Relocating Maxima to the refugium

[Shigshwa]

I got a nice Maxima, about 5 inches, about a week ago. I notice that as the tang and the wrasses are picking at the shell, they get too close to the mantle for its comfort, and I notice that it's retracting twice a minute from how much the fish bother it. I decided to move it to the sump with the chaeto for now, where it's much quieter.

The question is, will the red/white light be any detriment to the clam? I have a 40W DIY setup, dense clusters of Cree LEDs for the sump, with a 2:1 ratio of deep red to cool white. Or would this actually even be good for the clam, with the peaks of Chlorophyll A and B being well targeted? I'm sure the PAR under the lighting is more than enough for it, but I will measure tonight.

Or, am I just being overly concerned about it being bugged? I don't want it to stress out and kick the bucket on me. I've never had my fish give a clam as much attention as this before.

 

[Yuki Rihwa]

Well, you should leave it your MT.
As long the fish don't nip the clam mantle then it will be fine, the clam will ignore the fish present with time and less sensitive to the movement around it. My clams don't care about fish hovering above or near it mantle unless the fish nipped the mantle, moving it the the sump is you giving its pretty much death penalty.

 

[Shigshwa]

I'll move it back then. Is the lighting the issue in the sump?

 

[Yuki Rihwa]

I'll move it back then. Is the lighting the issue in the sump?

Yes, lacking of flow and light.

 

[jda]

I agree. As long as it is not getting the mantle munched on, it will learn to not react as much. I would move it on to a different home where it can get more light before I would let it live in that fuge - if that is a Tahitian Maxima, they need an INCREDIBLE amount of light.

 

[Shigshwa]

This one is Indonesian. I'm hitting 250 PAR on the sandbed, the clam is probably getting more since it's taller than the sandbed floor.

Do their light requirements really differ depending on region? I thought it was a function of color and the amount of usable light they reflect back.

 

[hart24601]

As I have posted in other threads I have hand bad experiences with clams and fish. I would leave it in sump, but if you move it back watch the fish very carefully to see if nipping on mantle. I set my phone up on time lapse to catch them over several hours.

 

[Shigshwa]

As I have posted in other threads I have hand bad experiences with clams and fish. I would leave it in sump, but if you move it back watch the fish very carefully to see if nipping on mantle. I set my phone up on time lapse to catch them over several hours.

I don't see any chunks of mantle missing, but as my wrasses and tangs come to pick off pods and algae, they get very close to the mantle, to where the clam spooks and closes completely. I'm just concerned that it will interfere with its ability to collect light if it doesn't want to open up, and I'm even more concerned as the clam is still in that critical stage of getting cozy and shaking off stress from moving. It seems as though this period either ends well, or the clam perishes.

For whatever reason, I have not had luck yet with a single Maxima, but I know that my lighting is good enough for even a Crocea to be growing (I own one, a deep blue colored one).

 

[hart24601]

You probably will not see chucks of mantle missing in most cases even if they develop a taste especially for bristle tooth tang as they potentially seem to like the slime. It doesn’t take much for a clam to stop opening ime.

Either way be sure to keep us updated!

 

[Shigshwa]

Just my luck, the tang is a Bristletooth Tomini, maybe that's why it likes to take a quick swipe at the mantle every now and then.

I'll keep watch on it and see how it does.

 

[Shigshwa]

Well, whaddya know, the other fish stopped bugging it as much today, it's looking just fine now!

 

[hart24601]

Yay! Fingers crossed!

 

[Yuki Rihwa]

Well, whaddya know, the other fish stopped bugging it as much today, it's looking just fine now!

Yep, all my fishes (tang and wrasse) always investigate new clam, like a doctor trying to find some problems on the clam but for algae and pods for the most part, then they just leave it alone and perking on the clam shell here and there once in a while, the clam will open and close a lot during 1st week but soon adjust to new environment and ignore pretty much everything, the oldest clam in my system only retract if I blocked the light above it.