The easy-care pond mussel can populate any garden pond that is not home to fish. Because these are used by the larvae of the mussels as hosts, on the other hand the mussels serve as food. But a swimming pool or a pond that is exclusively planted can be filtered by keeping the mussels without an extra filter system. The following article shows how the pond mussel is ideally cared for and overwintered.
Table of Contents
Characteristics
- lat. Name Anodonta
- has thin and light shells
- Shell up to 20 cm long
- lives in standing fresh water
- easy-care
- water calcareous
- hardy
- not with fish
- are used to filter the water
- feed on algae
living conditions
The pond mussels are small animals that hardly move. With their foot they dig into the sandy bottom below the water surface, usually only a small part of the shell sticks out of the sand. Therefore, the sandy soil should be at least ten centimeters deep. By the way, under good conditions, the slow-growing mussel can live up to fifteen years. Fish can become predators, even if the mussel can protect itself from the fish with its shell, this still means stress, it does not filter any water and therefore no longer eats.
attitude and care
Keeping and caring for pond mussels in a garden pond is easy. The animals are placed in small groups at the edge of the pond. But even if the care of the mussels is very simple, a few points must be observed when keeping them. The mussels hardly move and filter the pond. They feed on the smallest particles and algae in the water. For this, however, the animal needs ideal living and feeding conditions. Therefore, the environment in the pond should look like this:
- sandy soil is important
- Shells dig in
- Algae as the main food source
- use only one or two pond mussels
- depends on the size of the pond
- a mussel filters up to 400 liters of water a day
- do without a water-clarifying filter system
- deprives the mussels of their food
Hibernation in the pond
In the warm months, the pond mussels are placed on the shallow edge of the pond. But here the surface freezes over first in winter and the living space is taken away from the mussels. However, if the middle of the pond is at least 80 cm deep, then the animals can also spend the winter here. But just putting it in the middle of the garden pond is not a good option. When spending the winter in a pond, you should proceed as follows:
- Use basket or bucket
- fill it with enough sand
- at least 20 cm high
- Place the basket or bucket on the bottom of the pond
- Remove the pond mussels from the edge
- place in prepared container
Overwinter in the aquarium
If the pond is shallow water with the mussels sitting on the edge, then the living area can freeze over in winter. The water must be at least 80 cm deep so that wintering is possible here. If this is not the case, then the pond mussels should move into an aquarium over the winter. The following should be noted here:
- at a temperature above 5° Celsius
- Remove mussels from the pond
- Fill the aquarium with water from the garden pond
- ensures optimal conditions
- Fill the bottom with sand
- Always supply the aquarium with garden pond water
- otherwise no food available for mussels
Conclusion
Pond mussels are not usually kept in the garden pond for decorative purposes. However, the animals are a good natural filter for any stagnant body of water where there are no fish. Because these are used as hosts by the larvae of the mussels and it is therefore not recommended to keep the two animal species together. In addition, larger fish species recognize the pond mussels as food. The care of the pond mussels is quite simple, but in winter, depending on the pond system, you have to think about overwintering the actually hardy animals in an aquarium.
