Clams and unworthy tank mates

[los.tejanos83]

I'm considering a buy on a derasa clam. I read this statement on FS website:

"Blennies, Clown Gobies, Butterfly Fish, Angelfish and Shrimps in your marine aquarium may attack Tridacna derasa therein. Therefore, do not keep the clam and these aggressive marine invertebrates in the same tank."

Anybody care to comment on the validity of statement. Thanks in advance for the input.

[twychopen]

I have a friend that told me about some gobies he had kill off corals by the ammount of sand they would dump on different corals. It irritated the corals and eventually killed the low lying ones.

[RayAllen]

I and many on here have had 1st hand experience with dwarf angels nipping at clams.

[ballardjr2000]

i have a coral beauty and sand sifting or dimond goby, six line wrasse, no problems with them messing with my corcea clam each animal is different.

[hobogato]

what fish specifically do you have or are you thinking of getting that you re worried about?

[Kristy]

I inherited ScorpiNO's flame tailed blenny as a hitchhiker. He was taking bites out of Erik's clam before he came to my tank and promptly began doing the same with mine. Only took him a couple of weeks to kill the thing. :(

[JoshOdphi]

yea like ballardjr said his coral beauty never nipped or irritated his crocea...as of now i am holding his clam in my 37 while he sets up his tank again.....one of the inhabitants is a flame angel and even he/she doesnt nip/irritate the clam.....each fish has its own personality....

[RayAllen]

i have a coral beauty and sand sifting or dimond goby, six line wrasse, no problems with them messing with my corcea clam each animal is different.


Each fish is diffrent, But with certain species their is always more caution. Dwarf angels are one of those hit or miss fish with clams...

On a side note I wish mine didnt have a taste for my previous clam. Consider your self lucky when you get one that has a good behavior.

[los.tejanos83]

I think one of my blennies is a flame tailed (yellow fin, purple head); i also have several cleaner/scarlet shrimp, peppermint shrimp, and a large starfish (keeps my substrate real clean).

Oops, forgot about lawnmower blenny.

[Gilbert]

From what i have seen in my tank, true & false percula clowns, and lawnmower blennies didnt mess with the clam.
But the freakin flametail blenny is the one that killed my clam.

[Mr Cob]

I had a coral beauty that took some munches out of my baby maxima clam. Then I built a clam cage out of egg crate to keep him out. It worked.

[los.tejanos83]

Did/does the egg crate take away from the aesthetics of your tank and/or the clam? I'd like to add a clam to my tank, but not to have it killed by some inexpensive fish/invertebrates.

[hobogato]

the flame tail is definitely a risk - i have heard of several people having trouble with them picking on clams

[Mr Cob]

Yes, it does not look that great. But, it was a temporary sollution to keep the clam from dieing since I could not catch the coral beauty. Also, this tank was a holding tank for fragments of all of my corals for about 6 months until I finished my upgrade project and moved. So....I already had egg crate in the tank anyways.


http://i103.photobucket.com/albums/m138/robart1208/SSPX0551.jpg

http://i103.photobucket.com/albums/m138/robart1208/SSPX0552.jpg

Coral Beauty confused...
http://i103.photobucket.com/albums/m138/robart1208/SSPX0553.jpg

[Europhyllia]

Angelo,
I am pretty sure we have a The Fatherrel (sp?) book on clams in the MAAST library. It has a section on that sort of stuff in it.
Since you're a charter member you could borrow that book. I think it would be worthwhile.

[los.tejanos83]

I'm going to pursue a clam for my next tank,so i'll need to read that book Karin. But for now i think i'm gonna pass on the clam, 'cause i need a chiller more than a clam. I also need to win the lottery--my spending habits on this hobby seem to exceed my income. :bigsmile:

[RayAllen]

Rob I too have used the eggcrate cage and its works very well. After a while you should be able to remove it, but in some cases its permanent.

[twychopen]

Yes, it does not look that great. But, it was a temporary sollution to keep the clam from dieing since I could not catch the coral beauty. Also, this tank was a holding tank for fragments of all of my corals for about 6 months until I finished my upgrade project and moved. So....I already had egg crate in the tank anyways.

Coral Beauty confused...
http://i103.photobucket.com/albums/m138/robart1208/SSPX0553.jpg

Cant catch him!? looks like if you made another compartment adjacent to the egg crate with a swinging door, he would just go right in there to get the clam haha. You would just have to shut it and take him out. He looks very interested! lol

[msmith619]

I have successfully kept both a Dersa and Croacea clam with the following fish: Emperor Angel, Flameback angel, clowns (percula, tomato, and clarks), mystery wrasse, tangs (blue hippo, yellow, naso), diamond gobie, yellow watchman gobie. All are in my 125 and the clams have doubled in size with no problems.

[ballardjr2000]

Ditto with Msmith I have personal kept my cocera with coral beauty, lawnmower blenny, snowflake eel, diamond goby, false percs, hippo tang, green mandrin, Josh fill in the rest bro you got my fish :( FOR NOW :)

[Europhyllia]

I think within the goby and blenny groups there are such a wide variety of fish with totally different habits (and then of course within those there are different fish personalities) you really have to look at what a specific blenny or goby is generally prone to.