How to take care of clams

Redneck19261

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I've been wanting a clam for a wile now but not sure how to take care of one. I have a 13g tank so I was gonna get a small clam (about 2 inches) to start with. Any advice would be helpful. Thanks in advance.
 

Gareth elliott

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I've been wanting a clam for a wile now but not sure how to take care of one. I have a 13g tank so I was gonna get a small clam (about 2 inches) to start with. Any advice would be helpful. Thanks in advance.

@DSC reef should be able to help. Sure there are a few others but was a late night and my brains a bit foggy on who has clams lol.
 

Reef AquaCult

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That’s a very small tank to keep a clam in, you would need to keep a very tight eye on water parameters. I would be much easier to have a clam in a larger, stable established system.
 

sde1500

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Your parameters will be stable now, when a clam starts to grow it can bottom things out fast. I think a maxima is the only one that would likely fit long term, without much else in the tank. What light do you have? I have a maxima in my tank, nearing a year now, cultured one from PEA. I would def go this route, wild/mariculture you risk getting pyramid snails or other parasites, like my first one succumbed to. They will suck up nitrates, and calcium. In such a small tank you'll need to be sure to test frequently.
 
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Redneck19261

Redneck19261

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Your parameters will be stable now, when a clam starts to grow it can bottom things out fast. I think a maxima is the only one that would likely fit long term, without much else in the tank. What light do you have? I have a maxima in my tank, nearing a year now, cultured one from PEA. I would def go this route, wild/mariculture you risk getting pyramid snails or other parasites, like my first one succumbed to. They will suck up nitrates, and calcium. In such a small tank you'll need to be sure to test frequently.
My calcium has been holding from 495 to 510. I have the new AI 16HDReef light.
 

DSC reef

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I didn't think a small one would. Like I said he will only be 2 inches long. But then again I don't know much about them lol how do you feed them? Do you just dose the tank with phytoplankton and that's it?
You can dose live phytoplankton, I prefer reef nutrition but tridacna does not need fed to survive. They can get all their carbon energy from light. They also have pinocytosing microvillous epidermal cells that pull ammonia/phosphorus from the water column so I always recommend having some bioload, zero nutrients is not a good environment for tridacna.
 
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Redneck19261

Redneck19261

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You can dose live phytoplankton, I prefer reef nutrition but tridacna does not need fed to survive. They can get all their carbon energy from light. They also have pinocytosing microvillous epidermal cells that pull ammonia/phosphorus from the water column so I always recommend having some bioload, zero nutrients is not a good environment for tridacna.
So tridacna needs ammonia to live?
 

DSC reef

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They have some nice ones but the price is high. Ive been looking on algea barn
Getting a healthy clam is very important and Dr. Mac with Pacific east knows about tridacna and has some of the best I've seen. IMO, don't let price persuade you in choosing a healthy tridacna.
 

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