Feeding baby clams

[Crusty Old Shellback]

Ok I picked up a samll, about 1 1/2 " long clam the otehr day. Not sure what type but the mantel is a golden brown with a blue ribbon running down the middle of it. My question is how and what do I feed this guy? I know that I have to feed baby clams but not for suer what or how to feed.

I very rarley feed my tank anything small for the corals. I only feed my fish. When I do feed the corals, I feed frozen Cyclopseze or zooplankton.

Will this work for the clam or do I need to feed anything else? I have sponges growing all over my tank so I know there is food in the water. I also have some large OLD LPS corals that I have very rarley fed over the last 7 years and they are still growing and doing great.

My clams are in a 72 G bowfront tank lit by 2 X 150W DE MH 20 K bulbs. I'm thinking of changing out the bulbs to XM 10 K or something similar to get more light in the tank as my SPS monti caps are losing a bit of color.

 

[kfisc]

Have you thought about live phytoplankton? At 1.5 inches, the clam will still be filter feeding, assuming its one of the standard species, and won't be utilizing light as much- but a move to 10k would be preferable.

 

[Crusty Old Shellback]

Thanks.

From the little research I've done, it appears to be a squamosa clam. It's mantel has been opening up more lately. Will any type of small filter feeder food work? I don't have a setup to keep/produce live phyto but have used some of the bottled stuff in the past w/ no problems.

 

[Sk8r]

put a clear cup [with a couple of small holes] over it during the time you're feeding. Squirt live phyto [bottled, refrigerated Phytofeast or DT's is live] into it, upend over clam, and when the water in the cup is clear, remove same. They're phyto feeders, but the little ones need that extra help. The big ones are a lot better at getting what they need. Read up on clam physiology: spinning rods: it's a real Star Trek critter.

They eat tiny particles, reject larger in strings of mucus, and require a major amount of calcium for that shell. Start testing your calcium and prepare to supplement daily as that clam grows.

 

[Crusty Old Shellback]

I already supliment cal and alk with seachem producsts. Been doing it for years. I have good growth in my corals and other clams.

I just want to give this little guy as best of a chance as I can as he has some really cool colors in his mantel. I'll try the cup method. Thanks.

 

[critterkeeper]

The idea that small clams categorically require feeding is nothing more than a myth created by people that sell phytoplankton - and their friends/people they pay.

It simply isn't true, and there's real scientific literature out there that says so. For example, Fitt and Trench 1981. They raised some squamosas from sperm and egg - for 10 months - in filtered seawater with no access to particulates. The clams didn't die after 10 months either, the guys just ended their experiment. To the contrary, they grew.

There are others...

I hate to start up some controversy - but I'll take the word of nutritional scientists doing controlled experiments over a plankton seller any day.

What matters is whether or not you have good water quality, good lighting, and a well stocked tank. Tridacnids can absorb nitrogen and phosphrus directly from tank water, and as long as you have several fishes and feed them well - you should have no problem. Funny thing is, you can find a lot of hobbyists that successfully raised clams for years (like me), before anyone told us we were "starving them to death by not feeding them".

 

[critterkeeper]

BTW - here's a lot of squamosa pics if you're still not sure on the ID.

http://www.picsbase.com/james/default.asp?catID=295

 

[Crusty Old Shellback]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=7587390#post7587390 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by critterkeeper
What matters is whether or not you have good water quality, good lighting, and a well stocked tank. Tridacnids can absorb nitrogen and phosphrus directly from tank water, and as long as you have several fishes and feed them well - you should have no problem.

I feed my fish at least 3 times a week, sometimes more. I occasionally feed a filter feeder food as I have some LPS corals as well as sponges that will feed off of it. AS I said, my other clams are doing great, 2 maximas and 1 desra. They are larger and looking good.

I had heard about having to feed small clams and thus the question as this one has some unusaual color patteren and I want to keep him healthy.

I use NSW in my tanks and thus my corals, as well as my fish, have all responded well to it. I even had a 6 year old bubble coral spawn in my tank a few years back.

The link you posted is the site I used to ID it at a squamosa.

 

[cristhiam]

Just ad it to the tank, trying to spot feed it might choke the clam, use DTs. I've been using the kent phyto myself for a wile now. my little max was about 1.5" got it in 2004. It's about 2.5 +/- now. I guess max grow slow. My gigas it's a different story

 

[critterkeeper]

blown63chevy - if you have other clams that are doing well, I doubt you'll need any extra feedings for one more. Keep doing what you're doing for now and watch for new shell growth. If it's growing, even only a little, then it's getting everything it needs...

cristhiam - one of the things you have to remember is that clams are no different than any other animal. Some individuals of a species get bigger than others (like Shaq) - and some grow faster, etc.

Your maxima is a slow grower - but that in no way implies that it isn't perfectly healthy. Likewise, if you buy another maxima 1.5" and keep it right next to yours - it may grow even slower, or it may grow twice as fast. They all have a great degree of genetic diversity. And if you've had it sonce 04 - you've got to be doing something right

 

[JCDelbeek]

I concur with critterkeeper ... I have clams over 29 years old ... never fed them ... I have farm raised clams under 2" ... now over 4" ... never been fed ...

It is certainly possible that they can filter out small particles that naturally occur in systems, including bacteria ...

save your money and buy fish food instead.

J. Charles Delbeek

 

[Charlie Davidson]

I used to feed (just a few years ago) But, for the last 2yrs. Nada, no feeding!! As for small clams--Right now, I have 11- 1" maxi's, that I bought 3 mths ago.. they are doing great!
I believe/know now, I was doing more harm to my clams by removing them for feeding (or by placing a container over them and feeding) JMHO

 

[Crusty Old Shellback]

Thanks everyone for the replys. Guess I was taken up by another myth. The little clam seems to be doing good. He has some good flow and plenty of light. His mantel is open a little more each day so I'm assuming he's healthy. I know there's plenty of micro foods in my tank for him to filter out as I have a ton of filter feeding animals in my tank that are thriving.

 

[Barry N.]

and as long as you have several fishes and feed them well - you should have no problem.

I also concur with the statement above. But with that being said, I have also done several feeding/non-feeding studies and I can report that I have had tridacnids in holding tanks with no other animals so no need to feed anything. Nothing but water changes and good light source and those clams did not do well. In some of my other tanks where I also kept clams and also had fish that I feed well, the clams did well.

James you and I have talked about some studies I have done over the years and the one that comes to mind is that in that study we set up several small tanks and added juvenile clams ( 1.5”) and over a 9 month study we found that the clams that were receiving supplemental feeding had a better mortality then the one tank that had not supplemental feeding. ( 80% mortality )

Now with that being said, if you have other animals in your tank and feed well, then I also agree that supplemental feeding may not be necessary but will not hurt anything as long as you don’t go over board on it. J

Have read all the printed reports that have been published since the early 1900 and it still seems the debate continues.

 

[JCDelbeek]

Barry: It stands to reason that clams in a bare tank without any nutrient source would have higher mortality compared to a tank where you added food. I would argue though that the food did nothing for the clams directly, but the decomposition of the food by bacteria combined with whatever was in the cultured water of the food (assuming we are talking live phytoplankton here) would provide enough nitrogen and phosphorous to support those small clams.

I think one has to be careful when talking about "feeding" vs. nutrient supply. While we do not feed our clams, they are in tanks filled with fish and/or are systems that have an influx on nutrient rich seawater.

So let me qualify my previous statement by saying that you don''t need to feed clams in a home aquariums, PROVIDED there is some nutrient source in the system.

Aloha!
J. Charles Delbeek

 

[Barry N.]

It stands to reason that clams in a bare tank without any nutrient source would have higher mortality compared to a tank where you added food.

Charles: The reason I said what I said was because I have seen and heard too many people say that clams will suvive on photosynthesis alone!

Now with that being said, if you have other animals in your tank and feed well, then I also agree that supplemental feeding may not be necessary.

I think we agree on that!

I think one has to be careful when talking about "feeding" vs. nutrient supply. While we do not feed our clams, they are in tanks filled with fish and/or are systems that have an influx on nutrient rich seawater.

Would love to sit down with you and discuss the above further over a drink. I'll buy or I'll get Bob Finner to buy.


And the debate goes on.

 

[DarkXerox]

Charles,

Well I remember when I talked to you about your outdoor tridacnid tank last december, I can't remember if you had it plumbed into the growout tank or if it was being skimmed or not. The worry that I have with closed home systems is that much of the decomposing food or planktonic organisms get skimmed out.

If you're talking about nitrates and phosphates being used as food (rather than phytoplankton), then they would not get skimmed, and I can see that as a food source. Our home aquaria most likely have much higher concentrations of those two nutrients than natural sea water, so can that alone be enough to sustain a ~1 inch clam (assuming the use of Halides etc.)?

-Thomas DiRocco

 

[Crusty Old Shellback]

Just for the record, I use NSW that's been filtered down to 20 microns. I also have a ton of filter feeding animals in my tank that seem to be thriving so I'm assuming I'm NOT overskimming.

 

[Charlie Davidson]

whats with Potato, potato, potato?

 

[Crusty Old Shellback]

That's the distinct sound of a certin motorcycle.