How hard are clams to keep?

ColoradoBill · Dec 13, 2019

I got a Gigas and a Maximus and put them in a 6 week old tank. That was about 4 months ago and they're both doing very well. I wouldn't recommend that for the beginner but it can be done. I would agree with getting aqua-cultured ones, I got mine from AlgaeBarn. I would also agree with keeping the Iodine at 0.06 or there about. I think that may actually be the "secret sauce" for a lot of corals that people have trouble keeping, such as Zoes as well.
You obviously need to keep a very stable parameters for everything else- salinity, temp, alk, calcium, pH. They also love lots of light and moderate flow. I also feed my plankton daily but I've read that's not entirely necessary. Mine were about 1 1/2" each when I got them and they've probably tripled in the last 4 months.

Terry Mattson · Dec 13, 2019

ColoradoBill said:
I got a Gigas and a Maximus and put them in a 6 week old tank. That was about 4 months ago and they're both doing very well. I wouldn't recommend that for the beginner but it can be done. I would agree with getting aqua-cultured ones, I got mine from AlgaeBarn. I would also agree with keeping the Iodine at 0.06 or there about. I think that may actually be the "secret sauce" for a lot of corals that people have trouble keeping, such as Zoes as well.
You obviously need to keep a very stable parameters for everything else- salinity, temp, alk, calcium, pH. They also love lots of light and moderate flow. I also feed my plankton daily but I've read that's not entirely necessary. Mine were about 1 1/2" each when I got them and they've probably tripled in the last 4 months.

That is a good report. And great growth. I dose home grown live plankton daily at about 15 to 20 ml in 91 gallon system (70 to 75 gallon after rock sand displacement) and that helps copods ...

bryanfuel · Dec 13, 2019

ColoradoBill said:
I got a Gigas and a Maximus and put them in a 6 week old tank. That was about 4 months ago and they're both doing very well. I wouldn't recommend that for the beginner but it can be done. I would agree with getting aqua-cultured ones, I got mine from AlgaeBarn. I would also agree with keeping the Iodine at 0.06 or there about. I think that may actually be the "secret sauce" for a lot of corals that people have trouble keeping, such as Zoes as well.
You obviously need to keep a very stable parameters for everything else- salinity, temp, alk, calcium, pH. They also love lots of light and moderate flow. I also feed my plankton daily but I've read that's not entirely necessary. Mine were about 1 1/2" each when I got them and they've probably tripled in the last 4 months.

That’s a ton of growth!

ColoradoBill · Dec 13, 2019

Terry Mattson said:
That is a good report. And great growth. I dose home grown live plankton daily at about 15 to 20 ml in 91 gallon system (70 to 75 gallon after rock sand displacement) and that helps copods ...

I dose about the same- 15ml a day in an 80 gallon system. I'll try to take a pic tonight, it's really been amazing the amount of growth I've had.

Uncle99 · Dec 13, 2019

Sqamy and Dersa on the sand.....crocea and maxi on the rock work.
As with any reef inhab, that stable water with good reef lighting makes them easy.

Terry Mattson · Dec 13, 2019

ColoradoBill said:
I dose about the same- 15ml a day in an 80 gallon system. I'll try to take a pic tonight, it's really been amazing the amount of growth I've had.

That would be awesome

ColoradoBill · Dec 13, 2019

Here are a couple pics I just took. The first shows a top down view- about 3.5 inches across. The second is from the side. All the white grown you see on the top is new:

Terry Mattson · Dec 13, 2019

Awesome.

ColoradoBill · Dec 13, 2019

Here's a better photo, hand for scale. I'm actually a bit worried that this gigas will out grow the tank faster than I had planned. I guess it's a good excuse for the wife for the upgrade lol. Bought on 7/27/19, this photo taken 12/13/19 so 4.5 months of growth:

Phildago · Dec 13, 2019

If you can keep sps, you can keep a clam. Just make sure you pick a good spot where he won't get knocked over. Drop him in, and don't touch him again.