Sorry for a long post. I’m thinking a couple of years into the future about what I might do with my derasa clam. I’d like to hear from people who have done a clam only/dominate tank.
A bit of back story: I’ve been fascinated with giant clams since I was a little kid. (That’s nearly 50 years ago for those of you keeping score at home) My reef was started primarily to scratch the clam itch.
My tank is about 1.5 years old now and I have a small maxima that I put in last March, and a fairly good sized derasa that I bought when the tank was one year old. Both clams are growing well and seem to be doing good. The derasa looks like it may out grow the place I have it in the near future which has had me thinking about next steps.
My tank is in my office at work and I’ll have to tear it down in less than 2 years to move to a new building. I’ll have some decisions to make at that point, but one possibility is to get something like a 24” cube tank for just the clam. Perhaps the clam tank will go to the new office and the existing tank will go home. Perhaps vice versa. Might have room for a bigger general reef tank in the new place. All of these are possible.
I’ve seen @Troy V osts on the gigas display he had for years, and the struggles with keeping a clam that large. I’d love to hear more from him and about others who have done clam dominate displays. I find this sort of tank very attractive.
How big will the derasa get? I know 24” is considered the outside max, but I haven’t seen any evidence that it will get that large in what's left of my lifetime. I see a lot of claims of 10-14” but not many photos. Will it look goofy in a 24” square tank?
I’d probably like to not have fish in this tank. Is that possible, or would I struggle to keep nutrients up? Any other peculiarities with having primarily just a clam? (I’m sure there would be some corals as well to round out the display)
This is my tank today:
Close ups of the derasa:
A bit of back story: I’ve been fascinated with giant clams since I was a little kid. (That’s nearly 50 years ago for those of you keeping score at home) My reef was started primarily to scratch the clam itch.
My tank is about 1.5 years old now and I have a small maxima that I put in last March, and a fairly good sized derasa that I bought when the tank was one year old. Both clams are growing well and seem to be doing good. The derasa looks like it may out grow the place I have it in the near future which has had me thinking about next steps.
My tank is in my office at work and I’ll have to tear it down in less than 2 years to move to a new building. I’ll have some decisions to make at that point, but one possibility is to get something like a 24” cube tank for just the clam. Perhaps the clam tank will go to the new office and the existing tank will go home. Perhaps vice versa. Might have room for a bigger general reef tank in the new place. All of these are possible.
I’ve seen @Troy V osts on the gigas display he had for years, and the struggles with keeping a clam that large. I’d love to hear more from him and about others who have done clam dominate displays. I find this sort of tank very attractive.
How big will the derasa get? I know 24” is considered the outside max, but I haven’t seen any evidence that it will get that large in what's left of my lifetime. I see a lot of claims of 10-14” but not many photos. Will it look goofy in a 24” square tank?
I’d probably like to not have fish in this tank. Is that possible, or would I struggle to keep nutrients up? Any other peculiarities with having primarily just a clam? (I’m sure there would be some corals as well to round out the display)
This is my tank today:
Close ups of the derasa:
