Clam growing out of back of medium sized snail shell?

[Gustav22]

Hey guys I’ve been watching what looks like a clam growing on the back of one of my snails for a couple months and today it came close to the glass and I watched it slowly open and close several times.

A couple questions:

Is this common at all?

Will this clam survive being totes around on a snail? Would it be better to sacrifice the snail for the good of keeping the clam in the same place?

How cool is this thing?

I’ve had this particular snail for about a year.

Thanks!
Kyle

 

[Retro Reefer]

Very cool.. thx for sharing

 

[webmanny]

That is super cool and it does look like a clam. Will it survive stuck to the snail? I don't think it will go long term, since snails often decide to hide for a while or switch shells and leave the old one behind.

If you want to give this a try and see what happens, I would take the snail out of the tank and carefully try to remove the clam from the snail's shell and place it on a bottle cap or something where the flow or other critters will move it or knock it over with some gravel or coarse sand, then put it back in the sand bed.

If you do decide to try this, please share your experience with us and maybe some pics.

While on the subject, I found this link of a clam farm project that has some pictures you can use as reference to yours. Good luck and Merry Christmas!

 

[hotashes]

@DSC reef
@jda

Have a look at this amazing hitchhiker, wow.

A.

 

[Saveafish]

That's a clam, glue the snail to a rock.

 

[DSC reef]

It's a bivalve of some sort. The survivability isn't that great. We would have them come in on new tridacna clams and they wouldn't survive very long so in that case I'd recommend you don't take the advice of gluing your snail down to a rock.

 

[Gustav22]

Haha thanks for the interest guys! For the moment I think I’ll leave the clam on the snail and keep up with putting phyto in the water. If it disappears for more than a few days I’ll start looking for it.

Any idea what kind of clam this is and how this could’ve happened?

Here’s a few more pictures from a couple weeks ago

 

[hotashes]

It's a bivalve of some sort. The survivability isn't that great. We would have them come in on new tridacna clams and they wouldn't survive very long so in that case I'd recommend you don't take the advice of gluing your snail down to a rock.

I instantly thought it was a bivalve before I see pictures, then the rigid patterned edges made me consider if it’s a clam!!!

That’s why I sent for the experts in yourself lol

A.

 

[DSC reef]

I don't think it's a tridacna to be honest. But the species I'm unsure of. Snails can pick up all kinds of cool hitchhikers depending on where they are collected or kept. We've had some come in with porites before.

 

[Gustav22]

It's a bivalve of some sort. The survivability isn't that great. We would have them come in on new tridacna clams and they wouldn't survive very long so in that case I'd recommend you don't take the advice of gluing your snail down to a rock.

Thanks for the information, I think this is one of the Mexican turbos so it should get real big. Perhaps the bivalve will keep up with it and eventually I’ll have a real big clam on a real big snail haha

Got a clip of it closing here

 

[DSC reef]

Looks like you have 2 on the snail. The phyto could possibly increase their survivability.

 

[Gustav22]

Looks like you have 2 on the snail. The phyto could possibly increase their survivability.

Aaaand now I feel dumb haha. Where’s the second??

 

[DSC reef]

Aaaand now I feel dumb haha. Where’s the second??

Don't feel dumb my friend. Upper left to the big one

 

[Saveafish]

I don't think it's a tridacna to be honest. But the species I'm unsure of. Snails can pick up all kinds of cool hitchhikers depending on where they are collected or kept. We've had some come in with porites before.

The glue it to a rock was a funny. Don't do that. But cool note it took a lot of rough treatment. Snails go in and out of water a lot. Its a hanging in there.

 

[Coralreefer1]

Alls good so far so don’t fix it if it isn’t broke!

 

[Gustav22]

Don't feel dumb my friend. Upper left to the big one

You’re absolutely right, just took another look at it in the tank and there’s another just above the first bivalve on the other side of the shell, almost the same size as well so perhaps they attached themselves to the snail at the same time

 

[Gustav22]

This might be the best picture I’ve got of it so far. Thanks again for the help everyone!

 

[Coralreefer1]

Please send one to me, especially if it is a Black and White Zebra Maxima!

 

[DSC reef]

This might be the best picture I’ve got of it so far. Thanks again for the help everyone!

Anytime. I'm pretty sure it's not a photosynthetic tridacna so keep up with the phyto.

 

[Gustav22]

Anytime. I'm pretty sure it's not a photosynthetic tridacna so keep up with the phyto.

Will do!