Has anyone target feed your calms w/ pellets?

[natereinhold1]

I found out that my fiance has been target feeding our crocea clam with hikari marine s, she drops 2-3 pellets every day or so, in the opening for the past month or so and it is growing like mad. I also switched to t5ho around that same time she started this, but it's growth edge grows like an 1/8" every week. Could this be due to dropping in pellets and them breaking down to small enough particles that it can utilize? It dosen't try to expel them either, seem happy to be feed this way. Any thought?

 

[RokleM]

As far as I'm aware, clams are filter feeders of very small particles like phytoplankton. I can't see how putting pellets in the mouth would be a good thing. With all likelihood they are spit back out when you're not looking.

You might want to try the clams section.

 

[natereinhold1]

thats what i thought, but after finding out that she was doing this i watched it for a long time and it never spits them out, and i put a pellet in a cup of water and they break down into very small particles and nearly disolve after awhile, so i was wondering if it might be breaking down to a useable size for it(>5 micron)?

 

[BigJay]

Clams don't require supplemental feeding.

The pellets are probably breaking down and the fines are likely just expelled into your tank, polluting your water. Clams can selectively filter out what they want to eat in the water column.

If you really want to give them something they can digest, try adding a little DT's live phytoplankton to your tank. You can also scrape the green algae film on your tank glass, they're more likely to eat that stuff than pellets.

 

[ReefEnabler]

In James Fatharree's book on Tridacnids he specifically says NOT to target feed clams in this manner. As others mentioned, with sufficient light levels clams dont need any feeding whatsoever for survival and growth. Its only essential when they are very young and small.

If you have insufficient lighting levels and are hoping to feed to make up the difference, I doubt it will work out long term.

If you really do want to 'target feed' a clam, one method he mentions is covering the clam with an upside down bowl and squirting some phyto into the bowl, but you should NEVER shoot the food directly at the clam, no matter what kind of food.

He also says that theres no real point in doing that effort but theres a chance your clam could grow faster. But I dont think many people want their clams to grow faster as they are quite capable of outgrowing our tanks in some cases (especially deresa and gigas, crocea not so much).

 

[natereinhold1]

I'm not feeding them this way, just found out that my fiance was doing this, and i figured i would ask about it. I feed dt's anyway, so i just need to tell my girl to quit doing it if it is potentialy harmful. as for polluting the water, i have way over kill on filtration, and 2-3 pinhead sizes pellets a day don't add up to much. And i don't beleive i have "insufficent" lighting as it has been growing very well, like i said about 1/8" a week or so.

 

[ReefEnabler]

wasnt trying to come across wrong, merely passing on what I have read for your information. I only emphasize certain words like "NOT" because in my experience its very easy for people to scan a sentance and miss crucial words and get the opposite interpretation. with emphasis its the first thing you see.

i doubt your clam has been harmed, but if anything it could be slightly irritating it, and clams dont do well when irritated repeatedly.

I am no expert just passing on what I've read.

 

[natereinhold1]

Well thanks for the information, no offence was taken. The "" around insufficient was because everyone has their own thoughts on whats proper when dealing with lighting(i.e. types: mh vs. t5 vs. vho vs. cfl vs. led).

 

[ReefEnabler]

I agree, people tend to over generalize lighting requirements. Like thinking that just because they have MH it automatically means they can keep a crocea, or that somebody with CFLs automatically cannot. Neither is true. It matters where the clam is in relation to where the light is. CLFs might have enough PAR in somebodys tank depending on so many factors.


if youre getting 1/8" per week of shell growth, that says it all; more than enough light.

Its just about impossible to give too much light to a Crocea though (assuming it is acclimated properly!)

 

[natereinhold1]

I housed a crocea in my modded 24 nano cube for 2 1/2 years, with only cfl and led, albiet I had 144watts of it, not including the leds!

 

[ReefEnabler]

Nice

I think you could easily keep a crocea with about 12w worth of LEDs alone using optics if they were all focused on it. Japanese style I have some bulbs like this that plug into 120v socket and they put out serious PAR with a narrow beam. Myabe two of these bulbs depending on distance.

 

[natereinhold1]

where did you sorce them from? and how much?

 

[ReefEnabler]

http://www.divinelighting.com/par-3...5.html?zenid=312f1c3a61b505d490ec2430436777dc

I found em for cheaper on Ebay. They may show up on ebay again soon as the vendor told me these bulbs are not selling like they hoped.

My wife is doing an ELOS Mini that will be lit with 4 of these mounted on the ceiling (2 white 2 blue). Way cheaper than the ELOS LED fixture.

Theyre huge and heavy though, most adjustable household spotlight fixtures wont hold the weight without falling straight down slowly.