The Puffer Forum

how do you prepare mussels for GSPs?

Freeze them, thaw them, soak in water with a vit/min supplement, and toss the appropriate amount in the tank If there is less flesh then they'll have to scrape the shell a bit which may help their teeth.

Crack open, after thawing.

I seen some fresh (unfrozen) clams and mussels at a local asian food market, would those be alright to use or would I need to disinfect them prior to serving to my GSP's? I would not want to introduce some kind of disease to them.

Just freeze them. Then thaw in vit water

how long do I thaw a clam? can I leave it overnight in the fridge? its in a covered cup of tank water in the fridge right now. can I refreeze the meat after I scrape it out of the shell tomorrow?

U are talking abt clam or mussel.. Clams after thawing u have to open it manually. Mussel usually will be half opened after freezing. Either ones, make sure they are open to soak in the vitamin water. Imo, dun refreeze the meat, just feed it to them after they are done with the shells. Thawing takes only a few mins, soak in vitamin water for an hr or so should be sufficient.

scpion wrote:U are talking abt clam or mussel.. Clams after thawing u have to open it manually. Mussel usually will be half opened after freezing. Either ones, make sure they are open to soak in the vitamin water. Imo, dun refreeze the meat, just feed it to them after they are done with the shells. Thawing takes only a few mins, soak in vitamin water for an hr or so should be sufficient.

its a clam... i was hoping to save the meat because its way too much for her... but ill just throw it out. thanks

I usually leave it soak in vitamins overnight.

hadla wrote:

scpion wrote:U are talking abt clam or mussel.. Clams after thawing u have to open it manually. Mussel usually will be half opened after freezing. Either ones, make sure they are open to soak in the vitamin water. Imo, dun refreeze the meat, just feed it to them after they are done with the shells. Thawing takes only a few mins, soak in vitamin water for an hr or so should be sufficient.

its a clam... i was hoping to save the meat because its way too much for her... but ill just throw it out. thanks

open the live clam & remove the meat as intact as you can
lay out a piece of clear kitchen plastic wrap
stretch out the clam on the wrap
roll up the clam in the plastic
roll up the plastic in a piece of aluminum foil
freeze for several days
to feed, remove foil and cut off a section of clam meat (rewrap the rest in foil & put back in freezer), defrost it, soak in vitamins, feed
Yum!

after freezing, even clams should open up partially since they are dead. at least mine always opened a bit and i didnt have to shuck them open

Do not remove the meat from the shell! Scraping their teeth to get the meat out, is how they keep their teeth trimmed.

lol thanks for the replies, but i had opened it last night and didnt really know what part was the meat (and i knew it was going to smell bad once it started to get to room temp)so i just threw it out. ill wait until i can get mussels for her.

What I do for clams is let them thaw in warm water, scrape most of the meat from the shell and then I cut that up in to meal size pieces. Freeze between two sheets of wax paper and then cut it out section by section when you need it. I do not throw away the shells, I feed those right away and let them pick at what is left on the shell.

Dadof4 wrote:What I do for clams is let them thaw in warm water, scrape most of the meat from the shell and then I cut that up in to meal size pieces. Freeze between two sheets of wax paper and then cut it out section by section when you need it. I do not throw away the shells, I feed those right away and let them pick at what is left on the shell.

thats a good idea thanks. i still dont know what exactly was the meat and what was the clam's body parts XD when i pulled the shells apart, just about everything came cleanly off the shell so maybe it wasnt so fresh when i bought it. ill wait until i can find fresh mussels though.