Small clams.

lebowski

Notorious Reeferus
Has anyone had any success raising a 1.5-2.5 inch maxima? There are some very colorful maxima's for sale, but all very small.

Any help appreciated...
 
ive kept a maxima in my own tank for about 4 1/2 months, it started out at about 2" and is about 3" right now.
 
They grow fast and are very hardy if you feed them live phytoplankton. They cannot get enough to "eat" with photosynthesis alone.

There are varying methods to feed them. Some use the top of a 2-liter bottle to feed them, others takem the out in a tupperware. Almost everybody is in agreement that feeding the tank with phytoplankton is not usually good enough. They must be more "target" fed.

Bottom line is that if they are not fed, then they will look good for a while and then all of a sudden die.
 
Bingo....solid CA/ALK and several times a week feeding is the way to go. I've had small maximas grow 1 cm a month like that! (Bowl feeding every other day, plus a CA reactor)
 
dts is available in just about every lfs in the phoenix area. and its really not that expensive. i cant imagine it being that much more expensive in socal.
 
I have had a baby max since december and its doing great, I dont target feed though but i do dose the tank....with DT's soon to be my home brew cultured phyto...
 
Thanks for the info. I feed DT's everyday. Half a capful to my 29gallon tank-skimmer off for a few hours. I want to get a clam from Barry but most of the Max's are really small. ( Or atleast the very nice ones ).:D
 
to get a clam from Barry but most of the Max's are really small

The clam farm has nothing to ship except for the small one. It has been this way for about 7 months now and Ron at the farm says not to expect anything much larger in a cultured clam for about a year + :(
 
I had no significant problem raising Maxima that is at least true 1.5 inches in shell lenght, and Crocea that ia at least 1 inche. It is very true that these small clams needs optimal enviroment to live and grow. I do not feed my tank phytoplanton, but do feed my tank a large variety of food, including the smallest size (and other size) Golden Pearls. I got two Ultral Maxima that I got at 1.5 inches 6 months ago. They are about 2.5 inches today.
Minh
 
are the Croceas also cultured?

As far as I know and from what we have been told that there is no cultured croceas being raised at this time and hasn't been in a few years. Some of the overseas suppliers are collected them and then placing them in logoons and calling them calutured clams.

There are 2 phases of cultured clams. Hatchery phase and then the ocean phase. Hatchery phase comprises of hatching of larvae and seeded on different types if substrates and when they are a certain size they are then raised in raceways and other types of containers and some are placed in cages and placed in the ocean. Over the years this has become very expensive even for 3rd world countries and that is one reason why we are seeing less calutured clams.

There are some that are telling people that all their clams are cultured but this is not the case at all. SORRY There are a few countries that are culturing T.gigas and T squamosa but none to our knownledge are culturing T.croceas.

Sorry for the long reply but I thought this might be of interest.
 
Just to add to Barry's answer,
One of the reason we do not see cultured Croceas is cause of the prices in Vietnam.
Most of the clams in Vietnam are Croceas, and they are cheap.
Now if you want to start investing money in a clam farm and you're thinking of which species to start raising you'll consider of what moeny you'll get for your clam when you go out to the market.
The worst odds will be for Croceas:
1.The competition from Vietnam wild collected Clams will break your price.
2.Corcea do not grow fast, it is the smallest of the Triancid family, so if you want to sell it for restaurants in the far east you'll have to wait long time till they'll reach the size you can serve them.
 
Clams are raised for food, thus the larger species are often raised.
Colaraltion of wild Crocea are very beautiful. Farm raised crocea cannot improve on this.
Wild Maxiam are not very colorful. Selective breeding result in the Ultra Maxima being common today and relatively in expensive. Mid 90's an ultra blue Maxima from the Red Sea cost hundreds of dollars. We can get these Ultra Maxima for 40-60 dollars these days.
Soon, in a few years time, we will see Ultra Squamosa. I only blue spotted Squamosa in pictures in the mid and late 90's. Now, lightly blue spotted Squamosa are very cheap, same price as regular Squamosa. I am sure we will see tank raise color teardrop Maxima in the near future also.
Minh
 
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