Blue maxima attachment question

[LMDAVE]

I just got this maxima clam a couple days ago, who, started in sand bed, then I moved him up to this rock ledge. He fit in the contour of the rock good, but inched up to the ledge a little and fell off over night. I’m trying him there again becaue he visual seemed happy in that area, and glue le this piece of rubble in front to encourage him to attach.

If and when he finally ataches do you think I can remove the rubble piece (because the piece is kind of ugly but doing the trick)?

And how long do you think i should wait before trying to remove the rubble rock?

 

[DSC reef]

I would not try to force the clam to stay in one place. Typically they'll move when unhappy with lighting, flow, etc. What kind of lighting do you have and how big is the clam? It might be better to put the clam on the bottom of the tank on a piece of rock that it can attach it's abyssal threads too so movement of the clam will be easier down the road. Maximas require a lot of light but since the clam is new it might need to acclimate to your tank. Also, can you take a couple more pics please, your clam has a strong resemblance to a blue squamosa and you'll want to keep that species on the sand bed with suffecient lighting.

 

[LMDAVE]

That would be great if you could tell me this is a squamosa vs maxima. The LFS has both kind of seemed unsure which was which, so the more experienced guy came buy can said this was maxima.

It's about 2.5-3" long

Originally it was in my sand bed but was pretty gaped the next day and losing color so I moved him up. These are picture from this morning. I change the rubble rock a little but he’s still up there and not touching the rubble rock. So he didn’t try to go down.

I just added a second Fluval led 2.0 light strip last week so I have pretty good light up there, just 20”+ inches down to tbe sand bed may not be as strong .

 

[DSC reef]

That would be a blue tridacna squamosa without a doubt. Beautiful clam my friend. I would get the clam on the sand bed. What type of lighting do you have?

 

[LMDAVE]

OK, original I had him down there, check the video from day 1. this seemed like a good spot but maybe I didnt give him enough time before I start moving him up. With these two Fluval LED 2.0 light strips I have now, I'm getting really good coverage. So, if you're positive about the squamosa ID, then I'd give him a try back down there. How far away down he have to be from the frog spawn and hammer? Because that's the spot between the trachy and euphyllias that I would like him to be.

 

[DSC reef]

That looks like a good spot where you had him, as he grows you'll need to rearrange the corals, squamosa get large. @saltyfilmfolks I don't have any experience with the fluval lights, will there be par issues there?

 

[LMDAVE]

Can you tell me what identification you used to tell this was squamosa vs maxima, I looked up picture of both and see similarities in each.

The problem with the Fluval LED light is I know their PAR drops off significantly with depth. Their posted PAR shows 300+ at PAR top and only about 30-40 at 20", I have two light strips side by side now so not sure if it's double. BUt, I'll see how he adjust when I put him back down.

 

[DSC reef]

The shutes on the shell are dead giveaway plus the mantle has the traditional squamosa pattern.

 

[DSC reef]

Here's a pic of our squamosa we used to have that was over 12". Grew him from about 3".

 

[LMDAVE]

Wow, nice looking clams. Sorry for a bunch of questions, but now I’m a little confused about them liking the sand bed, you have a bare bottom there. Is it the sand tbey like, or just lower depth light?

 

[DSC reef]

Ask away! Lol, no worries. Squamosa and derasa species prefer the bottom due to there size and don't attach to rock often, it doesn't matter if the tank has sand or not. When there smaller they can anchor with byssal threads but once they get big enough typically they loose the threads. The small blue squamosa had just enough thread to keep it in place on glass while the larger clam ditched it's threads years ago. Check out articles by James Fatheree, he has a lot of great information on tridacna species. There one of my favorite reef animals.

 

[DSC reef]

Also, they require a good amount of light but not as much as tridacna maxima and crocea.

 

[LMDAVE]

Just watch the video from James about clams, very informative of ID but I still need to learn more a lot more. I placed the clam back down on the sand bed. His mouth is semi gaped but I’ll just let him adjust. My tank is currently fallow and my nitrates dropped significantly over the last two weeks, from 5-10 ppm range to below 1. so i don’t know if it could be starving for nutrients or if light is not sufficient. Doesn’t look bad but not sure if he should be this open.

 

[DSC reef]

The incurrent siphon of your clam is not gaping, it's filtering the water which they do most of the time. You do want nutrients in the tank for the clam to filter. Gaping is a broad term used with clams and is often confused with there mouth being open. James Fatheree has good articles to show you the difference. Take your time while learning, that's one of the wonders of this hobby. The more I learn about tridacna the more I truly love and appreciate that animal. Your clam looks happy, it's filtering and trying to soak up some light. The sure way to know a clam is thriving is new shell growth under the mantle.

 

[saltyfilmfolks]

Yea crank those lights to full and leave em on as long as you can.

 

[LMDAVE]

Question about the clam being on the sand bed. Is he fine on the substrate or does a rock have to be underneath him?

He's been closed up this morning into the afternoon.

 

[DSC reef]

As long as he's upright then substrate is fine.

 

[LMDAVE]

@DSC reef what do you think about this? My clam has been doing great but I saw a snail on him a few hours ago, Nassirus snail, I tried to knock him off but didn’t want to tear the mantle so i let him leave on his own, now I see tbe section of the mantel (back left) either gone or retracted. I read that the snail only eats the clam if its dead or dying. But this one seems healthy and still responds to movement near him and retracts. But just that section is gone (or tucked away) What do you think about this and the snail?

 

[DSC reef]

Can you get a picture of the snail out of the water? Possibly a whelk since the clam looks healthy in the pic.

 

[LMDAVE]

I did remove the snail from my tank yesterday because it was still hanging out near the clam, I put it in my wife's pico tank over night. Here are some pictures of it from different angles this morning. I didn't have time to remove it from the tank to take pictures. it was on the glass. Also, here's the latest picture of the clam, the mantel has curling going on on the edge that was damaged.