Please talk me out of putting a clam in my tank

[Webmanny]

Hey guys,

A very good friend of mine in Orlando has a few small clams in his tank (I think they are maxima) and wants me to take one. I only have a 40 breeder mixed reef tank with hybrid T5/LED lights and no sand bed. The clams are beautiful and about an inch across, but I don't know that my tank should/could handle it.

Please share with me your bad or good experiences with them and how hard do you think they are to keep in our tanks.

Thank you for your help.

 

[anbosu]

If you can grow SPS you can handle a clam. Long term I would expect you'll need a bigger tank for the maxima, but that is probably years down the road.

 

[Webmanny]

oh man. I was hoping the first post to be a horror story. I have a few SPS sticks growing in my tank with great success, which is why he told me that I should try a clam. I hope someone jumps on and gives me a few negatives about them. Thanks

 

[Greybeard]

Why? They're beautiful, not terribly difficult to keep (good lighting and little DT's once in a while), not likely to attack any of your other tank inhabitants...

Hey, if you don't want one, well, it's your tank, don't get one, but really, there is little downside to a healthy clam

 

[Seagars]

no way

 

[Webmanny]

Why? They're beautiful, not terribly difficult to keep (good lighting and little DT's once in a while), not likely to attack any of your other tank inhabitants...

Hey, if you don't want one, well, it's your tank, don't get one, but really, there is little downside to a healthy clam

That is the problem. I like them and was kind of hoping that someone would talk me out of it. LOL

I have heard from a member here that they can use a lot of ALK and Calcium while they are growing so need to be careful with that.

 

[anbosu]

That is the problem. I like them and was kind of hoping that someone would talk me out of it. LOL

I have heard from a member here that they can use a lot of ALK and Calcium while they are growing so need to be careful with that.

That's really the only negative I can think of - more dosing

 

[janes_mw]

I would but my flame took mine out in less than 30 minutes.

 

[asbauto]

Hey Manny do you dose anything now? I don't have a high calcium demand in my tank just a few sps, A couple lps and a clam but I can can keep my calcium and alk in check by adding kalk to my topoff water.Granted my tank is way bigger but I didn't see any difference with calcium levels after adding my clam. One downside, I've heard its harder to keep smaller clams fed properly and not sure how big the one in question is or if that is a true statement and my clam is about 4 inches so I'm not speaking from experience but there are a few articles on that subject if you search

 

[CuzzA]

Yellow tang ate mine... Derasa clams are much easier to care for, but if you're getting a sweet deal, go for it. It's my understanding when they're small they can benefit from a little phyto. Also, since they attach to a surface it would probably be wise to let it attach to something that can be moved around rather than your rock work. This way you don't risk injuring the foot if it needs to be moved.

If you want a negative... They can really polute a tank if they die. And if they die it hurts watching a good chunk of money go down the drain. Fortunately, tridacna clams are Aqua and maricultured so you don't have to feel "AS" guilty about losing one.

 

[rogeragrimes]

Hey guys,

A very good friend of mine in Orlando has a few small clams in his tank (I think they are maxima) and wants me to take one. I only have a 40 breeder mixed reef tank with hybrid T5/LED lights and no sand bed. The clams are beautiful and about an inch across, but I don't know that my tank should/could handle it.

Please share with me your bad or good experiences with them and how hard do you think they are to keep in our tanks.

Thank you for your help.

I bought an incredible looking blue maxima...made it two days before something ate it. I think it was my tulip snail

 

[Reefpilot11]

I love my derasa clam. The thing grew like crazy in the first year or so and has slowed down now. Pretty easy to care for.

 

[Webmanny]

That's really the only negative I can think of - more dosing

Good point. I am not dosing anything at the moment. Water changes have been keeping up with the demand so far. This is not to say that I may not bring the dosing pump back online if needed, but very good point.

 

[Webmanny]

Hey Manny do you dose anything now? I don't have a high calcium demand in my tank just a few sps, A couple lps and a clam but I can can keep my calcium and alk in check by adding kalk to my topoff water.Granted my tank is way bigger but I didn't see any difference with calcium levels after adding my clam. One downside, I've heard its harder to keep smaller clams fed properly and not sure how big the one in question is or if that is a true statement and my clam is about 4 inches so I'm not speaking from experience but there are a few articles on that subject if you search

I don't dose anything as of right now. As far as Kalk, I like how simple it works, but I hate the white mess they make of the hoses, pumps and reservoir. I would prefer to put the dosser back online instead of Kalk, but I get your point. A bit more demand on levels. Thank you!

 

[Webmanny]

Yellow tang ate mine... Derasa clams are much easier to care for, but if you're getting a sweet deal, go for it. It's my understanding when they're small they can benefit from a little phyto. Also, since they attach to a surface it would probably be wise to let it attach to something that can be moved around rather than your rock work. This way you don't risk injuring the foot if it needs to be moved.

If you want a negative... They can really polute a tank if they die. And if they die it hurts watching a good chunk of money go down the drain. Fortunately, tridacna clams are Aqua and maricultured so you don't have to feel "AS" guilty about losing one.

Oh wow. That suxs man. I would hate to put this thing in my tank to watch it die or worse, disappear overnight because something decided to make it dinner. LOL

Good point to keep in mind.

 

[Webmanny]

ok. some very good points everyone. As always, thank you very much for your honest opinion. I may give it a shot. I'll stop by his house this weekend and see it in person. If it is not in great shape or if it is too large, I may pass on it. I will also see what he doses today and how big is the demand.

Thanks again.

 

[ReefWreak]

They're pretty easy to keep, even in a smaller set up. I have a maxima and a derasa in my 29g biocube under LEDs, and they've been super easy to care for, and the maxima has significant new growth on it's shell. If they're too small when you get them (~1") they need to be fed, but anything larger than that and they don't.

I did buy two maximas together, but one kept moving around the tank and didn't make it (buried himself under one of the rocks, had to tear the tank apart to pull it out and get it back in the lights). But once they're settled in, the ones that attach to substrate are okay. The derasa I believe lives in the sand bed normally and doesn't attach, and he does move himself around my tank now and then, and also hasn't shown much growth.

My biocube is SPS dominant and I'm dosing about 24mL of each part of 2 part daily.

 

[Fragaddiction]

I've had mine over two years now, got it from Aldo. Never had an issue, does pull more alk & ca though. How much I'm not sure between him & the corals.

 

[Safir]

what about lighting? Years back it was generally accepted that you could only keep clams under the most intense lights - what types and power of lights are people keeping them under?

 

[anbosu]

LEDs seem to work fine. I have my gold maxima under a few old AI SOLs with an hour of T5 supplementation every day.