New Maxima Clam being accosted by my CUC

[Brieninsac]

On Saturday, I bought my first clam, a Maxima. I was able to fit him onto an extra piece of rock placed on the sand bed. I'm running 2 Kessil A360W lights at 75% intensity.

Shortly after going into the tank (1.5 hour acclimation) it seemed to open up a fair amount and the mouth was open pretty wide. I'm hoping that was normal as it was getting used to my system.

My question is in regards to my CUC. They seem to be all over it. I did scrub it pretty good with a toothbrush before putting it into my tank but the CUC must be finding some good morsels to devour. I've seen lots of crabs and snails on the shell working on it. Occasionally I've seen some of the crabs get up on the mantel. Will the CUC eventually leave it alone? It seems to me all this activity is keeping it from opening up and the mantel expanding.

He closed up a little when I turned the blues down to take the picture.

 

[malx]

He looks good to be honest. Don't worry about your CUC. I have a huge emerald that goes by mine every so often, a turbo snail about 1/2 his size that cleans the shell as well, and my clown Goby likes to sit on his mantle.

Additionally I've dropped a coral cutter in his mantle and once he closed on a big Acro frag. He spit the Acro frag out and was unphazed by my coral cutter.

One time he broke out with bubble algae all over him, I took him out, scrubbed him down, put him back in, was fine.

He's been both in the sand and on rocks. He's moved himself a few times but after 5 months he found a place he's liked.

Mine looks exactly like yours when the blues are on.

Long story short, don't worry so much about your clam. They are hardy to "things happening"

Here's what you want to watch out for.

1: keep him on the rocks. While i personally disagree and feel a maxima clam can be kept on the Sand, it's generally known that they prefer rocks. Mine was on the sand for a while and he attached himself to the glass below it. He was fine for a long time until I had to remove him.

2: don't let him fall over. He shouldn't fall over on how own once he attaches himself. Just watch him the first few days.

3: once he attaches himself, don't move him or remove him. If you have to take him out for an extreme reason that's fine, but if he's attached, he's happy and that's where he wants to stay.

4: if he does not like his spot, he will move himself. Leave him go explore.

5: you don't have to feed him. People say that clams under 3" you have to feed. No. He will get lost of his food from the light. I keep my nutrients low so once a week I put some small food particles in there like pods and blended clam and selcon just to keep some organic matter in places for the little critters.

6: his mantle and shell tell it all. If he's open during the day great. If his mouth is a slit and not gaping open great. You want to look for that kind of consistency. He opens the same every day and closes every night. If you cover the light and he retracts fast great. Also, you want the shell around his mantle bright white. That means he's growing. Look out for the white lip on his shell, that's important. If he's getting too much light or flow or not enough, you will see his mantle or mouth to do weird things or he won't grow

7: alk above 6, CA above 380. There are ideal parameters. This is what I shoot for.

8: no two clams are the same. Trust me on this one. Clams are very unique to each other. They are complex animals. No two will react the same. They aren't as consistent with each other as corals are

9: tell chicks you have a pet clam. It confuses them and makes them want to know more about you. The keepers are the ones that come over to look at it.

Here's some pics of mine. His name is Chowder.

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[Brieninsac]

Great suggestions, thanks! I love the goby sitting on it, that's awesome!

So far he's attaching to the rock he's on. It's kinda like a taco shell holder keeping him upright. Eventually I'll move the rock up to a higher location on the aquascape. I was told by my LFS the mantels are kinda like polys, they will reach when they want more light and recede when it's too bright. So I'll use that as my gauge on when to move him.

 

[malx]

Great suggestions, thanks! I love the goby sitting on it, that's awesome!

So far he's attaching to the rock he's on. It's kinda like a taco shell holder keeping him upright. Eventually I'll move the rock up to a higher location on the aquascape. I was told by my LFS the mantels are kinda like polys, they will reach when they want more light and recede when it's too bright. So I'll use that as my gauge on when to move him.

Yeah good idea. If it helps mine gets about 150 par. That's about the lowest you'd want for SPS corals. He was fine in much lower light so they don't need as much light as you'd think.


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[ca1ore]

I don't agree, maxima and Crocea live in very high light zones in the wild. I actually think that long term care failures are often about insufficient light. I'd put it as high up as you can. The other species are not nearly as exacting.

As long as the CUC is just cleaning the shell that's fine. If they start picking at the mantle or the bysall gland that's bad.

 

[malx]

I don't agree, maxima and Crocea live in very high light zones in the wild. I actually think that long term care failures are often about insufficient light. I'd put it as high up as you can. The other species are not nearly as exacting.

As long as the CUC is just cleaning the shell that's fine. If they start picking at the mantle or the bysall gland that's bad.

Personally I would Measure par before you do anything to know exactly where he belongs is what I did. I wouldn't move him around with out knowing where a suitable place is for him and then I wouldn't move him.




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[ca1ore]

Unfortunately I don't take my PAR meter on dive trips. Gots to rely on the old eyeballs.

 

[jda]

I would want a maxima in 500+ PAR for long term keeping. This is from years and years of keeping them from 2" until they grow to about 8+". They come from shallow water and would benefit from a full-spectrum light with more than just blue since light in this area is more like 6.5K up to maybe 10K. They do quite well under 10K and 14K MH in my tanks when up in the rockwork.

Clams are the ultimate in false positive. The only real way to tell if they are really healthy is if they are putting on new shell in your tank - scutes too. The picture of the clam above has no new shell or scutes. Even a dying clam can look great for months and months just until they die.

A healthy maxima can grow 2 inches a year and then kinda level off once they hit about eight inches in shell, then they grow slower, IME. This can happen in less than three years in my tanks with the standard ORA cultured ones that come in about 2". BTW - a growing clam can consume more alk and calcium than the rest of your tank and you need to account for it.

I would watch for advice from people who have them grow and thrive and not just kept. Most people don't know that if they look fine that the might not be and they often give advice and care that they don't know is bad. There are many that can live for a year, or more, and never grow that have been dying the whole time.