Genereal help and advice for Maxima

U

UWUALineman

Member
Now that I have my tank established and I feel doing very well I am interested in gettng a clam. More specifically, a Gold Maxima. My params are in check and I have specifically been dialing in dosing my calcium and alk to keep up with the sps and coraline. Lighting is Tek 5 8x54W on a 24 deep tank roughly ten inchss above the water surface.
Is the tank depth and the lighting going to be sufficient?
What concerns do I need to have considering livestock in my tank and possibly preying upon the clam?
Does a Maxima prefer a rock or sand for footing?
Flow? High or Low?
I have been doing some reading and research before I decide to make the purchase. I want to make sure this creature is right for my conditions. Any other thoughts would be appreciated. Thanks for the help.
 
Now I am by no means a clam expert and hopefully the others will chime in on this, but I would think your lighting would be fine...IF...you have it in the upper half of your tank...as it probably should be because a maxima is a rock dwelling clam. pretty sure the golden maxima's require less lighting than the other maxima's as well...as far as livestock avoid any fish that has a tendencey to nip or graze (Angelfish/Algae eating Blennys) A fish that perches may also not be a good fit either (hawkfish)...mine perched on my derasa until I rearranged my rockwork so he had higher places to perch. flow i would say med...Not high enough so that it prevents the clams mantle from expanding. An better beginner clam so to speak would be a derasa or squamosa, but if you have your heart set on a gold max im sure you could do it, just make sure you gain as much info as you can and make sure your tank levels are in check. Good luck!
 
Thanks. My livestock consists of 2 occelars clowns, blue tang, 2 chromis, and a shrimp goby. I have read about snails being a problem for a clam, or for that matter, would any other clean up crew pose a problem for a healthy clam. I have a large order of CuC coming in tomorrow to restock my tank.
Could you also define why a derasa or squamosa is a better clam to start wth. Not disagreeing with you, I woud just like to know.
 
Derasas and squammys are considered better because they are less demanding and more user-friendly when compared to croceas and maximas. Maximas and croceas have a higher demand for strong lighting so they need to be kept in tanks with T5HO or MH, IMO, in order to thrive to their full potential. On the other hand, derasa and squammys are less demanding. Of course, they would not mind the stronger lighting, but it isn't necessary. IMO, I wouldn't keep any clam under anything less than T5HO or MH. They also seem to be more hardy when it comes to beginner mistakes.
What did they say was the problem with snails and clams? I mean my snails and hermits climb on my clams all the time, but the clams don't seem to mind.
 
I doubt your livestock would have any problems with a clam, the only thing I can think of as far as your cuc being a problem is that if you got a smaller clam they may kind of bulldoze it unless it settle in (attaches its bysmall threads) right away...that's a maybe...depending on what your getting in, but a possibility...also keep in mind the size of the clam your getting... clams under 3 inches need to be fed with a phytoplankton or some other filter feeding food...clams that are huge however tend to not adjust to a new tank as a smaller one would.
 
I read in a prior thread of an owner having problems with one of his species of snails believe Nassarius, that would end up cleaning the clam out overnight. May have been a dramatic comment, as well as a dead clam, but I just wanted to make sure. Is there a particular phyto supplement that would be more beneficial to a clam? Is cleaning the tank of organics and so forth sufficient for a clam?
 
you be fine just put it in the top part of the tank, my blue maxima stayed up top for a month and now its on the bottom with my squamosa and its fine. I have 2 4bulb fixures with no individual reflectors in a standard 90g.Just start it on the top and it will go where it wants to go.
 
Phytofeast is a great phytoplankton food but I wouldn't worry about feeding the clam. All it needs is light. It will filter feed on things in supension in the water.
 
With 432 watts of light unobscured is it possible to have a healthy clam at a depth of 24 inches. I have a small rockwork setup to set the clam in that is somewhat out of the highflow stream.Anything higher and it will be in the direct stream in the upper levels. I hear a lot of people having the clams directly on the substrate. Do you think its possible to have success at this depth?
 
With your lighting I see no problems keeping it low and if it is unhappy it will move to where it is happy my experience has been as long as your parameters are stable Clams are fairly easy to keep and you should be fine with your set up as you have thought it out very well in all aspects
 
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