I read another post today here on the forum... that refered to a clam without a foot... I have been wanting a clam, in fact I have been looked at a 2" Tridacna Maxima at lsf & thinking about buying him. Can anyone tell me more... regarding.... (clam that did not have a foot. We know what happens to them) The Tridacna Maxima is one of the few clams my lighting will support. What do I need to look for when buying a clam... as a newbie to swt... I don't know... (what happens to them, that don't have a foot) but want to learn
Clams require prestine water systems and mature tanks. I personally would not recommend one for any tank under 9 months old. I know that's not what you want to hear but it may save a clam and some cash. As far as what to look for, you want a good extension of the mantle area and it should be very receptive to shadows. If you pass your hand over a clam and it doest respond rapidly then pass it up.you also want one that is not pryed off a rock or substrate. That's how their foot gets damaged.
clams will almost certainly die if there foot has been damaged. The mantle should not have tears holes or any damage to it and the mantle should extend past the edge. If the clam opens very wide and no mantle is past the edge and the intake siphon is distended do not buy the clam, it is sick and probaly not recover even in the best conditions. I agree the screwloose that a clam should not be added for the first nine months to a year.
I don't know what happened to my earlier post but its gone. Several things stand out from your post. First off is how old is your setup, clams require an aged tank, atleast 6 mos. old. You made the statement that a maxima is one of the few your lighting would support. A maxima is one of two of the highest light demanding clams there is. I haven't tried one under T5's, which I think probably would work, but would need to be researched, but other then that possibility you would need MH's. Also a 2" maxima in borderline for having to target feed it. You would need to take a 2 liter pop bottle and cut half the bottom off and when you fed the clam put it over him and squirt some DT's into it. The bad thing about that on a 34 gal nano is you well be asking for algae, dino, diatom issues. The only other way would be if you had a refug hooked up producing food. The foot is part of the byssall valve and if torn loose you damage the valve and he well die in time, that is why it is best to put him on a small flat rock in the substrate so if you want to move him you can. They can be removedonce attached to some thing, but you really need to know what you are doing. If they attach to a big rock on the reef it is best to take a chisel and have some helper and chisel a piece of rock loose around the foot. cheers
James Fatheree gave a lecture on clams at MACNA in Pittsburgh and stated that most shallow-water clams can produce in excess of 100% of their energy needs ffrom photosynthesis alone. With proper liighting, feeding phytoplankton isn't necessary. Fishermann, what food would a refugium produce that would benefit a clam?
Phytoplanton and small clams need to be fed as they well not survey from light alone, say 2 to 21/2" or under.
From my limited experience with one maxima clam, it has grown from a tiny one inch to about three inches in about 19 months. No phytoplankton has been used and the water is less than pristine judging from my algae problem. I have metal halide lighting, I dose limewater via topoff and the clam sits in the sand. I don't think they are as hard to keep as some say. http://www.wetwebmedia.com/tridacnidart.htm
Joe you may be right, or just one of the lucky ones, there are no sted fast rules in this hobby and we are all learning everyday, including all the experts that what we thought years or months ago sometimes, has changed. There are differing opions and I would rather error on the safe side with my answers. I know that target feeding them works.
Thanks everyone for all the replies. I will wait to add a clam until the tank matures some more... no big hurry, I have learned nothing good happens fast in the world of saltwater tanks. Still not sure I know how to tell if a clam has no foot or a damaged one though, any website links that can show me some pics of this? Do you ask the lsf, to hold up the clam so you can examine him? The other visiual tips, I got now, regarding his mantel & all... Regarding the lighting... from the Red Sea Max website, I extracted the below, their marine biologist say what all my lighting will support. In long-term tests we conducted on the MAX in our laboratory, the system proved capable of supporting all soft corals (Sarcophyton sp., Lobophytum sp., Sinularia sp., Xenia; Cladiella sp., etc.), all LPSs (Large Polyp Scleractinia, like Euphyllia sp., Plerogyra sp., Nemenzophyllia sp., Trachphyllia sp., Caulestra sp., etc.), some SPSs (Small Polyp Scleractinia, such as Stylophora sp. and Seriatopora), sea anemones, all types of crustacean (cleaner shrimps, peppermint shrimps, hermit crabs, scarlet hermit crabs), sea stars and giant clams (Tridacna sp.). Plus one nice things for a beginner having an All In One tank, is I get to go to the owners forum & see full tank shots of people with the exact same tank I have & see what they have sucessfully supported over the years in the exact same conditions, asuming I test well & keep my water elements in the correct balance. http://www.reefsanctuary.com/forums/red ... hotos.html
Dosome reading on clams. Go to reef central and go to the clam forum, I didn't say you couldn't keep a clam, just not ideal light for a maxima, You lit. says keep Tridacna, then there are several species of that and the maxima is one of the high light needs one. The others get big and some like the squimosa [spelling] grow fast on the way to getting big. I think a Crosea stays fairly small, like 10" or so, I would have to research it some and find out what its lighting needs are and what size it grows to since I have never had on. As for the foot, you look under the clam and there should be an area in the center where the clam is hinged and its foot well consist of several strands, say a dozen or so and that is what he attaches with. If he is already attached then he should be okay, but buyer be warned buy from someplace that knows about clams, and you should be doing some reading to find out about them yourself on reef centrals clam forum. I have a Dorasea [spelling again] they don't require a bright of light but they get 14' or so and mine has grown pretty fast. I read some of the bio's on your link, not all by any means and alot of the have 150 HQI lights that have clams. DO SOME RESEARSH.
Thanks for the feedback and helping me understand about the clams foot Below is a post by the Red Sea Max Company Rep. they have a section on the RSM owners forum on Reef Sanctuary & answer any RSM questions asked. I have been chatting with the company rep & lots of rsm members that have had clams for several years under their stock light with great sucess, ( I would say about 20% modify their lights, but most don't & don't have too) so I am pretty confident it will support them, not only as the company claims, but as many RSM members I have become friends with have told me. T5 = 5/8" diameter of tube. T8=8/8" (1") etc etc. So that's T5 part sorted. There are then 2 styles of fluorsecent tube: Linear or Powercompact (PC). A liner tube is what most people are familiar with, and it has pins and both ends. A power compact (pc) could be thought of as a linear tube folded in the middle. There is one endcap, with 4 pins. The advantage of PC is that for aquariums under say 3', it's often the best way of getting more light in. For example, a 24" Linear lamp may be 18 or 24 watts. However the MAX PC lamps, which are under 24", produce 55watts each. The added advantage is that each PC lamp is really like having 2 lamps stuck together, so you can have 2 distinctly different colours in "one" lamp. Therefore we can produce a 55w T5 PC lamp with 50% 10,000K white, and 50% Blue Actinic. Hope you are with me so far? CLAMS- We have been keeping Clams in MAX since the prototype days, with great success. (3yrs+). They require the clear water and bright lighting that a properly run MAX delivers. Assuming your other parameters are ok, an unmodified, standard MAX will support clams. Hope all this helps! Thanks again everyone for the post back, I really enjoy reading & learning, I try to read every post, posted here, every day and I am working my way through the olders post too !
Your tank isn't very deep so you have more lighting options. Check out the club's par meter (see Norman, Fisher12) and compare your results to others with MHs and clams. You may find the at the depth you would place the clam, the par level is the same as MHs in a deeper tank.
Nice to know the club has one available, thanks for the offer! One of our rsm forum members also owns a lsf in calif. & runs a stock rsm tank in his home, he posted this about his stock rsm lights... using a par meter recently. How do these numbers look? I know the stock lights are no were near what many of you all have, but seem to be adqaquate. Well, first off I decided to measure the tank out with 12 inches dead center in the middle. After this, using a marker, I marked off a line from the surface of the water down to the sand. 17 inches total. In 1 inch graduations. I planned on getting a reading at each mark, so we can see how the PAR drops off at each inch! Not really knowing what I am doing here, I felt this would give us a real good idea of PAR measurement from top to bottom. Now, the standard lighting is off from top center. I decided to measure back 7.5 inches from the front of the tank. Which is NOT directly below the light fixture. But these will just be one set of tests. I will do others that are in various spots in the tank. Like I said, the hood is actually set back towards the rear chambers a bit more to allow for room for the front small hinged lid. This lid I put 2 24w T5's in. So, I will unplug these for the first round of testing to get accurate tests with the standard lighting. These readings will be based on bulbs with approx. 85 hours on them, and the lens removed. It's removed because I have a cell cast acrylic one being drilled out to replace the original, as it's yellowing and fogging after 6 months of use. The sensor is very touchy and I got to take a few reading from the 1 inch mark down to the 5 inch mark. Here are the actual readings of PAR on the meter: At 1" below the surface of the water we get a PAR average of 485 At 2" below the surface we get a PAR average of 450 At 3" below the surface we get a PAR average of 425 At 4" below the surface we get a PAR average of 395 At 5" below the surface we get a PAR average of 330 At 6" below is where my Acropora's are sitting under the lights. I now know for these frags they could stand to be moved up in the water column most certainly. Even with new bulbs and the shielding removed I have seen a notable difference in color and growth! And these are test numbers with the T5's off. I should get about another 100 PAR when these are on. All my other corals are fine and doing great. Please keep in mind that there are variables to these numbers. What I mean by this is for instance: My vortech causes ripples at the surface. This indeed causes fluctuations in my readings. Useing a better skimmer will clear water for higher readings. Carbon will give higher readings if introduced to a system that has been ran without it. I need to make a better holder for the sensor before going any further. I will do this in the morning if I have time. I used a long acrylic rod for these tests, and it's flexing and breaking on me. For my two Acropora frags at 6 inches, I am guessing they may need up to as high as 6-700 PAR to produce a real glowing effect(flourescense) to be seen. I will have to post some better pictures of these two frags(A. Gomezi, A Valida(purple Bonsai) so you can get a idea of the colors on these guys. These lights for all LPS corals and softies are excellent and PAR numbers are fine with great color rendition in my opinion. Some of the easier SPS can be kept under them with no problems at all. Clams I would say no problem either. Mount them up higher! Crocea's are boring clams anyway, so setting them on rocks is perfect.
