ATTN all current and future clam keepers!!

[GR808]

Ok Chris, lighting for clams??
I got a 120g that's all LED lit, is that good enough? I have 96 3 watt LED(DIY Cree XR-E) set at 45 percent intensity. All my softies, LPS, and SPS are growing well and I feel I'm ready for clams. Params are all within your limits mentioned above. What'ya think bro??

 

[skinz78]

It is hard for me to say with confidence since I have never kept clams under LED lighting. But my gut feeling says that if you can keep SPS under LED's then you can keep clams too. In the wild reefs clams are found in the same conditions as SPS corals and have very similar needs.

 

[GR808]

Ok, I'll just have to keep you informed when I get mine.... lol thanks

 

[creefer]

Skinz....

Thanks for stating these threads. I've been reading tons about clams lately and want one pretty bad. I ordered however have yet to receive, one of the books you recommended. I have a system of about 55G total. Display is a 40B size yet it's only 15" tall, rimless, with about 14" of water depth. I'm running an SPS dominant system using a 6 x 39 T5. All SPS, including some more "high end" are doing well in the system. The system was set up in April of 2012 at which time I transferred some of my livestock from a 34G solana AIO.

I noted that you believe a QT to be required. I have all I need to set up a QT however the available lighting would be LED, which is not what I run on the display in which the clam would be. It's what I used over my Solana where I had no issues keeping SPS. I'm a little concerned about using the LED for QT only to have to "reacclimate" once the specimen is confirmed to be pest free.

So, I'm looking for your opinion on that and your opinion on a good starter clam.

TIA!

 

[skinz78]

I think you'll need to do a light acclimation on them but only start them out low and then move it on up slowly to where you wish to keep it. For a good starter clam look into a Crocea or Maxima, any others would quickly outgrow your system.

 

[creefer]

Thanks. Appreciate the insight.

 

[Clammania]

Clams are pretty easy, the trick is buying them from a good source who have heathy clams.
I hold my clams from 1 month to 6 months before i sell mine, therefore you are almost have a bullet proff clam

ATTN all current and future clam keepers!!

Hello fellow reef enthusiasts. I check the clam forum almost daily and I try to throw in my $.02 and try to help others out. Please feel free to start a thread and post up any questions you may have and myself along with others will do our best to answer them.

I see a lot of posts asking for help on sick and dieing clams that don't list all info that is needed. There is back and fourth communication problem asking for info and wasting time while clams suffer and die. People need to know how important it is to post all water parameters, pic's of the problem clam, aquarium lighting, recent tank changes, and ALL tank inhabitants when asking for help. This speeds up the diagnosis and helps recovery times.

Here is a good link to recommended water parameters:
Water parameters

And ten important tests:

#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

Pictures can sometime be worth a thousand words. So if you can please please post them. If you need help doing so just ask and we'll gladly help.:bigsmile:

Also I think all clam keepers old and new present and future should read about keeping clams from one or even both of these fine books:

Giant clams in the sea and the aquarium by
James Fatherree

Giant Clams: A Comprehensive Guide to the Identification and Care of Tridacnid Clams by
Daniel Knop


Both books are about the same price of a small clam and I urge first time clam keepers to purchase one or the other and read it before buying their first clam. In the long run people could possibly help their clams thrive and save some money too.

More useful links:

Clam pic's and ID
This site doesn't really tell you much about Id'ing clams but it has lots of pictures of different types of clams. You will have to scroll down and click the picture link on the left side to see the pic's
click on the clam type to see pic's
click on clam type on left side of page for pic's

A Clam ID page that I wrote up.
https://www.reef2reef.com/forums/clams/55284-giant-clam-id.html


Clam feeding

It is my belief that if you have good strong lighting "IE Metal Halide, LED, Plazma, or VHO T5's with individual reflectors" and a good source of nitrogen and phosphorus "fish pee" and "fish poo" then you don't need to do any supplemental feeding for clams. Supplemental feeding clams when done wrong can clog their gills and possibly kill the clam.

In some instances where a tank has a low bio load I have taken phyto and added small amounts to the tank for the clams, does it help? I don't know but I have kept lots of clams in a larger tank with very few fish with no issues when doing this.

Basically clams and the bacteria in our live rock and sand beds compete pretty heavily for ammonia equally. Ammonia is preferred. The byproduct is then nitrite. Clams don't use this but the bacteria in the sand and rock does. And the byproduct from that is nitrate which is consumed by clams but not the bacteria

Will clams lower Nitrates and Ammonia? No, not unless you have a vast quantity of them.

Clam Acclimation

First start off by turning off all of your lighting. Float it in the bag for 15-20 min. Then I take the clam in the bag if the bag is big enough hold at least 1 liter of water and if it isn't I dump the clam and all the water into a big plastic cup. I then place it and bag/cup in a 5 gallon bucket. Then I have a 1/4" airline hose that is about 3-4 feet long. On one end of the hose I have tied a knot in it to restrict flow to a very slow drip. Place the hose into your tank and start a slow siphon into the bag or cup the clam is in. I then forget about the operation for about an hour letting the container overflow into the 5 gallon bucket. When the bag or cup is starting to float in the bucket I check the water temp and compare it to my tank temp. I also take a toothbrush and gently scrub the clams shell to knock off any unwanted hitchhikers. Sometimes re floating is necessary because the container water cools off again. Once I am sure the clam has been very slowly acclimated to the tank water temp and parameters I add it to the tank on the sand bottom.

After the clam has been in the tank for about an hour I slowly start to turn my lights on again. Leave the clam on the sand for a few days and when you place it there put something small and flat buried in the sand under it. The clam will attach to it. This step makes it easy to move the clam from spot to spot on your rock work later. After the clam has been there for a few days and it is one of the more light loving clams IE Crocea or maxima. I slowly start moving it up on to the rock work.

If it is a squamosa giga's or derasa and I like it to be on the sand, if the clam hasn't moved from where I placed it to begin with I just leave it alone. If it does move IE from side to side or turns I know it wants to be elsewhere and I move it to another spot until it sits in one space. The same go's for clams up on the rocks, if they move themselves I don't put them back to the same spot. They are moving for a reason.


Clam VS Fish

I once had one of the many problems in clam keeping happen to me. My false Percula clown got a little too friendly with my Crocea clam. The clam closed on the fish's head, and by the time I noticed them the fish was dead. I am guessing the fish died instantly by the looks of things. This usually kills both the fish and the clam. So I freaked, I tried turning the clam upside down to see if it would release the fish. I gave it about 30 min and nothing changed. So I then came up with my BBQ skewer idea. It looks gross and inhumane but it worked. Remember the fish was already dead.

I stuck the fork through the fish and propped them up so the clam was hanging by its own weight from the fish. Five minutes went by and the clam dropped free.

HTH,
Chris

 

[rajkovich207]

Fwiw I have my clams under leds and so far so good. I was worried about the shimmer messing with the clam and have noticed if something touches the mantle ie snail or the like it only pulls in where its being touched, is this normal? I've had the clam for 10 months and its been under leds for about a month. It is also a maxima if that makes a difference. Also I added my second clam yesterday, I believe its a crocea by the shell, and having felt with most pests was wondering about dipping a clam. I used revive once have done a fw dip and recently read an article on here where the Guy used Bayer insecticide. Just wondering what one could use.tia

 

[skinz78]

It's normal for them to react to touch by anything. Dipping clams would stress them and possibly kill them, I don't recommend it at all.

 

[fragmatic]

Chris,

I have decided I do not need a frag tank. I have decided I do want a second refugium on my desk (that was a frag yesterday) which has clams and whatever else I learn works with clams as a display refugium. Refugium being used here as a separate tank for clams and other creatures thus adding diversity and interest to my tank system. I like the idea of being able to introduce visitors into additional aspects of the eco system with the main display tank and the display refugium as the reference. Plus, this can't help but add dimension and stability to my systems. Plus, clams are really cool.

My chemistry is right there by your post. Some data for you: My display is 90, my sump is 15, my other refuge is 15, and this tank we are talking about is a 20 long. I skim and run a GFO & carbon when I think I need to.

I would like this 20 to have clams and be heavy in algae (or some kinds of growths). My thought (I have done no research yet so I may learn quickly I'm not getting this) is some shrimps and/or crabs, and one or two small compatible fish.

I'm thinking clams on the sand in this shallow tank. It runs LEDs, plenty of them with dimers on three channels of white, blue and others. The others would be some red, green, and a few UV. So, not knowing any clam names and likely about to have a head filled with muddy water, I need simple names of good clams you guys recommend for this situation.

I guess I'm just letting you know that I'm moving this way while I continue to read this folder and learn, and looking for comments.

 

[skinz78]

The only clams that I would recommend in a 20g are Crocea and Maxima clams. The others just get too big too quickly.

I wouldn't add any shrimp in a tank that small with clams, I've seen shrimp pester clams to death.

 

[fragmatic]

thanx.

 

[fragmatic]

I think I understand that the Maxima is hardier than the Crocea, but that the Crocea is a nicer looking clam. Am I correct in this matter?

 

[skinz78]

Ill take a maxima over a crocea any day.

Sent from my C771 using Reef2Reef Aquarium Forum mobile app

 

[childress5tyler]

Great write up! Is it a general rule of thumb that if you can successfully grow sps that you can handle a clam?

 

[skinz78]

Most of the time, it depends on your fish selection too. Some fish that are SPS safe aren't necessarily clam safe.

 

[childress5tyler]

True, I've got a purple tang, 2x onyx clowns, and a Midas blenny. All safe with clams

 

[Spendley]

Considering getting a clam in the upcoming months and I saw this thread pop up...great write up!

29g biocube up for 6 months now, just upgraded to LEDs. 2x ocellaris, 1x RBTA, 1x royal gramma 3x peppermint shrimp, and assorted snails/ a few hermits. I believe everything should get along, but I am worried about the peppermint shrimp as you said they could potentially bug it to death. Also, how would the potential addition of a goby / pistol shrimp affect a clam?

 

[FishHeads]

Excellent write up. Thank you. Just curious, why do the clams die when they close down on the fish?

 

[skinz78]

Considering getting a clam in the upcoming months and I saw this thread pop up...great write up!

29g biocube up for 6 months now, just upgraded to LEDs. 2x ocellaris, 1x RBTA, 1x royal gramma 3x peppermint shrimp, and assorted snails/ a few hermits. I believe everything should get along, but I am worried about the peppermint shrimp as you said they could potentially bug it to death. Also, how would the potential addition of a goby / pistol shrimp affect a clam?

Yes after having issues with them in the past I wont try another Peppermint shrimp. The Pistol shrimp on the other hand shouldn't cause any issues that I'm aware of.

Excellent write up. Thank you. Just curious, why do the clams die when they close down on the fish?

Basically if you don't remove the fish in a way that is not stressful to the clam it will stress the clam to death over time if the fish stays in the shell.