What happened to the Pacific East Aquaculture clam supply? Good alternatives?

[LeftyReefer]

I've had luck buying blue legged hermits from petco, but a clam I'm hoping for wysiwyg

You were right to be wary.... If this had been a WYSIWYG, I would not have bought this clam. pretty disappointed in what I ended up getting considering the description.

The Description:

Ultra Blue/Turquoise Maxima Clam (Tridacna maxima)​

picture on Petco site (not WYSIWYG though!)

What I got:

Not only that, but it was infested with some type of bug/hitchhiker/pest too.
I floated the bag in my tank to regulate the temp in the bag and then I put the clam and bag water into a bucket and started to drip acclimate it. I did this before any lights were on, so it was dark. after a bit I decided to shine a light on the clam in the bucket and as soon as I did, I saw several worm-like things scatter between the scutes. (!) ugh! I tried brushing them off with a toothbrush, but they didn't come off, they got down into the scutes and I couldn't brush them off. decided to do a quick FW dip. as soon as I put the clam in the FW, they all left the clam and started free swimming and spazzing out. I grabbed the clam out and put it back in the bucket to resume drip acclimation and dumped by FW dip with the worms out. After a bit I shined a light on it again and saw one more worm, so did another FW dip and got the last one off. Did another dip shortly after to make sure I got them all and no more came off and I never saw another one. it did not have any pyramid snails as far as I could tell, which I was prepared for and looking out for.... the worms, caught me by surprise... they were like super tiny 1/4" long centipede looking things with legs all down the body that they used to propel through the water too. fast little guys. luckily they didn't like the FW dip.

Not real thrilled with this purchase. This maxima does not look blue or turquoise to me, but this is my first clam, so not sure what to think. At least its alive, just not what I was hoping/expecting. I was hoping for something closer to the stock picture on the Petco website.

live and learn. only buy clams WYSIWYG I guess.

 

[wjgeese]

The fact that we are looking to retire in the next year or two has zero impact on the daily operations of our business. The issues with clams at the moment are permits and availability.

must've hit a nerve? haha

 

[jsweir]

Ocean's gardens just listed some ora clams today

 

[Jtwinn26]

Just in-between shipments from the farms. Have 250 Maximas coming in a couple of weeks from the Polynesia farm and 150 mix of Squamosa, Crocea, and Maxima from the Bali farm.

Where are they?

 

[PacificEastAquaculture]

Where are they?

Still working on getting them in from the farm. The permitting process has been especially slow recently. The clams are ready to be shipped, we're ready to receive them, just waiting on the finalization of permits. Everything has been messed up worldwide due to the pandemic and lack of workers at varying stages throughout the supply chain. Plus freight costs is incredibly high at the moment. Clams will be back soon, we're working on it daily.

 

[cdw79]

Still working on getting them in from the farm. The permitting process has been especially slow recently. The clams are ready to be shipped, we're ready to receive them, just waiting on the finalization of permits.

Funny I actually called earlier today wondering the same thing, the lady on the phone had mentioned this. Is there a general timeframe to expect? I missed the boat on the batch that came up earlier during the summer but have been eagerly awaiting the next shipment to come see them for myself!

 

[PacificEastAquaculture]

Funny I actually called earlier today wondering the same thing, the lady on the phone had mentioned this. Is there a general timeframe to expect? I missed the boat on the batch that came up earlier during the summer but have been eagerly awaiting the next shipment to come see them for myself!

At this point I hesitate to make a time commitment since we've blown through several promised arrival dates. Today the farm is telling me 15-20 days. We'll see.