Yeah, this is a friend whom isn't all that educated about all things marine, but I got him into tank keeping.
I'm the one who sold him his tank, all his equipment, livestock, everything, as well as did all the setting up
and installing, so I know the tank as well as my own, and he lives across the street from me. Parameters
never swing around, and we haven't obsserved any negative hitch hikers, though we've looked plenty. I
thought about the snails and worms eating the clam from underneath, but there are 2 5" Croceas, this 4"
Gigas, a 3.5" Derasa, and a 8" Maxima in the tank as well, and they are all in awesome shape. I know about
the split/opening on the underside/shell of the clam, but never once (even of all the stock we've recieved
@ work) have I seen the separated this much, all the way to the foot of the clam. It's a good bit closed up
in the pic, as I'd just grabbed it and held it up for the picture, but when its open, it just looks way too wide.
Measuring across the gap @ the top in the middle, from shell tip to shell tip, this clam is almost 3.5" apart,
where the Croceas and Maxima are about 2-2.25" open, Derasa almost 2" open. So this clam is almost 2x
as wide open as other clams up to 2x its size :\ :(