Squamose gaping??

[thereefgeek]

Nice healthy looking clam, right? (see attachment) Responds well to light and motion, but decided to move it a little higher up in the tank because I'm running fluorescents (420 watts of VHO and 220 watts of PC). I positioned the large syphonal toward the front glass (was facing back) and noticed......

 

[thereefgeek]

...when the VHOs go out about 1 hr before dark the clam starts doing thissee next pic) Is this normal at night?! Never noticed it before 'cause the big hole was facing the back of the tank.

 

[Will]

How long have you had it?
-Will
ps- Looks more like a maxima than a squammy.

 

[thereefgeek]

A little over a month. I've killed clams in the past, and stayed away from them for a few years, but now I'm trying again. The LFS had them labled as squamosa, and it was 25 bucks.

 

[thereefgeek]

Oh yeah, it's about 3", maybe a little more.

 

[Rendos]

Looks like a gold maxima to me, too. I don't think it is gaping...it does look a little stressed though.

What are your water parameters? Calcium, pH, alk, nitrate, temp., salinity (or specific gravity)? One or more of these may be out of line.

 

[Alberio]

Squamosa?

Squamosa?

Your LFS doesn't know clams.

They looked ok to me. My clams retract a bit at night. They've both been around for over a year.

mjd

 

[werent_still]

i used to keep clams in a non-halide lit tank a year or so ago... i found that one of the most important factors to doing this successfully was high placement of the clam (which obviously brings it closer to the light) and slightly increased nitrate levels, i'll go out on a limb now and assume you probably have nitrate levels (NO2, NO3, NH4) that are pretty low or approaching zero. If you can try this, feed the tank with your choice of phyto supplement and turn your skimmer off for an hour or an hour and a half; at the very least it will benefit the clams and all of the other corals you have in your tank.

best of luck...

 

[thereefgeek]

Maxima, eh? Cool. It's about a foot from the lights (upper 1/2 of the water column). pH=7.0-8-2, Ca=480ppm. Alk=3.5meq. S.G.= 1.025, temp=79-81f, Nitrate near zero, feeding DT's phyto 2x/week.

 

[Nicholas Ang]

Re: Squamosa?

Re: Squamosa?

Your LFS doesn't know clams.

:lol: :lol: :lol: :lol:

 

[smy168]

Are you dosing your tank? What are you using? Clams are not good with Iodine and Stron dosing...there was a thread about this and from experience (lost a beautiful teardrop max once I started dosing iodine)...just thought I'ld mention it.

oh...that's a max, not a squa (gotta love them LFSs, I hope you got a good price)

 

[thereefgeek]

I don't dose any thing except for a little kalk on occasion, and I run a calcium reactor full time. I feed DT's about twice a week and $25 for the clam seemed reasonable. It appears to be happy durring the day, but as the lights dim at dusk that mouth just flops open. As soon as the lights come back on, everything looks normal again.