Clam won't plant foot

[jordan10]

Hi I have had this calm for almost a year now and I have only seen his foot out a few times since I have had him. I have put him on flat piece of rock I have dug a hole in sand bed so he attache to bottom of the acrylic. He looks good just know my hermit crab will knock it over. Just thought I would ask see if anyone had any ideas on why it's foot won't stay out?

 

[Big G]

Bump

 

[BestMomEver]

I'm not a clam expert, so take this as JMO.... I only recently found out that Maximas are rock dwelling (most of the time) clams. Others like the sand bed. I never could figure out why, historically, I've had trouble with clams. Having learned a little about them, I bought a Max and placed it in a shell on the sand floor and gave it a few weeks to attach and get adjusted. Once attached, I moved the shell to a higher (and more aesthetically pleasing) place in the rock work. You might try a shell... something it can rest in...

 

[BestMomEver]

Just learned who to call

@DSC reef

 

[DogsRule]

Not sure why you are concerned about not seeing the clam's foot? The foot is used to move the clam if it is possibly not happy with flow, light, water parameters & so on. If the clam isn't moving, then it is happy & will, as you observed, attach via threads to hold itself in that location. From the pics, looks like a Derasa clam to me, so should be just fine in the sand. As it grows, it will eventually detach the threads & will just use size/weight to hold in place. HTH

 

[hart24601]

Derasa sometimes will attach even when 4-6”, but not always, so there isn’t necessarily anything wrong with not being attached. It’s a pain when clams get pushed over I know, but sometimes it’s just part of it for a while until they get a lot larger. Even derasa’s are attached when small in the wild, however being cultured and put in our tanks is a lot different than what they would experience and they don’t always reattach well. If it’s been growing for a year then hopefully it will be at a size soon where it doesn’t get knocked over, but don’t stress about it ime.

 

[jordan10]

Thanks all. I just thought it would always have it's foot out and yes it's a derasa. So should be on sand but never thought bout if it's happy why have it out. Idk thanks for the input. And not stressing just trying to learn

 

[reef lover]

Looks good !