Baby Giant Clam

[jdm01]

I am not sure if this is the right forum, but I have a baby giant clam that has been moving around the tank some. I noticed it has not moved for a few days, but is sitting sideways in the tank. I went to move it and it appears that its foot is stuck in on or around the rockwork. I am afraid of pulling to hard and damaging its foot. Is the best plan to just keep removing substrate until I can find where it is hung up? Unfortunately it is stuck in a spot where I am having to go by feel alone. I cannot see what I am working on because of my angle of view into the tank when my hands are in the tank.

 

[jmaneyapanda]

John, the clam hsa moved to try to find conditions that suit it. DO NOT PULL THE CLAM- IT IS LIKELY NOT "MECHANICALLY" STUCK! They secrete an anchoring mechnisim from a gland by their "foot" which make thread like strings. If you real;ly want to move the clam, CUT these threads with a razor blade as far from the clam as you can. In it's current spot, is it geeting good light. If so, I would suggest leaving it be, it appears happy.

 

[jdm01]

It appears to be very happy and is getting full light. For now all I did was turn it so that you could see it from the front instead of looking at its side. Thanks for the advice.

 

[danfrith]

what do you mean by looking at its side. shoudnt the mantle be turned straight up towards the light?

 

[jdm01]

It turned itself parallel to the front glass as opposed to perpendicular as I originally oriented it in the tank.

 

[TWallace]

I think you need to post a picture of this clam.

 

[jdm01]

Great news. A few weeks ago I wrote about my baby giant clam having attached itself to my rock work and it would not move. I elected to leave it alone and see what happened realizing it could be deadly if it did not release itself. Today I noticed that it had released itself from the rockwork. I put a piece of flat rubble rock down in the substrate, set the baby giant on top of that and then pushed some substrate up against the clam. Hopefully it will attach itself to that piece of rock. My only concern is that it does not appear to have much of a foot left. I hope something down in the substrate has not caused it harm. I hope the clam survives. It is turning into a very nice piece. At least now I can get a good photograph of it.

I will post a pic later this evening. Does anyone think that not having much of a foot left is a problem? If so, is there anything I can do to help the clam survive?

 

[a4twenty]

the byssal thread will re-grow as long as the gland is ok. it is common for a clam to leave part of it thread behind when he releases. if he likes his new spot he will reattach.

 

[jdm01]

As promised, here are a couple of pictures of the clam.

 

[a4twenty]

nice, is that a baby gigas? how big is he now?

can you post a top down pic too, please

if he is a gigas that is why he doesn't look like he has much of a foot left. they are known to have very small to non-existent byssal opening. this is due to the fact that they grow so large that their weight is enough to keep them in place.

 

[jdm01]

I am not sure if it is a baby gigas. I am not sure how to tell. It is probably 4-5 inches from end to end. Sounds small, but it has probably doubled in size over the past 6 months or so. It was pretty small when I bought it.

The only way I can get a top down pic is if I take the lights off of the tank. If I do that it will probably be too dark. I can try and see what happens. I will probably wait until the weekend so that I can take it with as much natural light as possible.

 

[a4twenty]

just going by the growth rate i'd say it's a gigas. if you look down on him is does the incurrent siphon ( flat hole ) have little tentacles or is it smooth? ( gigas are smooth )

he's going to be a big boy i think

 

[ChickenCannoneer]

That is definitely a little gigas.

 

[JamesJR]

yep, that is a gigas. Great find.

 

[jdm01]

I checked and by your description it is a little gigas. I will try a top down pic soon, but this weekend has gotten away from me.

 

[nudilove]

My Gigas clam baby has grown TONS in the last four months...It freaks me out, and considering he is in a 24 aquapod? He is taking up the whole front!

Here is his kingdom...

 

[jdm01]

Wow that is a great clam!!! You are right it sure is taking center stage. Keep up the good work. What else is going in the tank?

 

[a4twenty]

just a quick warning ( not so much for the 90g yet ...) but a gigas will out grow that 24g tank in no time. they are fast growers and can achieve sizes of over 4'.

 

[cristhiam]

Very nice gigas, they are kind of hard to find them around at least around Orlando, I have one that never attached to anything (like my crocea and max), mine was about 2 - 2 1/2 inches when I got it around Feb 05 and now it's 7 - 8" it grows fast!

nudilove: your going to need a big tank in no time , how are you keeping up with you alk and calc?

here are a couple of pics of my
When it was a baby

now (the beast)

 

[Aliie]

I was just passing thru and noticed that this last pic has xenia attached to the clam. Did you get it that way or is that something that will happen naturally?