Paul and his use of live worms and clams. It has made a huge difference in the overall health of my fish. In the past I lost fish to ich but since I started adding a whole clam every other day, live blackworms every morning, and LRS fish frenzy at night my fish seem much better off. Granted it’s only been 3 months but so far so good and knock on wood no losses.

Scrubber_steve · Nov 13, 2018

Algae is very good too, going by your online source, Paul

cromag27 · Nov 13, 2018

i never had a full mixed reef flourish more than when i was exclusively feeding blackworms.

ryan quave · Nov 13, 2018

What do you think of softshell crabs? I've been making my own food lately and this last batch i put a softshell, some tuna, scallops and whole gulf shrimp along with some pellets and seaweed. I break it and feed it in chunks that my fish eat whole. Does this seem like a good blend to you? My fish literally jump out the water at feeding time to eat

fabutahoun · Nov 13, 2018

Clams Are tasty for humans , Fish and corals. it is one of my main ingredients in my DIY food mix, combined with other shell fish like oysters and scallops. me and my fish love them all !

dochow · Nov 13, 2018

+1 to clams here, everything from bottom of food chain to top have done well off these in my tanks. Sometimes I’ll do a scallop rather than a clam depending on convenience, however the scallop is a little more muscle since it has already been removed from shell.

madweazl · Nov 13, 2018

I started feeding whole, littleneck clams after purchasing a CBB just over six months ago. All the fish come out to eat when the clam is added; as another user noted, the CBB gets first dibs while the clam is barely open (I thaw them on the counter for about an hour before placing them in the tank) followed by the yellow tang and coral beauty angel. As the three of them go to town, small pieces of clam come off and the rest of the smaller fish eagerly snatch them up out of the water column. You can also see juices coming off which triggers a feeding response from most of my acroporas. Once the fish are starting to get their fill, the hermits, shrimp (cleaner and pistol), and some nassarius snails head over to finish it off. It is typically picked clean in 30-60 minutes.

Paul B · Nov 13, 2018

TheHarold said:
Interesting article, Id love to try it. Only criticism would be that the word "best" can be confusing- I did not see a scientific study, nor multiple foods compared. It could be "my favorite" or "excellent", but "best" is very strong!

You are correct, I should have said IMO they are the best but I have been using them since the fiftees so I do have a little experience with them. (I am sure that is longer than any scientific study but it's a flaw in my writing style and I will try to use IMO more in the future. Thank you for pointing that out to me

)
I also love to use blackworms but some of my fish are a little too big now for the blackworms and the place I just moved to I can't get blackworms any more, but I still raise whiteworms. In researching this article I discovered that clams are one of the best foods we can eat. I always want to feed my fish an entire animal with the guts and clams fill that need. As I said mysis are good but mostly shell. Worms are also good but clams are a salt water animal so I would imagine they are better. Clams are also very cheap because they catch more clams than they sell because a lot of people don't like them. I love them and eat them all the time. I will eat them out of the sea like M&Ms.

I would imagine soft shell crabs and lobsters are good but I didn't research them. When I make crabs or lobster, I feed the guts to my fish but they only like certain parts of the crab.

PS:
Scientific studies are great but those are done in a sterile lab by a researcher with more degrees than a thermometer but maybe never had a salt water tank. Those studies also only last a few months or until the money runs out, then that researcher goes on to make those chocolate chip cookies for Burger King and writes children's books.

You need to use the clams, LRS food, flakes, pellets or whatever for 20, 30 or 50 years to get a good idea how the product works in the real world.

USMA36 · Nov 13, 2018

Here’s a video of mine. Ugly lights out time.

klp · Nov 13, 2018

Paul B said:
Clams, the absolute best food for salt water fish

The title says it all. If I could only feed one type of food, it would be regular, common, cheap, (near the coasts of the US) available, clams.

I myself feed clams almost every day to all my fish and have been since the 1960s. Virtually all the fish eat it, including mandarins, pipefish, queen anthias, moorish Idols etc. All invertebrates also eat it such as crabs, urchins, shrimp, anemones and coral.

Not only do they eat it, but it is probably the best thing they can eat just short of eating tiny fish which are hard to come by in the quantities we need. I have spoken to fish food manufacturers about this but apparently they are unavailable to them to make fish food out of, which is surprising as the sea is loaded with them.

Another great thing about feeding clams is that as the fish are chewing them, tiny pieces and juices come off and spread around the tank feeding the corals and filter feeders. I have never directly fed my corals, the clams do that for me. The microscopic particles also feed the pods, and I want as many pods as I can get. My tank is always filled with them which is how I am able to keep so many mandarins, pipefish, scooter blennies etc.

I copied this from an online source on shellfish nutrition:

5. Shellfish
Out of all the wonderfully nutritious organisms found in the sea, shellfish may be the most nutritious of all. Commonly consumed types of shellfish include clams, oysters and various others.
Clams are among the best sources of vitamin B12 in existence, with a 100 grams of clams supplying over 16 times the RDA! It is also loaded with other nutrients, including Vitamin C, B-Vitamins, Potassium, Selenium and Iron (25).

Oysters are also incredibly nutritious… with a 100 grams supplying 6 times the RDA for Zinc, 2 times the RDA for Copper, along with large amounts of B12 and Vitamin D - along with a plethora of other nutrients (26). Really, shellfish are among the most nutritious foods in existence. Unfortunately, people rarely consume them.

I buy the biggest clams I can find and here in New York; the bigger clams are the cheapest which is good news. I get the clams live and freeze them myself. Usually I buy them for myself to make clam chowder out of, and I keep some for the fish. A large chowder clam, about 4" long will last me a week or two as I also feed other things. A clam of that size is less than fifty cents. After the clam is frozen, I shave off paper thin slices depending on what I am feeding.

Most fish can handle a rather large piece of clam if it is shaved very thin. Copperbands especially love this food and try very hard to smile while they are eating them but the shape of their mouth makes it difficult for them.

When we feed clams we are feeding an entire animal, organs and all and being clams are filter feeders, their organs are loaded with the things fish are supposed to eat. If we feed table shrimp, fish fillets, octopus, scallop or squid, we are just feeding the muscle which is the least nutritious parts of those creatures. We as humans eat those parts, but fish need the guts.

Most of us also feed mysis and that is not a bad food but most of the frozen mysis we can buy are shell and that shell is not calcium and is not digestible so it just goes to waste. Looking closely at a single mysis, you can see more shell than anything else but a clam is all nutrition and will keep your fish in spawning mode. If you keep a natural tank, and if you can get your clams fresh, it will also keep your fish immune.

I eat them all the time myself which Is why I seem to be immune.

~~~~~

We encourage all our readers to join the reef2reef forum. It’s easy to register, free, and reefkeeping is much easier and more fun in a community of fellow aquarists. We pride ourselves on a warm and family-friendly forum where everyone is welcome. You will also find lots of contests and giveaways with our sponsors.

Last edited: Today at 7:47 AM

I agree. I eat a lot of clams myself and have never gotten ich...

Cory · Nov 13, 2018

Csn i buy frozen deshelled clams? Not crazy about killing live clams. I feed shrimp to my fish and they love it. Especially Toaster, my panther grouper.