Best clam for me?

[kevin21]

Hello all,

I used to have a squamosa back in the day. It was in the sand on my 55g and did very well under what I consider now to be average conditions!

I know have a 50g waterbox and due to learning a ton over the years, am more confident in my setup than every before. The tank is an AIO variety, I run two filer socks on the side overflow boxes, a tunze 9004 dc skimmer, and have plenty of flow with two mp-10's that run on reef-crest mode at about 50% each.

I have a kessil ap700 about 7-8 inches above the water surface and have it on a sunrise-sunset schedule. It starts around 11am with blues and low intensity and slowly ramps up to full intensity at 38% at around 2pm. It then runs full intensity until 7:30pm and it ramps down slowly until it shuts off at 8:30pm. I have LPS/Softies only in this tank and do bi-weekly water changes. This tank was an upgrade over my old 28g nano. It has been set-up and running for about 1.5 months now. There was no cycle on this system, just a transfer/addition of live rock.

So which clam is best for me? The tank is barebottom.

Thanks all!

 

[Crooked Reef]

What are your tank dimensions?

 

[kevin21]

36” long, 18” high, 14” width

 

[Crooked Reef]

Crocea - 6” in length, found in 10’ of water. Most light demanding.
Maxima and squamosa -12” in length in captivity, can get to 14”18” depending on species but you are looking at 50-60 years of growth. Both found around a maximum of 50’ deep.
Derasa - 24” in length. Least light demanding as it is found at a maximum depth of 80’.

Hippopus get 18” and gigas get 54”. I would consider both too big for your set up.

Of the ones above my personal choice if I had your tank would be a Tahitian T. maxima. They are found in lfs near me, not too expensive, can have bright blue colors and along with the crocea, are rock boring clams. The derasa is easy to keep but stays in the sand bed as well as the squamosa, so with a barebottom tank they are probably out. The crocea would work in the tank but the maxima gets double the size and are easier to find for me. The maxima also don’t require as much light. I think your fixture could support a crocea but it it is turned up too much it could have a negative affect on your less light demanding corals.

 

[kevin21]

Thanks for your input. I would definitely look for a maxima then. I am sure my lower light LPS/softies would not appreciate the light ramped up too high. So I could place a maxima in the rock work in the tank? Aren't there different types of maxima though? Any species of maxima I should avoid, if I could find any that is?

 

[Crooked Reef]

One species of maxima though they may come from different areas. The genus species name is Tridacna maxima sometimes shortened to T. maxima. There are multiple species in the genus. T. maxima, T. crocea, T. gigas ec..

 

[kevin21]

Okay perfect. So I will look into the maxima clams and see if I can locate any around me. Anything specific other than placing it up on the rock work? The squamosa I had in my past tank was very simple, placed it in the sand, foot attached very quickly.

 

[Uncle99]

Maxi in the rock work, needs to be able to open mantle fully...will attach within days.