Got a clam question? We've got you covered right here.

[skinz78]

Hello all you fellow clam keepers out there. I thought I would do a thread on clam keeping and all of the good stuff you will need to know.

One of the first things you will need for successful clam keeping are perfect water parameters.

#1 Calcium 380-450 ppm
#2 Salinity 1.024-1.026
#3 Alkalinity 2.5-4 meq/L
7-11 dKH
125-200 ppm CaCO3 equivalents
#4 Ph 8.1-8.4
#5 Magnesium 1250-1350 ppm
#6 Temp 78-82 deg F
#7 Nitrates 0
#8 Nitrites 0
#9 Phosphate < 0.03 ppm
#10 Ammonia <0.1 ppm

Other things that I highly recommend for successfully keeping clams are:

Read, read, read, you can't ever get enough info so take it all in.

Know what to do when you have an issue and have to ask a question, post pic's, params, and fish lists.

There is another thread here and it really tells a lot about how to keep clams and has many recommendations, once again read.

Now you may be wondering what kind of clam you may have right? Well There are many online clam ID pages but the one that I use the most is found here .

Do clams need to be placed in a Quarantine Tank "QT"? In my honest opinion yes they do with out a doubt. No matter who you get it from and how good their reputation is. A quarantine tank is really simple and fairly cheap to set up. The most expensive thing you will need is the light. But think of it this way, say you have 3 or 4 clams and want to add just one more. Now say that one more has a disease and it wipes out all your other clams too. Now you have just lost more money in clams than what a QT would cost. If you need to know how to set up a QT you can look at this thread and get some idea's.

Now lets say you did the right thing and did set up a QT tank, and while your new clam was in said tank you noticed that it was infested with Pyramidellidea Snails. Honestly they sound bad and the treatment sounds real painstaking but I honestly don't mind it. As long as you know you have them and do the proper treatment your clam should be fine. All you need is a toothpick and a tooth brush and get to scrubbing.

Some people will try and tell you that you need to feed clams. I believe that that is a false statement. As long as you have a good strong light set up you should be fine. If you still aren't convinced and would like to read some on the matter you can do so here.

And lastly I have compiled a group of video's with a bunch of clam info and if you are interested in viewing them you may do so here.

 

[Antonias1391]

what surfaces do each type of clam need to attach ive heard some like rock others like sand what about glass for the barebottem ppl with any attach to that? thanks very much skinz!!

 

[skinz78]

It really depends on what type of clam. The Crocea's are also known as the rock boring clam, in the wild they can commonly be found burrowed into the rock. I have Crocea's up on my rocks as well as on the sand, one of them flat out refuses to stay on the rock so I leave him on the sand. Maxima's are pretty much like Croceas except they don't usually bore into the rock. Once again I have Maxima's on my rocks as well as on my sandbed. Squamosa's, Derasa's, Hippopus, and Giga's all can go on the sand if you have strong enough lighting. As they get larger they will close off their byssal opening and rely on their weight to hold them in place.

In the wild a large percentage of the clams are up off of the sand, I believe that this is because of the changing of the sands and how much it gets blown around in the current.

Although I haven't ever had a bare bottom tank I have seen lots of clams on the bare bottom. One of my Maxima's is actually burrowed down into the sand and attached to the bottom of the tank. But when it comes to bare bottom tanks, if it were me and if the clam was small enough I would try to keep it in a small container of sand instead of right on the glass.

 

[Antonias1391]

Thank you so much Skinz!! your the first person to ever give me a straight answer :bigsmile: i want a clams so bad my systems great for it PM me if u wanna know my equipment :wink:

 

[skinz78]

No worry's, I'm here to help. Any further questions you may have feel free to start a new thread and ask.

I would love to hear about your setup, do you have a tank thread going on R2R?

 

[Will_D]

I'm just starting to look into clams and have heard varying responses to whether or not clams would do good with T5 lighting in a 24" tall tank. What are your thoughts on this? I'm looking into getting a ATI Sun Power 8 bulb for my 120 and I would love to be able to add a clam or two later on down the line.

 

[skinz78]

I think they will be fine, I am actually doing the same thing right after Christmas when I set my 120 up.

 

[frenchman68]

Have you ever had issues with bristle worms getting in a clam and killing it?

 

[skinz78]

No, bristleworms are usually there cleaning up after the clam has died from other causes.

 

[Reef head]

I know you should not let the clam out of water, but how do you know if you have it burped?

 

[Mike J.]

I'm just starting to look into clams and have heard varying responses to whether or not clams would do good with T5 lighting in a 24" tall tank. What are your thoughts on this? I'm looking into getting a ATI Sun Power 8 bulb for my 120 and I would love to be able to add a clam or two later on down the line.

I have an 8 bulb T5 on my 120 and it is actually too much light for a lot of things. I have to keep some things on the bottom or the ends. My Crocea clams love it though.

 

[magicbuddha19]

i have a current usa marine orbit 48" led lighting on a 72 gallon bow front reef...is that light strong enough for a clam??

 

[Reef head]

i have a current usa marine orbit 48" led lighting on a 72 gallon bow front reef...is that light strong enough for a clam??

I personally would not try it on that size of tank with that fixture. Not to demean you, I would only put softies under that fixture. I have the same tank, and am using the Kessil a360w, which work great for clams but I can't speak for that exact light.

 

[skinz78]

Agreed you'd need a stronger light for a clam.

 

[Ms. Mermaid]

Agreed you'd need a stronger light for a clam.

What about the Reef Breeder Led Lights or a Tao Tronic Led Light ?

 

[skinz78]

I kept clams under Reef Breeder's LED's no problems.

 

[hart24601]

All good stuff. The only thing I would caution is the quarantine system especially with small clams. It seems clams really need high dissolved organics in the water and typical qt systems just don't have those. If you used water from your dt and did water changes using "dirty" dt water than they are ok. It doesn't take much for a inch long clam to have problems and having high doc seems to be important.

 

[reggaedrummin]

I have 3 clam in my jbj 30g. I use reefbreeders photon 16 fixture and they love it. My derasa has more than doubled in size over the past year, and the two maximas are about 9 months in the tank and they have both grown about 10%. I keep my lights dialed back to a combined output of only about 50% capacity at their peak, but run mostly blue and I feed phyto about 4ml once/week for the little guys. My derasa started about 2 inches and now it's about 5, and my maximas started about 1.5"s and they are both approaching 2. Also I moved I'm May and my derasa was so firmly attached to the rockwork that I eventually gave up trying to remove it, and opted to just cover it with a wet towel and leave it in the tank. It was out of water for 30~45 minutes and survived without a hitch. It was open and back to its norm the following day.

 

[Ms. Mermaid]

When setting up a QT for a new clam doed it end up attaching its foot on the glass bottom of the tank? If so how do you remove it from there?
And what would be the best lighting to put on the QT for a clam? QT will be a ten gallon tank.

 

[reggaedrummin]

Best to put it on a piece of rock rubble, a plug, a shell, or some reefers use tile (though I'd be careful to ensure you're not adding heavy metals with the tile route). If you set it on the glass bottom it will attach to it. Ideally your qt lighting should be as close to your dt lighting in par value as possible though there is no need to spend extra money to have fancy controls or rich color. The animals won't be in there long enough for those issues to really matter. In choosing a light focus on quality of light output vs color and features. I'd also look to find a dimmable fixture so you can accomplish your light acclimation in qt and avoid shocking your critters