First clam

JRR1285

JRR1285

Member
I am currently acclimating a Derasa clam that I ordered from Unique Corals. It was nice that a livestock order arrived on time, thanks Fedex.

Anyway it's probably between 2 3/4" and 3" and from what I've read at that size it should not require supplemental feeding and will get most of what it needs from my lights (leds).

It looks like it has a piece of rubble currently attached to the underside near what I believe is it's byssal opening. Is it OK to place it right on the sand when I'm done acclimating it or should it be on a rock or on top of rubble?

Any other advice for a first time clam owner?
 
Sand bed to start. In area of moderate flow, they can stand high flow but it will be blown away. I place mine 6" from the bottom in a hole in the rock with sand in it. Color may change with lighting.


Make sure there are NO air bubbles in the clam. Use a turkey baster I'd sand ever gets on the mantel. Isn't fatal but isn't beneficial for clam.
 
It looked good all day. Was reactive to shadows during acclimation but is not reacting much since. It did close up when I went to move it since it was getting too much flow. Opened up quickly and looked good again.

A little concerned about the lack of reaction to shadows but it looks very nice otherwise.

 
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light flow is much better than moderate. many clams will not react because they are just used to shadows not posing any danger. ive found that derasas seem to be less reactive than other types.
 
moliken said:
light flow is much better than moderate. many clams will not react because they are just used to shadows not posing any danger. ive found that derasas seem to be less reactive than other types.
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Agreed. My Maxima's react much more than the Derasas.
 
ahmed_iAM said:
Agreed. My Maxima's react much more than the Derasas.
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i've found my Derasa to be far more relaxed than my Crocea as well.

it also depends on the day. some times they will get a wild hair up there butt and decide that everything bothers them, other days they are just hanging out and even my tang swimming over top of them doesn't phase them.

weird creatures.
 
MondoBongo said:
i've found my Derasa to be far more relaxed than my Crocea as well.

it also depends on the day. some times they will get a wild hair up there butt and decide that everything bothers them, other days they are just hanging out and even my tang swimming over top of them doesn't phase them.

weird creatures.
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I agree!
 
This clam is growing quite fast. It is nearing 5-5.5 inches which seems like a lot of growth since July. I have since added a maxima as well. It's showing shell growth but not nearly as much as the Derasa does.





As you can see both are on bare bottom since I recently moved and wanted to try going without sand. I am thinking of putting a dish of sand in there for the Derasa and maybe some rubble for the Maxima to attach to. Thoughts?
 
Congrats on the growth! That really seems to be the only way to tell if a clam is doing well.

I put clams in containers of sand on bare bottom, but now I just put them right on the bottom. I didn't really find any benefit to the sand. It can be nice for keeping small clams upright, but that's only if they already attached to small rock and won't sit flat on the BB. So with your guys doing well I wouldn't change a thing.

Just remember to QT new clams if you pick any more up (IMO until you see some new growth). I lost all my clams a while back when I didn't QT them and something got passed from a ORA blue squammy from Divers Den. Didn't take long to wipe them all out.
 
hart24601 said:
Congrats on the growth! That really seems to be the only way to tell if a clam is doing well.

I put clams in containers of sand on bare bottom, but now I just put them right on the bottom. I didn't really find any benefit to the sand. It can be nice for keeping small clams upright, but that's only if they already attached to small rock and won't sit flat on the BB. So with your guys doing well I wouldn't change a thing.

Just remember to QT new clams if you pick any more up (IMO until you see some new growth). I lost all my clams a while back when I didn't QT them and something got passed from a ORA blue squammy from Divers Den. Didn't take long to wipe them all out.
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Thanks for the advice about the bare bottom and also to quarantine. The Maxima was a little bit of an impulse buy since I didn't have a quarantine setup that could house a clam. I won't buy any more until I can appropriately quarantine them. My tank is probably too small for another clam right now anyway. Also, I'm just barely keeping up with the calcium and alk demand with kalk fully saturated in my top off.

I am really enjoying keeping clams so far. They seem to be hardy if you get a good specimen and your parameters/lighting are good. Unique corals has sent me two very healthy clams so credit to them is due as well.
 
I`ve never had a bare bottom, but I get good results with placing a flat rock under the gravel the clam is placed on. It lets them do what they want that way. It might be worth a try to place the dish in there to see what happens. You could always remove the dish. Nice clams!!!!!!
 
JRR1285 said:
Unique corals has sent me two very healthy clams so credit to them is due as well.
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Good to know, I love unique coral for, well corals, but I will have to try them out for a clam next time I am looking. Hope you have a good dosing system ready! When my derasa would go through a growth burst he would suck up over 100ml 2 part a day. Granted he was right at 10", but still.
 
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