How to breed clams....

moliken said:
ok. you ready to shell out big $$ for larger clams?
what are your lights that you plan on using?
drip acclimation, burp clams.
moderate flow and not directly on the clam.
check for pyr snails and any other pests, before any purchase. list water params.
Click to expand...

Yes i am, i have the money to do so. I plan on using either LED like i built on my current tank or i might use some PC lights. Not sure yet, i havent looked into other lights yet aside from my LEDs since there is still plenty of time. I know how to drip acclimate so we can check that off the list. I have read about burping and done it on my small clams and it went rather well as described in one of the forums on here. I dont like to get LFS water in my tank so the only time it was out of water was wen i put it in my tank. I checked the ones i have for snails and anything else i could visibly see and looked rather clean and all the other clams in the area looked clean as well.
I am keeping moderate flow (the mantal isnt blowing around, not even causing it to flutter).

I did a water quality check just yesterday:
I have a Mg and PO4 test kit on the way as the 3 closest LFS's didnt have any. I guess they are more into just selling stuff than you actually taking care of them.

Alk: 13.1
Calc: 430
NO2: 0
NH3/NH4: 0
PH: 8.2
NO3: 0-5 (color looked really close to both)
 
Also during this time till i can build this setup to rear clams, i will be buying a few strains of algae.
Tetraselmis: HUFA-~5% EpA-~6%
produces two antibiotic-like compounds thats a plus but is rather large in size (9-14um)

Nannochloropsis oculata: HUFA-16-43% EPA-High DHA-Low
easy to culture size: 2-4um

Isochrysis galbana: HUFA-2-4% EPA-3-4.2%
supposed to be rather easy size: 4-7um

Nanno and Iso will be used on the first feeding (though may not be needed but i want to ensure best chance of success) plus their size is rather close so they can get a variety IF they even eat the stuff. Plus the two sort of help balance where the other one lacks. Though Tetra would be a better substitute for Iso but i worry about its size.

Sometime this weekend I'll get a drawing put together of how i will do the plumbing and stuff for the hatchery resting place till they are a couple months old.
 
ok you two.........

BSOD, let me explain a tad where Moliken is coming from, and about this site a bit. There is another thread on here where a guy decided to do a build thread on a rimless 10g tank. ok, so i chime in and say that 10gs are not made to have their RIMS taken off and that he was doing this "experiment" as he liked to call it at his office. Ok, me being a business owner myself, i took great offense to this as it not only urked me he was doing an experiment with corals/fish with a tank that was NOT made for this and that he was doing this at a place of business that was NOT HIS OWN. If one of my employees did this "experiment" at my place of business and 10g of saltwater had gotten all over the floor and had killed all this reefstock i would be ticked. did he care? no, and so my life went on.. the OP made his case, and i said "well i'm obviously not going to change your mind". me and the OP of this thread had some heated words, yes, but they were not in hatred on either ends. I was merely expressing my concern not only for the livestock but for a place of business that was obviously not his.

so, what moliken is saying is that you are attempting a task that is very hard to accomplish at best. I honestly don't know, but from what everyone else has said, it is. But, there is always that "risk taker", just like in the build thread i mentioned above, and I guess you are the one in this thread about this certain issue.

You have made your case in the breeding of clams. it sounds like you have thought this out, have plans, and are in the works and are not changing your mind. Moliken is just expressing his doubts/questions/concerns as this seems like to him and to us an impossible task and he is an owner of quite a few clams and all he is doing is looking out for the well being of your clams or the clams you will be purchasing. Don't take it as "hatred".

If you do end up doing this, then i would suggest you getting out of this thread and starting your own. you can do your own build thread and all of us can ask questions/express concerns, etc. But speaking from my own experience with clams, truly after 6 years of being in this hobby, I can finally say i think i can successfully keep a clam. clams are so temperamental, so hard to keep, and i can't tell you how many threads i have read where people have said they've had X clam for this long and it just killed over dead one night, as has happened to me on many of nights. these facts are what moliken is merely trying to make.

whew! that made me tired and i'm ready for another drink ;)
 
i get what you are saying. I dont want to harm or kill anything and I'm doing this at a place of MY BUSINESS, my home, thats where i work, so dont worry, if i mess anything up i can only be mad at me lol. He stresses concerns, i ask questions, and all i get is the same replies that dont answer any of my questions. I think of solutions, and get no reply back... All i want are answers. If you dont know, then say so. i'm not trying to be a *****, but this is something that i want to do and if there is nothing that is a definite cant do, other than its going to be very difficult, then i'm going to do all that i can to make it easy, safe, or whatever. doing a 10g rimless, the math can prove that it wouldnt work. But so far i havent seen any evidence that doing it at home will not work.

Once i get everything setup and ready to go, i will start a new thread with videos etc. But i would like to keep this open for preliminary reasons if thats ok.
 
BluScrnOdeth said:
Yes i am, i have the money to do so. I plan on using either LED WHAT LEDS?? like i built on my current tank or i might use some PC lights INSUFFICIENT PAR. Not sure yet, i havent looked into other lights yet aside from my LEDs since there is still plenty of time. I know how to drip acclimate so we can check that off the list. I have read about burping and done it on my small clams and it went rather well as described in one of the forums on here. I dont like to get LFS water in my tank so the only time it was out of water was wen i put it in my tank. I checked the ones i have for snails AT NIGHT?? and anything else i could visibly see and looked rather clean and all the other clams in the area looked clean as well.
I am keeping moderate flow (the mantal isnt blowing around, not even causing it to flutter).

I did a water quality check just yesterday:
I have a Mg and PO4 test kit on the way as the 3 closest LFS's didnt have any. I guess they are more into just selling stuff than you actually taking care of them.

Alk: 13.1
Calc: 430
NO2: 0
NH3/NH4: 0
PH: 8.2
NO3: 0-5 (color looked really close to both)
Click to expand...
SG??
water changes??
salt brand??
test kit brand??
don't understand the 10 gallon tank you mention in the other post:
"doing a 10g rimless, the math can prove that it wouldnt work."
 
moliken said:
don't understand the 10 gallon tank you mention in the other post:
"doing a 10g rimless, the math can prove that it wouldnt work."
Click to expand...

moliken....come on now honey read the threads. that's something i wrote relating to a totally different thread and has nothing to do what he's working on
 
moliken said:
SG??
water changes??
salt brand??
test kit brand??
don't understand the 10 gallon tank you mention in the other post:
"doing a 10g rimless, the math can prove that it wouldnt work."
Click to expand...

SG is 1.024
I use Instant Ocean salt
Water changes... Well i do them once every 6mo or so. I use supplements and have to replace 5g of water every couple days so it gets plenty of trace elements.
Test kit- Salifert for Alk and Calc and Aquarium Pharmaceuticals for everything else.
The supplements i use are: Kent Marine coral accel, coral-vite and Marine Snow. Anything i should add?
 
i've heard that coral accel & coral-vite are a waste of money. i used to use these two when i first started and heard it was just a waste of money. don't know anything about marine snow
 
i have only bought one bottle. i havent noticed any difference so i'll prob stop using it and do more water changes so that i can ensure they are getting enough trace elements. i dont know if my tap water has all the essential elements that the habitants need, thats why i figured i would give it a shot.
 
not rodi water? tap water?
IO IS NOT A GOOD SALT IMHO.
raise sg, but if youre not using a refractometer, get one and get it calibrated.
marine snow is not a supplement. it's a food for filter feeders.
 
No I don't use rodi, tap only. It strips it of everything. What good is that. Plus my tap water has a Ph of 8.1 so its good at helping maintain levels. To you why is IO not good salt? It doesn't throw my quality out of wack or anything.
I do plan on getting a refractometer. But I have more things to worry about. My hydrometer is pretty good. Its not accurate but at least its consistently inaccurate. And I don't want to raise my salinity. As water evaporates from my tank it gets raised a little and 1.024 is in the green zone. Why should I raise it?
 
Last edited:
BluScrnOdeth said:
No I don't use rodi, tap only. It strips it of everything. What good is that. Plus my tap water has a Ph of 8.1 so its good at helping maintain levels. To you why is IO not good salt? It doesn't throw my quality out of wack or anything.
I do plan on getting a refractometer. But I have more things to worry about. My hydrometer is pretty good. Its not accurate but at least its consistently inaccurate. And I don't want to raise my salinity. As water evaporates from my tank it gets raised a little and 1.024 is in the green zone. Why should I raise it?
Click to expand...
who knows what your tap water contains--arsenic, chloramines, people meds, lead, etc?
ask or read around about IO.
what kinda hydrometer do you have? floating, swing arm? how old? if it's consistent it could still be off, potentially far off, from normal. i did say not to raise sg until you get a calibrated refracto. a better sg for clams is slightly above 1.025 up to 27, according to fatheree, pg 149.
simple: do things your way, or accept what others say and evaluate each. no hatred or accusations, but chances of what you'd consider "success" are greater with exactitude and precision, plus quality.
 
moliken said:
who knows what your tap water contains--arsenic, chloramines, people meds, lead, etc?
ask or read around about IO.
what kinda hydrometer do you have? floating, swing arm? how old? if it's consistent it could still be off, potentially far off, from normal. i did say not to raise sg until you get a calibrated refracto. a better sg for clams is slightly above 1.025 up to 27, according to fatheree, pg 149.
simple: do things your way, or accept what others say and evaluate each. no hatred or accusations, but chances of what you'd consider "success" are greater with exactitude and precision, plus quality.
Click to expand...

I cant recall what all is in my water but we get a quarterly statement from our water company that lists a bunch of stuff. What it doesnt list, i'm not sure either.

OK, i havent read that 1.025 was better, i'll work on that and pick a refractometer online, any suggestions? I dont remember the name of the hydrometer i have but it was one from Jacks, a swing arm.
 
Last edited:
BluScrnOdeth said:
I cant recall what all is in my water but we get a quarterly statement from our water company that lists a bunch of stuff. What it doesnt list, i'm not sure either.

OK, i havent read that 1.025 was better, i'll work on that and pick a refractometer online, any suggestions? I dont remember the name of
the hydrometer i have but it was one from Jacks, a swing arm.
Click to expand...

i kinda figured that. swing arms are notoriously inaccurate. build up of salts and general problems. i'd recommend any refracto over 25$. but it must be calibrated, so make sure there is a standard calibration fluid included or that you order some w/the meter, before you make ANY salinity adjustments using a swing arm
 
Ok. Ill order one in a sec online. I had been looking at some that had the thermal compensation and they came with water to calibrate. I think it was 50 including shipping. Don't remember what brand though.
 
Ok I have a little bit to add hopefully I don't get flamed... I hope you can succeed but ther are many inherent problems with this in a closed system I researched t years back and got tons of advice from a friend that used to work with a clam farm in the pacific one problem you are gonna have is keeping them fed till they are large enough to sell this tales awhile sometimes ears to get big enough, second is you will need a closed system with absolutely no life besides the clams in it the invertebrates in our systems will kill small clams (think his point has been brought up,) last problem I see is that you will need a good digital microscope to do this right not only will you need this to properly mix eggs and sperm but you will need it to closely watch be growth of the clams and to be able to space them as needed as they grow. I hope you can succeed but I never tried for the point of time and money it will take to raise them to market size plus i didnt want to look at an empty sand bed till they were big enough to see with the naked eye. Lastly and I will probally get crap for this but I do believe this is possible and so do some experts but it will take perfection to do
 
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