PEA is great. Corals.com occasionally has beauties and they are healthy. I recommend quarantining all clams. Pyramid snails, PMD, etc are things you do not want to introduce into your DT. PEA moves a lot of clams so it is impossible to assure even their clams are pyramid snail free.
Where to buy/find high end clams
- Thread starter Kami2011
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I agree. We cannot depends on other people to ensure that we don't introduce pathogen into our tank. Your tank, your responsibility.
If you really want a blue teardrop, then get in with some wholesalers and be prepared to pay out the nose. They rarely come in, but when they do, they quickly go to collectors or friends of the wholesalers and rarely are made available to the public or any fish stores. Expect to pay upwards of $2k wholesale. The last one that I saw was about 2 years ago and it went for about $4k and was about 7 inches.
PEA has a new deal with a farmer that is doing teardrops... perhaps some colored ones will come in soon.
PEA has a new deal with a farmer that is doing teardrops... perhaps some colored ones will come in soon.
In recent months I have gotten in several blue Teardrops and some other very odd patterns. The colored Teardrop Noae retail for approximately $2000. Also got in some unusual Blue-Teal Squamosa and Two-Faced Maximas. Right now there are none coming from the farms due to in country shut downs and international flight restrictions due to Corona. In one instance their airport is closed and no word yet when they might open again. The clams are ready to go, just awaiting the airport opening. I suspect pricing may be higher initially because international freight rates have increased and space availability will be very limited. International livestock shipments are all about frieghts costs, it's a logistics and frieght game, not a livestock concern.
I helped set up the clam farm in French Polynesia about 15 years ago and we get Maximas from there including the rare Two-Faced. Wild collected clams from French Polynesia are not recommended, however cultured do very well. I have a new partner in Tonga and we are getting the farm up and running there and bring from there colored Teardrops, Squamosa, Maxima, and Deresa. We have received the first permit to culture corals and clams there. As we get the farm set up we are working with a government facility that cultures clams and have 200+ of those hand picked and awaiting shipment. My partner just messaged me from his boat that he is out now searching for blue Teardrops, so hopefully once everything opens back up we will have some again.
15+ years ago I set up a coral farm in the Solomon Islands and would occasionally get colored Teardrops from there, but they were very difficult to keep alive. Thus far I have never lost one of the Tonga Teardrops. The wild collected clams do naturally have some pyramid snails. I scrub each one upon entering and exiting my facility, but they can easily hide on the well decorated shells of wild collected clams. So, it is highly recommended that the shell be scrubbed when received by the hobbyist and they be quarantined before adding to your display. The snails are easily removed with brushing and if quarantined you should be able to remove any eggs as well.
When I bring in shipments there are lots of misc. costs including freight. The only way to do these shipments is to bring in large numbers of livestock. While I personally clean every clam, a process that inevitably occurs about 3 am to 6 am, it is possible to miss some on the wild collected clams. The cultured clams have pristine shells so there are not any places for the snails to hide. The wild collected clams have all sorts of things on their shells including corals, coraline algae of various forms, macro algae, sponges, etc. Their shells are very pronounced unlike the cultured clams, so there are lots of hiding places.
I keep the clams in my facility on rubble substrate so that I can easily ship them. A healthy clam generally will attach to a firm surface within a couple of days. The vulnerable so-called foot will be protected once the clam attaches, so it is important to keep it on a firm surface where it can't fall over or be picked on by inverts or fish such as inquisitive dwarf angels and some Tangs. Acclimation of clams need only be about 45 minutes maximum with steady drip. Acclimating for hours is detrimental and unnecessary. Clams do not need to be fed. Lots of light and some dissolved organics in the water will provide all their needed nutrition, so if you have a good fish population and feed them well you should be all set. I have found that daily or every other day Iodine dosing is beneficial, with ICP testing you can get a better idea of a good dosing plan. I use ESV salt mix and ESV Iodide, you can start with their recommendations. If you have any macro algae in the system they utilize a lot of Iodine so more dosing will be required. Keeping alkalinity about 7.5-8 dKH is preferable, rather than higher levels. Some salt mixes are formulated at higher alkalinity and so I prefer ESV, others are good too. If your system is lower in nutrients via carbon dosing, biopellets, etc. then it is more critical to keep alkalinity in this range in my experience.
I have observed and collected many clams in the wild in very remote locations. I can tell you that many of the recommendations I see about care are contradictory to what I've seen conditions in the wild. The vast majority of clams occur at a depth of less than 4 to 5 feet from the surface, although interestingly the colored Teardrops are found deeper and thus why they are generally not seen much in the trade because it's so much easier for a diver to make money collecting shallow clams and they don't know anyone wants the deeper colored ones. Water flow is strong in the areas I found clams. Generally clams are clustered together. Water temperatures varied greatly. They are very adaptable. I've collected clams in water temps from the low 60s to the high 90s. Sudden temp spikes causes them to spawn. Anyway, many other observations, but the bottom line is that they are not delicate creatures in my experience. Given the proper environment and nutrition along with no disturbance they should do well in your tank.
I helped set up the clam farm in French Polynesia about 15 years ago and we get Maximas from there including the rare Two-Faced. Wild collected clams from French Polynesia are not recommended, however cultured do very well. I have a new partner in Tonga and we are getting the farm up and running there and bring from there colored Teardrops, Squamosa, Maxima, and Deresa. We have received the first permit to culture corals and clams there. As we get the farm set up we are working with a government facility that cultures clams and have 200+ of those hand picked and awaiting shipment. My partner just messaged me from his boat that he is out now searching for blue Teardrops, so hopefully once everything opens back up we will have some again.
15+ years ago I set up a coral farm in the Solomon Islands and would occasionally get colored Teardrops from there, but they were very difficult to keep alive. Thus far I have never lost one of the Tonga Teardrops. The wild collected clams do naturally have some pyramid snails. I scrub each one upon entering and exiting my facility, but they can easily hide on the well decorated shells of wild collected clams. So, it is highly recommended that the shell be scrubbed when received by the hobbyist and they be quarantined before adding to your display. The snails are easily removed with brushing and if quarantined you should be able to remove any eggs as well.
When I bring in shipments there are lots of misc. costs including freight. The only way to do these shipments is to bring in large numbers of livestock. While I personally clean every clam, a process that inevitably occurs about 3 am to 6 am, it is possible to miss some on the wild collected clams. The cultured clams have pristine shells so there are not any places for the snails to hide. The wild collected clams have all sorts of things on their shells including corals, coraline algae of various forms, macro algae, sponges, etc. Their shells are very pronounced unlike the cultured clams, so there are lots of hiding places.
I keep the clams in my facility on rubble substrate so that I can easily ship them. A healthy clam generally will attach to a firm surface within a couple of days. The vulnerable so-called foot will be protected once the clam attaches, so it is important to keep it on a firm surface where it can't fall over or be picked on by inverts or fish such as inquisitive dwarf angels and some Tangs. Acclimation of clams need only be about 45 minutes maximum with steady drip. Acclimating for hours is detrimental and unnecessary. Clams do not need to be fed. Lots of light and some dissolved organics in the water will provide all their needed nutrition, so if you have a good fish population and feed them well you should be all set. I have found that daily or every other day Iodine dosing is beneficial, with ICP testing you can get a better idea of a good dosing plan. I use ESV salt mix and ESV Iodide, you can start with their recommendations. If you have any macro algae in the system they utilize a lot of Iodine so more dosing will be required. Keeping alkalinity about 7.5-8 dKH is preferable, rather than higher levels. Some salt mixes are formulated at higher alkalinity and so I prefer ESV, others are good too. If your system is lower in nutrients via carbon dosing, biopellets, etc. then it is more critical to keep alkalinity in this range in my experience.
I have observed and collected many clams in the wild in very remote locations. I can tell you that many of the recommendations I see about care are contradictory to what I've seen conditions in the wild. The vast majority of clams occur at a depth of less than 4 to 5 feet from the surface, although interestingly the colored Teardrops are found deeper and thus why they are generally not seen much in the trade because it's so much easier for a diver to make money collecting shallow clams and they don't know anyone wants the deeper colored ones. Water flow is strong in the areas I found clams. Generally clams are clustered together. Water temperatures varied greatly. They are very adaptable. I've collected clams in water temps from the low 60s to the high 90s. Sudden temp spikes causes them to spawn. Anyway, many other observations, but the bottom line is that they are not delicate creatures in my experience. Given the proper environment and nutrition along with no disturbance they should do well in your tank.
xjiang7
Well-Known Member
Want to share a blue teardrop kept by my friend in China. He got it five years ago for a few hundred RMB (which is under 100 USD). Now trading of giant clams have been banned for years in China.
Here are two clams I got from Dr. Mac at PEA. Even got on the phone with Dr. Mac himself to ensure they're well and answered all my questions. They're doing great with really good growth. Highly recommend PEA
Here are two clams I got from Dr. Mac at PEA. Even got on the phone with Dr. Mac himself to ensure they're well and answered all my questions. They're doing great with really good growth. Highly recommend PEA
Stunning!
