Electric Flame Scallop

[jvaldez68as]

The other day at a LFS I saw the scallop and was in disbelief of it's awesome display of what seemed to be electricity. I of course had to have it and purchased it before doing any research. Now I've come to find out that they are very hard to keep alive since their diet is not exactly known. Has anyone been able to successfully keep one?

[GaryP]

They can be kept successfully, but they require feeding with phyto such as DT's or Tahitian Blend. Since most people that have them don't do this adequately, most die. They are NOT photosynthetic like most of the clams and get all of their energy from phyto.

[jvaldez68as]

Thanks Gary,
I do have DT's phytoplankton and I live a considerable distance from where i purchased it so it sat at regular temp for close to an hour, is it still fine?

[GaryP]

Yea, should be. If you want to start doing stuff like this, I would suggest you check out growing your own green water. DT's is awfully expensive to feed all the time like this guy probably needs.

[Jeff]

i had a flame scallop for over a year and all i did was dose photo and use a turkey baster to blast junk off the rocks, it seemed to be fine for a long time

[loans_n_fishes]

So, do you have to target feed these guys, or can you just pour the phyto in the water?

I had heard the same thing about keeping them alive, so steered clear. Maybe I will reconsider. :unsure

[jvaldez68as]

From what I have read and researched they do have to be target fed, you can use a straw or pippette to feed them individually. Personally since i have such a small tank i'm going to remove the scallop and place it in a bowl and pour the phytoplankton in and let sit for about 5 min so that it gets enough, it's a method I read that other's have used and been pretty successful with.