Cleaner Clams?

[chevster]

since i have heard of all these stories where people buy these clams in the marketplace i decided to try it.... and i really wanted something to help if i had a spike....

so i bought the clams, got 3 of em... and did the thing your sauppose to do... (place em into a container with water from your main tank and wait till they gagged)

well they opened up, and now they are in my 20 gallon reef...

but i will be getting a FOWLR soon, and i really want them in... so my question is....

* Do these guys need special lighting?(T5,METAL HALIDE, ETC...)
or can i just put em under ACTINIC lighting(which is the lighting i want for my FOWLR)



:mixed:

 

[quicksilverq]

nope most of the time people put them in there sump very little light down there clearner clams filter feed for there food.

 

[a4twenty]

agreed they are non-photosynthetic and would probably thrive in the dark if needed.

 

[chevster]

okay.. cool!

thnx guys!

 

[osprey77]

I have heard they have terrible survivability rates... is that true.

 

[xinumaster]

They're cold water clam.

 

[chevster]

mine r still alive... they dug! they r so cute...

 

[clamdigs]

To me they are kind of worthless. They can be bought to suck down nitrates and ammonia, but then they turn around and die.

Go research Quahog clams or Mercenaria mercenaria. They live from like Rhode Island down to northern Florida. They generally can not survive in warmer waters past maybe a year. There's a reason they store them on ice in most super markets too; same way i'm not going to go lob a Maxima into the Chesepeake Bay during the summer, LOL.