Feeding Derasa clam (very new to clams)

[chrisbenavides]

I don't know much but am willing to learn about the feeding requirements for my new and beautiful ORA Derasa clam.

Do you directly feed the clam, or do you spread the food throughout the tank so that all other corals benefit from it as well?

This is what I have:
Zoplan
Phytoplan
Zooplankton by Sweetwater
Selcon (can I use this for clams?)

Thanks!!!

P.S. I was told that since for the moment I am using 260w PC plus 20w NO, I should feed them. Just how? And what? How often?

 

[Clamaholic]

This question primarily depends on the size of the clam. If the clam is under 3 in stem to stern, you will need to feed them directly (putting the clam in a bowl with tank water and live phytoplankton), if the clam is larger than 3 in you will not need to do anything.

How big is your tank? That lighting might be okay or terrible depending on the size of tank

 

[chrisbenavides]

55g tank (260w)

Do these do anything for the clam:
Zoplan
Phytoplan
Zooplankton by Sweetwater
Selcon (can I use this for clams?)

 

[mbbuna]

if you place the clam on the rocks like suggested you should be fine on light alone. if you have fish and feed them you will have plenty of particles and bacteria in the water for the clam. if you want to add something just for the clam i would get live phytoplankton and just add a very small amount to the water. never squirt anything in or at the clam.

 

[jmaneyapanda]

It is my impression that people try to overfeed their clams. Like Mbbuna said, if the tank has fish and other siginifacnt life in it, it will be producing food source for the clams and corals. In my opinion, more problems are caused by overfeeding rather than underfeeding.

 

[reefman23]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=7843111#post7843111 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by jmaneyapanda
It is my impression that people try to overfeed their clams. Like Mbbuna said, if the tank has fish and other siginifacnt life in it, it will be producing food source for the clams and corals. In my opinion, more problems are caused by overfeeding rather than underfeeding.

I agree.

Jesse

 

[chrisbenavides]

Thats interesting. I'm glad to hear that you never feed a clam directly. I feed all my corals (especially my gorgonians) with a syringe. So the clams eat the particles of fish food?

What about live brine shrimp in the tank? Do they benefit at all from this? Do they catch this stuff and eat it?

 

[jmaneyapanda]

In our closed systems, there is a tremendous amount of life and organics which we will not ever even begin to see and comprehend. This material is very specifically utilized by many organisms, such as clams and corals. Much of it is made by the the deliberate animals in our tanks (fish corals, etc.) and much of it is added (both intentionally and unintentionally).

 

[jmaneyapanda]

oh yeah, and to answer you question rather than to carry on like i did, the clams cant "eat" large food item like brine and fish food. The particles they consume are planktonic.