My First Squamosa (pics) questions

[Stephany]

Day one after a long acclimation (flash)

disclaimer: I did not kill the clam previously dwelling in that shell that he's sitting on.

Day three (no flash, not as good picture & he kinda flinched before I took the picture

He's small, so tonight I tried bowl feeding him DTs Phyto. Before I took him out, I noticed he was kind of tilting to the left a touch. But I just picked him up straight out of the water, and put him in the bowl. (I realize now I should have put the bowl under him in the tank and then lifted him out)

He then stayed this closed until I put him back in the tank twenty minutes later. I didn't think he ate... so I dumped the bowl in my upper tank & turned off my sump return for an hour... ? I am letting just a power head run in the tank before I skim it out.

Do you think he did eat? Do your guys clams open more while in the bowl? I read that they will attach their foot once they are stable.... How will I know? How long does it take for squamosas?

Thank you in advance,
Stephany

 

[Stephany]

Out of the bowl, & into the tank, 10 minutes later:

 

[johnvu713]

Mine does the same. Mine wouldnt stay shut when i put him in a bowl. get a plastic coke bottle and place it over him with DT>
You sure you didnt kill that big clam

 

[Stephany]

*Positive* lol, it was actually part of a bird feeder... ? heh

Thank you.. Also, this morning, I found him in front of the clam shell! On the deeper sand in front of it. What gives? lol I didn't even have time to move him back on the way to work.
Do you think he'll stick his foot down by the time I get home?

 

[Meloco14]

I am positive you didn't kill that big clam, because, in fact it is not a clam. It is a scallop . When you remove your squamosa to feed him place the bowl under water and put the clam in, then remove the bowl. This ensures that no air gets into the clam. Air bubbles can become trapped inside them when you take them out of water. This is easily remedied by "burping" your clam by gently turning him over a few times just under the surface of the water, to allow any air to escape. Ideally, though, they should not be exposed to air. When I was bowl feeding my baby maxima's I could actually see them feeding by moving their incurrent and excurrent siphons. They are fully open during this process. As for your clam moving, they will move until they find a comfortable spot. This is normal. In your case, he might not like the sand under him. For more information check out Daniel Knop's book "Giant Clams" and the forum at this site www.clamsdirect.com. HTH

 

[Rcarruth]

This thread is really cute somehow. It's like looking at baby pictures.

-Clark

 

[mbbuna]

clams feed slowly all day long. it closed up because there was too much food in the water. just add a little food every day to the tank and thats all you need.you dont even need to turn your skimmer/filter off, just add a touch of food and thats it

 

[Meloco14]

How big is the clam? I have been assuming he is less than 2" long. If he is, then my opinion is you need to bowl feed them. If he is larger than 2", he will live primarily by photosynthesis with supplemental feeding from the tank. But when they are small, they cannot survive with photosynthesis and tank feeding alone. But I do agree that you may have put too much food into the bowl. Put just enough in to notice a slight green tint in the water. Then let them feed until the water is clear, but make sure this takes no longer than 30-45min. JMO

 

[Stephany]

Thanks Meloco. lol.... It's about as big as my hand stretched out.

In the bowl i put two tsps of DTs. It wasn't real dark at all, I wish I had taken pictures. I think he closed up cause I lifted him out instead of putting the bowl under him.

Ahh, he's like about 2" exactly, ORA cultured. So, I don't know. It seems like he's gotten a bit more green since I got him.

 

[The steven liu]

My squamosa has been attached to a rock firmly but it will not quit spinning, it is growing fast and doing very well, I guess some clams are just movers, nothing to worry about.

 

[Stephany]

Spinning?
Maybe it was a dj in a past life.

I put him back in the scallop's shell, and he hasn't moved back out since.

 

[Meloco14]

If he is 2" then you can go either way with the feeding. Personally I would still bowl feed but I'm sure there are many who would not, and still have a healthy clam. You might want to try bowl feeding again and see how responsive the clam is. If he closes up again and doesnt eat then maybe you should just feed the tank every night, with the filters and skimmer off. Good luck!

 

[Chaotic Reefer4u]

gorgeous clam...

 

[Stephany]

Thanks guys. He's been doing great so far. He'll occassionally flip himself over (even though I have rocks on either side...) This morning I got up and this is what he was like:
Do you think I should bury him deeper in that scallop's sand-garden? It doesn't look like his foot gets as deep as the sand is in the middle if it's truly extended as far as it goes.

Thank you for the help!!!

 

[saltygeek]

Mine did that for the first week or two and then i built up some sand around the base a little bit. Seems to keep him upright. Now he's attached to a piece of liverock and is pretty straight. If your referring to the white area in the pic as the foot, it looks to me to be the bysall threads he;s laying down to keep himself in place.

 

[mbbuna]

just prop him up with a few chunks of rubble

 

[Stephany]

I did, I put a piece of rubble on each side of him. He moved one out of the way and then came forward another 3".
I tried pushing him down in the sand a teeny bit more, and then put the rubble back on either side of him.
We'll see how he likes it.