How clams are raised - in the Cook Island at least

[TerraFerma]

Like everyone else I've had the same issues with trying to keep clams in my aquarium. Low hit rate of survivors due to a number of issues. Several years ago I went to Aitutaki (Cook Islands) for a fishing trip. I knew they raised clams there (although for whatever reasons it's difficult to get them shipped to the US) so I made sure to stop by the clam rearing operation. Unfortunately there was no one present at the farm to chew the fat with (you can do that there - if you do something nefarious its easy to track you down on such a small spot of land).

I was on a break from reefing then but the simplicity of how they raised clams there struck me as interesting. Everything is under sun cloth. The water exchange with the nearby ocean is low - its basically just some drippers. As such there is pretty much no flow in the tubs/race way. And algae is rampant despite the odd algae blenny they stick in there.

To be clear they don't spawn clams in the Cook's - the babies come from Australia or Tahiti. But the clams seem to develop their one unique coloration depending on where they are raised. I think Cook Islands clams are the prettiest - you be the judge with these unaltered pics with natural sunlight diffused by shade cloth.

I'll leave it to you to takeaway what might better help us raise claims in aquaria. Last observation: it isn't actually that warm in the Cook Islands. More like Hawaii, the ocean isn't what you would call comfortably warm for a good part of the year and it can dip into the 60's in the cold season.

Anyways here is the world's simplest setup with a ton of healthy and amazing colored clams.

 

[DSC reef]

Really cool, thanks for sharing. I personally like the cooks island maximas.

 

[TerraFerma]

M

Really cool, thanks for sharing. I personally like the cooks island maximas.

Me too. Sadly the farm had no self serve option.

 

[campaign000]

Thanks for sharing. And how could you contact the farm and pay a visit?

 

[Daniel@R2R]

That is COOL!!

 

[TerraFerma]

Thanks for sharing. And how could you contact the farm and pay a visit?

I'm not sure how one would contact the farm. I just showed up and had a look around. Would have loved to chat with someone that worked/volunteered there

 

[Mark Gray]

Very cool I have never been there looks nice I would like to see it.

 

[jda]

They have the benefit of sunlight and natural seawater. You don't have to do much else if you have this. Those should be about 1000 PAR even in the partial shade.

Those are cool pics. Thanks.

 

[campaign000]

They have the benefit of sunlight and natural seawater. You don't have to do much else if you have this. Those should be about 1000 PAR even in the partial shade.

Those are cool pics. Thanks.

Maybe that why most of the clams' mantle
don't extend much —— have no need.

 

[jda]

Possible, but clams can digest excess zoox for even more energy... if they need to. I heard somebody say at a talk over a decade ago (maybe Knop?) that they can use to "catch up." Lack of mantle extension is more a result of overall health rather than light available. Dana Riddle did some studying on these and there was no amount of light that he could give them that had them saturated.

 

[hart24601]

I have found with every maxima I have ever owned that they close when reach a certain amount of light that seems to be dependent on the individual clam. I have often thought they reason they never developed a saturation point was because they have the ability to close as needed. I 1st started noticing the closing many years ago, and when I play with the intensity and photoperiod the amount the clams close is consistent with my observations - that is they start closing later in the photoperiod under less intensity.

 

[jda]

I do not think that clams produce too much zoox and then digest it as a regular occurrence, or at least this was never explained this way... It is more of a method to get more energy IF they need it. I think that most totally healthy, growing clams will close up a bit as their needs are met. However, if they do not have a enough light ever, then it will never matter since they will just slowly starve.

People are always really happy that their clams have maximum mantle extension, but I think that the warnings about not getting enough light are oft overlooked since the clam "looks good." Mantle Extension and Polyp Extension on SPS are some of the biggest false indicators in the reefing hobby.

 

[TerraFerma]

Like in the LFS - the clams would close up when I cast a shadow on them. The pics where I let them re=open were more representative of how open they were.

 

[Initialr]

very cool