these are high light demanding clams, that live on the rocks. They should be given supplemental feeding with phytoplankton. The smaller clams (Under 3") will require feeding almost daily after that feedings can be reduced to 2 or 3 times a week depending on your fish load. Be careful with the types of fish and inverts that you keep because some fish and inverts eat clams. You need a stable environment that is within reef keeping parms
This is very general but if you want more details I recommend you going to the clam forum here on reef central
Speaking of fish my cleaner wrasse has taken out my favorite crocea. It attacks their gills. It took several months for it to finally give up but it never really looked bad until the end. The wrasse (~2.5-3" long) would be almost completely inside with about 3/8" stick out of the clam... The derasa closes up pretty pfast and tight, so he doesn't mess with it as much. It doesn't mess with the other crocea, either (well, not too much). It must have known which was my favorite...
The copperband can pick on it. They eat them in the wild. I had a copperband who didn't bother mine and many other keep them with clams but there is a risk.
That is what I was afraid of. The Copperband doesn't pick on my Xenia, unfortunately.
I am going to do some research before I decide on anything. I am going to wait until I move my tank to the new house in Jan. I don't dose calcium or anything, which is another concern. I did purchase some B-Ionic supplement, though. Will that do?
I would put the clam in the upper to mid level in the tank. The butterfly may be a problem. Also you do not want to have any fish that will blow sand around the tank, because if it gets inside the clam it could kill it.
Instead of buying additives you can make your own. I make a gallon each of three part (also known as 2 part additive) in about 5 minutes. All you need is baking soda (this is for alk), Dow flakes or prestone driveway heat(this is for Cal), and Epsom salt (this is for Mag). The mag is only dosed after I add the gallon each of the other two parts this is around once a month and I add one cup. But I only add if my mag is below 1300 ppm. By using this method it will say you a lot of money!
IME the hardest part about keeping clams is getting a healthy one to start with. They can look healthy at first only to take a dive a couple of months later. They are very sensitive to SG changes and if not aclimated properly at the LFS or if they are unduely stressed in shipping they can easily die a couple of months after you get them.
Joe's advice, as usual, is spot on. A couple of things from my experience with that may be a little different........ I won't buy a clam under 4". Over 4" they don't need to be fed directly but the small ones do. The only feeding my clams get is when I clean the glass a couple of times a week. I also keep my clams on the bottom of the tank and they do fine ( I also have a 120 with 2 250 MH's, mine are 10K's however, not sure what yours are).
I do not have any Maximas but I do have 2 Croceas (considered a little harder to keep than Maximas), a Deresa and a Squamosa (less demanding than a Maxima).
I have had all of them for at least a year and the Deresa going on 4 years now:
Ive got Crocea (has actually bore down into the rock) and a maxima (on the sand). I've got 3x250w 10K's.
When i first put the maxima in my coral beauty picked at it, this went on for about 3 days. I got to the point that I was considering pulling the fish (he's never bothered anything, including the Crocea, nor has my flame). He wasnt really picking flesh, just hitting the sides pretty hard and forcing the clam to stay withdrawn all the time.
After 3 days he stopped and I've had no more problems.
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