Best place to buy clam online

[Reefinmike]

Hey all, I’m looking for suggestions on where to buy a clam for my relatively new reef. My tank has been running for about 5 months and I feel it is now ready for a clam. Algaes have calmed down, rock is coloring up nicely and coralline is going nuts. The microfauna population of pods, sponges, tunicates, spiroids and feather dusters is thriving and my baby trochus snails are spawning like mad. Sps corals are doing pretty good and growing nicely but color is fairly muted due to practically non existent nutrient levels. Would a clam do better in a tank with established, stable measurable nutrient levels? I do intend to start dosing nutrients if I continue to struggle with 0 nitrates and phosphate.

I had several clams ~10 years ago and had great success. My lighting is plenty capable and cal/alk are tested very often and kept stable. I take things very slowly and don’t make drastic changes. My biggest hangup is quarantine procedure. With the exception of one coral from a friend, I haven’t added anything to my tank since bleaching and restarting it 6 months ago. I’m finally setting up a proper coral qt system but I feel it would be an additional 4 months before I’d be comfortable putting a clam in it. I would like to make a calculated risk adding a clam directly to my display without quarantine. I know nearly all clams are aquacultured and likely pest free once they leave the grow out facility. Are there any online retailers that have their clams in dedicated systems away from corals, fish, inverts and hopefully related pests? Of course I’d give the clam’s shell a good scrubbing before putting it in my tank. I’m thinking of starting with a simple deresa or squamosa clam. I like croceas but they dont seem as available as before and reasonably priced ones look rather bland. Believe it or not, i dont really like maxima clams. I’m pretty tempted to buy one from live aquaria since they have free shipping over $100. Anyone have any suggestions on their favorite place to buy clams?

 

[Coralreefer1]

Personally, I prefer to buy my Clams at my local pet stores. The reasons being that I can actually see them in person to view color and pattern better. Moreover, I can visually see what condition they are in, where they are placed plus I know how long they have been at the pet store from the place of origin. I can get answers regarding feeding and any other pertinent info I may have regarding the Clams they carry.

 

[DSC reef]

Try @PacificEastAquaculture when they have them in stock. ORA is another reliable source IME

 

[Usctom]

Try @PacificEastAquaculture when they have them in stock. ORA is another reliable source IME

I have bought a couple from Pacific east in the past. They used to have a ton of them at a reasonable price

 

[CNDReef]

If you want a decent clam to try out try having your local petco order you a squamosa or a derasa to test out your tank. My squamosa is actually thriving for my first clam ever.

 

[Reefinmike]

Thanks for the replies everyone. I agree, buying a healthy clam in person at a lfs would be best protocol. I buy most all of my livestock from a local basement coral farmer and he's closed down shop for a few months while he moves. Another LFS carries clams on occasion but they are usually big 3-4" maxima clams with $200+ price tags and fancy names and "aussie" tagged to them. To be honest I really dont like narrow look of maxima clams, they are too "mainstream" for me and the only reasonably priced ones are less than an inch requiring phyto feeding for a long time. Any LFS that carries clams will also have them in the same system as other fish, corals and inverts which increases the risk of an unwanted hitchhiker or disease. I feel my best option is a large online retailer where it's more probable that the clams are kept in more species specific systems.

I checked out pacific east aquaculture and their prices were about right. I ended up not going with them because the shipping was an additional $50 and I remember watching a macna talk recently where the owner said they've basically closed up shop and laid off all the employees due to collection/import bans. I ended up buying a squamosa and a derasa from Live aquaria. they seem to have pretty good turnover and I left a very specific note requesting they don't ship the clams unless they're reactive to shadows, open fully, no gape and in tact byssal gland. That combined with their 14 day guarantee will hopefully get me a good clam. We'll see when they arrive tomorrow!

 

[DSC reef]

Post some pics when you get it, congrats.

 

[Reefinmike]

Will do!

 

[CNDReef]

Good luck

 

[4FordFamily]

Believe it or not my best clams have been from eBay

 

[Lowsingle]

I have had no luck with clams from divers den / live aquaria. All died within a couple months. On the other hand, I have six clams from dr Mac and all are alive and thriving (5 maximas and 1 really odd derasa). I would highly recommend dr Mac (pacific east aquaculture).

Darren

 

[Reefinmike]

Darren, i’ll have to give dr mac a try if these clams dont do well.

The clams arrived today at 930am just as i was heading out to vote. I was pretty impressed by the shipping and packing. The clams were each packed in a half gallon of water and several very thick bags. The box was plenty big and tightly packed with peanuts to cushion them.

I was a bit disappointed to find they allow the clams to attach to large 3/4” “crushed coral” substrate. These pieces got caught in the creases of the first bag which ships upside down. The derasa had a few pieces of coral attached by thin threads and a few that likely ripped away during shipping. The squamosa clam had a relatively large chunk of byssal gland ripped out but still hanging on. I carefully picked up the whole mess and put him in the sand hoping the clam could salvage some of the tissue. Keeping these clams on regular sand would have prevented this damage. The box arrived in perfect condition so I cant blame ups.

The squamosa otherwise visually looks very healthy and happy. The derasa looks pretty happy but appears to be gaping a bit. Looking at pictures from earlier it appears to be closing up. I’m not super concerned but i’ll certainly be keeping an eye on it. I’m emailing live aquaria regarding the damaged clam and the media they keep them on.

 

[Wrasse-cal]

My own experiences with clams:

0-2 from Live Aquaria

10-0 from @PacificEastAquaculture

 

[ZachR32]

Ive ordered 4 clams thru live aquaria, all were ORA. One was a 2 inch derasa and the other three were 1.5 inch maximas. All have done fantastically for me.

 

[PacificEastAquaculture]

Thanks for the replies everyone. I agree, buying a healthy clam in person at a lfs would be best protocol. I buy most all of my livestock from a local basement coral farmer and he's closed down shop for a few months while he moves. Another LFS carries clams on occasion but they are usually big 3-4" maxima clams with $200+ price tags and fancy names and "aussie" tagged to them. To be honest I really dont like narrow look of maxima clams, they are too "mainstream" for me and the only reasonably priced ones are less than an inch requiring phyto feeding for a long time. Any LFS that carries clams will also have them in the same system as other fish, corals and inverts which increases the risk of an unwanted hitchhiker or disease. I feel my best option is a large online retailer where it's more probable that the clams are kept in more species specific systems.

I checked out pacific east aquaculture and their prices were about right. I ended up not going with them because the shipping was an additional $50 and I remember watching a macna talk recently where the owner said they've basically closed up shop and laid off all the employees due to collection/import bans. I ended up buying a squamosa and a derasa from Live aquaria. they seem to have pretty good turnover and I left a very specific note requesting they don't ship the clams unless they're reactive to shadows, open fully, no gape and in tact byssal gland. That combined with their 14 day guarantee will hopefully get me a good clam. We'll see when they arrive tomorrow!

We have never closed up shop, we are very much open for business. Shipping on orders over $150 is $9.99-$24.99, free over $249. Only sell cultured clams, at the moment we have Derasas, Squamosas, and gold Maximas. In a couple of weeks getting more Blue Maximas from the farm we set up in French Polynesia.

 

[Wrasse-cal]

We have never closed up shop, we are very much open for business. Shipping on orders over $150 is $9.99-$24.99, free over $249. Only sell cultured clams, at the moment we have Derasas, Squamosas, and gold Maximas. In a couple of weeks getting more Blue Maximas from the farm we set up in French Polynesia.

I wouldn’t order clams from anywhere else. Plus, Rachel at Pacific East Aquaculture is the best!

 

[Reefinmike]

We have never closed up shop, we are very much open for business. Shipping on orders over $150 is $9.99-$24.99, free over $249. Only sell cultured clams, at the moment we have Derasas, Squamosas, and gold Maximas. In a couple of weeks getting more Blue Maximas from the farm we set up in French Polynesia.

Thank you for the reply @PacificEastAquaculture , i sure wish I waited a few extra days for the replies i’ve had the past 24hrs. How big are the maxima clams you have coming in? I’m making a conscious effort to only add low maintenance livestock for a long term successful reef. Feeding phytoplankton is simply a dealbreaker.

Do you guys ever bring in crocea clams? 10 years ago beautiful 3-4” specimens were commonly had for $50 or less. Nowadays it seems there is no market for them. My next order will certainly be with you guys.

 

[PacificEastAquaculture]

Thank you for the reply @PacificEastAquaculture , i sure wish I waited a few extra days for the replies i’ve had the past 24hrs. How big are the maxima clams you have coming in? I’m making a conscious effort to only add low maintenance livestock for a long term successful reef. Feeding phytoplankton is simply a dealbreaker.

Do you guys ever bring in crocea clams? 10 years ago beautiful 3-4” specimens were commonly had for $50 or less. Nowadays it seems there is no market for them. My next order will certainly be with you guys.

The Maximas are usually 2 to 3 inches.

 

[Greybeard]

What happened to Squamosa, gigas, hippopus?

Hardly ever see these around anymore. You'd think, with all the farming going on, they'd be getting easier to find!

Love to find a LFS within a 6 hour drive or so of SW Missouri that had more than a couple in stock. Be worth taking a daytrip for.

 

[PacificEastAquaculture]

What happened to Squamosa, gigas, hippopus?

Hardly ever see these around anymore. You'd think, with all the farming going on, they'd be getting easier to find!

Love to find a LFS within a 6 hour drive or so of SW Missouri that had more than a couple in stock. Be worth taking a daytrip for.

We have Deresa, Squamosa, and Maximas in stock. Hippopus are not very attractive, every time we get them in they are difficult to sell, very minimal mantle extension. Unfortunately none of the farms I'm aware of are culturing gigas.