Travelling maxima

CalamityJen · Feb 27, 2018

Hi all, have a question. I got a 1.5 inch maxima on January 17. First starte him out in half a clam shell on the bottom, he attached, and after a week I moved him into the rock work about half way up my tank. He' under a hydra 26. Well, he stayed there for a week until he popped off and took a jump back to the bottom. Ok, back into the clam shell, where he attached again. But it didn' last long. He climbed out of the clam shell, and i figured he was just going to go where he wanted. He' traveled half way across the tank and back, will he ever settle down? The flow isn't too strong and my water is pretty good. Kh8 cal 380 ammonia 0 nitrite 0 nitrate 5

Any tricks to get him to stay put? Or is this just normal for some? Thank you

DLHDesign · Feb 27, 2018

Clams aren't generally wanderers; if it's moving about, it's not really happy.

You mentioned a hydra 26, but didn't give us a tank size that I see? It may be a light issue (usually not enough ), but can't say for sure.
Is there anything in the tank bugging it? Constant nips or shoves from fish of snails may make it hard to settle in.

CalamityJen · Feb 27, 2018

It's a modded biocube, 28 gallons. I have a small korrallia on one side, and a tunze 6040 on the other, set to wave at 100% power, and 10% on low. The water movement on the bottom is brisk, but not so bad that his mantle folds over. It's a bare bottom tank, if that matters. IDK.

CalamityJen · Feb 27, 2018

Here's a shot of the tank

DLHDesign · Feb 27, 2018

Thanks for the info. The 6040 at 100% is moving ~1190GPH while the korrallia can be anywhere from 240gph or higher. That's a lot of flow for a 28g cube - and might be too much for that clam to settle in.
I'm not sure about the bare-bottom aspect. I can't recall seeing a clam attached to a glass bottom, but that doesn't mean they won't, per-se...

Let's check with the #reefsquad on this; clams are not my specialty.

Nice looking tank, though!

CalamityJen · Feb 27, 2018

The flow is intermittent though, 5 second on, five seconds off. Partly obscure by a rock, so, not as much as you think. Lol otherwise I'd have to glue the live rock to the bottom.

DSC reef · Feb 27, 2018

It's probably more flow than you think. A clam that size is easily moved by little flow. Generally clams can move on there own due to being unhappy in the position in the tank due to lighting, flow etc.

CalamityJen · Feb 27, 2018

Thank you. I will reduce the flow and see what happens. Maybe I'll get a big chunk of live rock to put it on and see if he would rather stay on it. I've been in the hobby for a decade, but this is my first clam. Thank you for the help

CalamityJen · Mar 12, 2018

I reduced the flow to 50%, and he's been scooting around just as much as before.

Dan I · Mar 12, 2018

Yeah, clams like to scoot around if they aren't happy. My clam jumped off his little rock of 1 year and moved around until he ended back near his original rock but at the base of it. Just let him do this thing.