What, and what not, can clams be kept with,,,?

salty150

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I was always under the impression that clams should not be kept with crabs or snails...

But, in reading some of the posts in here - that appears to not be true...?

So, I guess I am asking - what can clams be kept with - or better yet, what can they NOT be kept with...?

I know they can't be kept with Angels or Butterflies...?

Snails, crabs, reef safe starfish...?
 

flashsmith

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This was news to me but I was going to order some more cleanup crew and the vendor states that Nassarius snails will sometimes go after the fleshy underside of clams. I have quite a few Nassarius snails already and a good sized Derasa clam which are sand dwellers for over a year now without issue. I've never seen evidence of this or ever heard of it until recently.
 

ReeferHD

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most herbivorous snails will be fine with clams as well as nassarius, i dont keep hermits with my clams because they always fall into the clam's mantle and get stuck when it closes. any reef safe sea star will ignore the clam aswell (linkia, echinaster, fromia, goniaster etc.)
 

STEEZY

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My tailspot blenny kept picking at my clam. Would do fine if it was covered but that’s ugly! Returned the clan to the LFS.
 

DaJMasta

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Nassarius should generally be safe, but they will absolutely be the first ones on the scene when a clam starts to die, particularly the larger "Tongan" nassarius.

I haven't had issue with pygmy possum wrasses, ruby red fairy wrasses, some burrow dwelling gobies, or even a copper and butterfly (potentially iffy, but I've had two and while both liked scallops and wing oysters, neither went for derasas), but I think a lot of it may come down to trying it out and seeing, and having a plan to keep the one you like less until you can re-home it plus some active monitoring in those early days.

I've had no issues with otherwise reef safe considered inverts, but I'm certain there are some you wouldn't want together with tridacna clams.
 
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