clam care

[MRICKEN1012]

Just got my 1st clam. Its a maxima. Should I be feeding it? Some say yes some say no. What are you guys doing?

 

[12gallonbaby]

I do not spot feed I just use phyto-gold daily and lots of light to keep em happy! good luck! clams are addicting so beware when you want a whole tank dedicated to them!

 

[murfman]

If it is smaller than 3" yes, it needs to be fed.

 

[zombiereef]

do some more research. i bet you find half that say yes it needs to be fed and the other half swears that it doesnt. this argument will never go away. i wish someone would do a serious scientific study (long term) and put this question to rest.

 

[jonthefb]

Even if it doesnt need to be fed, whats the harm? Untill we know better, I would rather feed and have it not need it than not feed and have it die from lack of food!
Just my 2 pennies
Cheers~!
Jon

 

[spstimie]

I think it depends on conditions. I don't feed often enough for my clams, but since I run a ton of light and flow, they do great. My 75 has 650watts and 500+ par at the sand. If I was running half those values I would feed more.

 

[zombiereef]

just scraping the glass could be getting enough phyto into the water column to "feed" it.
Jon, the only harm i see is that you could be throwing money and nutirents at your tank needlessly. plus, your skimmer is just going to suck most of the "food" out anyways. if you have plenty of fish in your tank, i would think that there is enough ammonia and nitrate to keep the clam happy and growing. but i could be wrong. just seems like a lot of people have clams that flourish and they dont feed them anything special. could see if your tank was really sterile in that you had no fish, didnt feed your tank at all, overskimmed and used ozone-you might need to feed a clam. again just my observations, i am no professional.

 

[jpc763]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=15541973#post15541973 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by jonthefb
Even if it doesnt need to be fed, whats the harm? Untill we know better, I would rather feed and have it not need it than not feed and have it die from lack of food!
Just my 2 pennies
Cheers~!
Jon

I think that if you feed a clam, be sure you know what you are doing. My first clam was killed because I fed it food that was too large for it to process.

I have 2 clams today (one that I got was only 2") and I have never spot fed either of them. They are growing great.

 

[mef_rn98]

I don't directly feed my clams either. I use a mix of thawed mysis and Reef Chili to feed the entire tank every other day (I do target feed my acans and duncans), dose calcium/alk/mag, and both my derasa and squamosa are growing like crazy under 2 150W MH in my 90g tank.

 

[zombiereef]

John brings up a great point too. who knows for sure what the clam's requirements are? do different species have different diets? they still havent completely figured out the pinched mantle thing yet have they? i am a skeptic when it comes to what scientists really know. this hobby can be worse because there isnt a whole lot of scientific priority on ornamental fish and inverts for the aquarium trade. i asked all of these same questions years ago when i got my first clam and i still have the same unanswered questions. half say yea, half say nay!

 

[jonthefb]

that is because in this hobby we are the scientists keith!

 

[zombiereef]

you are absolutely right Jon! we can only go with the best information that we have at hand. unfortunately, opinions seem to rule sometimes. everyone's tanks are different and dynamic. what works for one, may kill in another's. that is what makes it so difficult to wade through all the information. we have to try something in our own tank and know that what works in my tank may not be the rule in someone else's. it's so frustrating, but fascinating at the same time. i guess that is what keeps us (me at least) all intrigued with this awesome hobby.
sorry, i didnt want to turn this into a rant thread, but just to shine light on the fact, that we dont really know for sure about something as "simple" as feeding a clam. i hear clam growers add ammonia and/or nitrate to their holding pens to help clams grow? how do you deal with that as a hobbyist? should i start adding fertilizer to my tank?