My clam keeps falling over!

SOS

New member
Just got my first baby maxima a couple of days ago, and my snails and hermits seem to love him for some reason. I have him mounted on a small piece of LR, but every few hours I find him toppled over onto the sand. It's not a big fall, like 1/2" down to the sand, but it's annoying the heck outta me. The snails and hermits crawl all over it and it just falls over and opens up on its side. They don't really seem to be bothering the clam, as it stays open when they're crawling on it, but it keeps getting moved. Should I just leave the clam on its side on the sand beside the LR and let it move around and find a good position on its own? TIA :)
 
The hermits and snails are attracted to the mucus being produced by the clams byssal gland, they do this when they are stressed. Try putting it on a rock with a little depression in it, or if you have a half clam shell, set it in that, or use a dremmel and grind a depression in the rock it is on now then it will attatch fairly quickly provided it likes the conditions of where you put it. Once it attatches with byssal threads, the snails and hermits won't be able to knock it over.
 
jim norris said:
IMO hermits plus clams = trouble. I would remove the clam or remove the hermits.
Jim

Interesting. Would the hermits actually kill the clam or do they just irritate the clams by crawling on them? Thanks for the info!
 
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