Buying Tridacnids

[Barry N.]

I don't mean to come across as bashing, and I am sorry if I sound like I am but I hear this SO many times.

Bought this clam, and now how do I take care of it? “

PLEASE take the time so do some research and acquire some good reading material before buying a clam. You will have a much better chance in keeping one alive!

I tell this story everywhere I go. Someone bought some clams and the next morning all the shell’s were empty, finding out that this person had 4 puffers in his tank. Bad enough that he lost his money but the worse part, he also lost all his clams. :mad2:

There is some good material out there on clam keeping and a new clam book was just released a few weeks ago.

Now I feel better!

 

[Unarce]

Just picked up Fatheree's new book, 'Giant Clams in the Sea and the Aquarium' this past Saturday. This is an invaluable reference guide for beginner and advanced clam keepers. It's so thorough, that there's even material on the T. tevoroa and T. rosewateri.

 

[critterkeeper]

Thanks for the kind words Unarce. Glad you like it

JF

 

[Barry N.]

James, if you would stay off these boards you could be working on another book.

 

[Unarce]

You're welcome!

As an instructor, you could have written this in a textbook style, where some hobbyists potentially could have gotten bored or lost in the technical jargon.

The presentation is amiable, making it easy to absorb the information.

Great job!

 

[mahoneyc3]

james, what do you teach and on what level???

 

[critterkeeper]

Right now I'm teaching Earth Science, Environmental Science, and Astronomy at a community college. In the past I've also taught Physical Science, Physical Geology, General Biology, and Zoology, and taught Invertebrate Paleontology labs as a grad student.

My degrees are actually in geology, but I studied invertebrate paleontology. So, I ended up with about 1.5 years of undergrad biology and 1 year of grad level biology in addition to the standard geo courses...

Studying invert fossils, then moving to Florida and getting dive certified = life-long reef aquarist!

 

[jmaneyapanda]

Oh my, thanks for finally saying it Barry. I have been feeling like quite the troublemaker here lately, because I am constantly telling people "no" or "bad idea". I couldnt agree more.

 

[mahoneyc3]

sounds great, im constantly trying to get my colleges bio department, Southern CT state U, to offer a class on coral or coral reef eco systems, which would be great becuase the guy that would be teaching it does research in teh soudn with a coral thats flourishing there, but so far no luck... if you ever teach a class about corals or tridacnids, let me know, im always looking for an excuse to study some place warm

 

[raddogz]

What I find is many aquarists just simply don't have patience.

If you are patient you read through and research what to buy or not to buy. If you are patient you can figure out in what direction of reefkeeping you want to go in (fowlr, sps-only tanks, etc).

I made myself wait for well over four years until I had a bigger tank and was a bit more selective in my fish selection before I considered getting a clam.

It is just as frustrating because the search feature on this forum as well as on other websites works wonders.