Looking for a beginner Clam

[Gizba]

I am looking for a Clam that would be good for a beginner. The tank it is going in is a 72 gallon bow tank here is some info about the tank:

Tank-72 AGA Bow Front Reef Ready
Lighting- 6 55 Watt Custom Sealife power
FILTRATION-Ecosystem Acrylic Sump 3012
Protein Skimmer - AquaC Remora Pro
Calcium Reactor- Marine Life Aquatics CR-250

Thanks for your help.

 

[Peabody]

While yout tank sounds great ( ) I hate to say it, but your lighting is barely adaquate for even a low light clam You might be able to do a derasa or a squamosa, but for sure not a maxima or crocea. They demand metal halide, and MH is still reccomended for the others. (Using the not so great watts per gallon method you have 4.5 watts per gallon. Most clam keepers have much, much more than that through metal halide supplimented with PC or VHO actinic. My tank is 15 watts per gallon of MH/PC) Some people have had some luck with certain clams under PCs, but they seem to be the exception. I've seen too many posts where people say "Why did my clam die...." and they don't have enough lights.

The rest of your tank sounds great! Slap a 250 watt MH above your tank with your PCs then you'll be good to go! I know MH seems expensive, but mine cost me MUCH less than I've spent on equivilent PCs. Check out the used equipment forum here, or build a DIY MH setup. (I got a pendant, ballast, and bulb for $100 here on RC)

 

[bookfish]

pc's

pc's

Hi I am currently keeping a 4" squamosa in an 18xh (like a 10 g but 20" tall) with a jbj 2x36w pc hood w/1 actinic and 1 "daylight" bulb. The clam seems happy but I've only had it for 2 months. BTW it appears to be gaining mantle color -irridescence- on a daily basis but this could just be the clam maturing.
Clam folks seem to recommend squamosas and derasas for lower light beginner tanks. Good luck!-Jim A.

 

[Peabody]

Bookfish - A clam turning darker, gaining color like that, is a bad sign that he is not getting enough light Check out pages 89-91 of Knop's "Giant Clams" To paraphrase, he says that clams that are light starved breed more zooxanthalle in their mantles to try to get more nutrition from the available light. He also says that they really extra extend their mantle to try to get more light, but that is bad, and not good like it would seem. Your tank is tall, and your lights are minimal Please tell me you are at least regularly feeding your clam DTs. I'm not an expert, but from the limited info you gave us, it doesn't sound that great Best of luck!

Gizba: This is why you need a MH!

 

[bookfish]

thanks

thanks

Thanks for the info, I am in fact feeding it dt phyto and will repositon it to 2-3 inches below the water surface. Unfortunately I can't put in the combo mh/ actinic system till sometme next year so for now I'll try just moving it up. I'll let you know how it goes.
Thx again-Jim

 

[Gizba]

What if I place the clams close to the light source on the LR i have in the tank?

Will that work for now

 

[Peabody]

Gizba: That might be sufficient to keep a derasa or squamosa clam alive, but not for a healthy life, which is what we want for our animals, not just conditions just enough so they survive for a while, right? You could put a clam up close to the rocks, but he likely won't stay......they sure can move! Derasas and squamosas most often perfer to sit in the substrate. They would likely jump down to find a nice comfy spot in the sand (mine sure refused to stay on the rocks) and then slowly perish due to lack of light in your lighting setup.

If you really want a clam for your particular setup, please get MH. I'm not a MH salesman or anything, but they need it to survive, unless in a shallow tank with much more intense VHO or PC lighting than you currently have. Why not save the $ you were going to spend on a clam and you'll likely be halfway towards buying a nice used MH pendant or retro kit!

Believe me, I understand how badly you want a clam. I did for the longest time before I had MH! What's stopping you from taking the $ you want to spend on a clam and putting it towards a used MH setup? Your corals would sure thank you if you got one!

 

[cromax]

Gizba, as you know, the general consensus is that metal halides are the best way to go - and I agree with this. But I have been keeping clams for almost 6 years now, and I can honestly tell you that T. max of the green and blue "ultra" coloration will do just fine under PC's - they have no problem growing under these conditions as well.

As part of an experiment, I placed 7 varying sized specimens of T. max - "ultra" and normal colored maximas in a 20 gallon long with a 20 gallon eclipse unit equipped with their single retrofit 55w PC. I removed the upper cover and placed a stand alone JBJ PC fixture with 96 watts.

I successfully kept and grew my clams under these lights. Please keep in mind I was sure that every part of the mantle was lighted, and the clams were placed on live rock no further than ~3 inches from the lights.

I kept a daily log for this tank, and kept the clams for a little over a year in this tank. No bleaching, if anything, there was fantastic color in the greens and blues - and the coloration had the granular metallic sheen which makes these clams so beautiful. There was new growth on the rims of the shells as well, and one of my maximas gained over an inch of new growth during this period!

Bottom line..... in my experience with this tank, you can keep T. max from 2" to 7" under PC's with NO PROBLEM. Halides are not required provided you place them close to the tubes. There are at least a hundred different ways you can keep clams successfully for years. IMO, if you want color, go with the maximas. They are extremely hardy. Nearly Bulletproof. Croceas I have not kept under PC's, so I don't know about them. Good Luck, and never buy a clam on impulse. If you start with a healthy specimen, they are extremely hardy.