Tell me about your clams

[Europhyllia]

Your clams are beautiful. I've never really considered clams until I saw them today at your store.

So what does it take to keep clams happy/alive

How fast do they get too massive to keep in a regular tank? Don't clams get really big?

Are the green ones easier than the gorgeous blues?

[Crazyeyes]

T5 or halides should sufice. They don't grow extremely fast you can have the same clam for years. Just make sure you don't have any wrasses or angel fish, the only two reef safe angels are the bellus and the wantanabe angel. The crocea can be in the rock work or sand. The derasa clam would generally prefer the sand, and they are easier to keep then the croceas. Clams are amazing and make a tank look complete.

[Europhyllia]

I really like the crocea. Are they expensive?

[Gseclipse02]

i know a while back crocea's were basically the cheapest but it also depends on size/coloration ...

ive had mind under t5/mh's and they seemed happy under both they like "dirty water" since they are filter feeders some like to be placed on the rocks and some like the sand bed i forget what likes what

[4fun]

should they be placed up high or down low? i only have T-5 on them right now and high in the tank one of the 2 open nice and the not so much

How about water flow high/low?

[Europhyllia]

I should have the dirty water aspect covered. I am feeding like there's no tomorrow (live phyto, prawn eggs, lots of frozen, etc.)
I am skimming almost round the clock too though (turn it off for a couple of hours after I dose the phyto).

[Gseclipse02]

The T. maxima clam require high light levels in the aquarium and do best when placed high in your tank, close to the lights. They do prefer rocky substrate to attach to. The difference of the colors in the clams will change as you view the mantle from all angles.


Squamosa Clam They prefer a sand bottom instead of rocky surfaces, and do not need as much light as T. maxima or T. crocea in the aquarium. It is an excellent "beginner" clam species.

[Europhyllia]

squamosa sounds good -but the size scares me a bit. Not sure if I have space for a 1 foot clam.
Too bad they don't sell little clip-on MH spot lights - just for a clam and then the rest of the tank could be under T5s.
The crocea only get to be 6 inches big that's perfect -but of course I don't want to kill one if they don't do well in non-MH tanks...

wait they do have little clamp ons:
http://www.hellolights.com/index.asp?PageAction=VIEWPROD&ProdID=1631
would a 70W clamp on MH augment the lighting in my tank enough to accommodate a crocea if I place it right above the clam?

[aggman]

you don't need metal halides for your clams.

i keep both maximas and croceas under t5 lighting and they are all fat and happy on the sand. there is way too much confusion on the mh/t5 debate. all you really need to know is that as long as your tank is less than 24" high, you will be fine.

and right now it is almost impossible to find croceas or maximas over 3" anyway so i would suggest buying a small clam and giving it a phyto dip every couple of days until it starts really growing. once it starts getting bigger you don't have to feed anymore as it will get most of what it needs from the light.

so when they are smaller lighting is not as important as feeding. that is why people kill so many clams...they think all it needs is light. when, in fact, that isn't it's primary source of energy until it gets larger.

~alex

[aggman]

also here is a thread fom a couple months ago showing how to feed the clams. i started doing this and it really works well. my maxima has gone from 2 3/4" to over 3" since june.

http://www.maast.org/forums/showthread.php?t=51998

~alex

[Europhyllia]

aggman that is awesome!!! I am all about feeding stuff. :) Thanks for the link. JimD is pretty clever...