What would you pay for a clam?

M

mbbuna

In Memoriam
I have a few questions about the clams we get in the U.S. and I'm hoping to get some feed back from the average clam buyer in the U.S., Europe and Asia. and im also hoping to here from industry insiders(wholesalers, import/exporters, distributor's).

i hear and read time and time again that the nicest clams go to the European and Asian markets, because they are willing to pay "the big bucks" for them. i find this hard to believe! take the Blue Squamosas that trickle out once in blue moon, going for $400 to $800. that's not "big bucks"? Nicely colored Teardrop Maximas for $250 and up?? And if these aren't the nicest clams then what are we missing????

so i guess my first question is, what are people in the U.S. willing to pay for a clam? And what do you expect from these cherry clams?

my next question is for the people from Europe and Asia.

What do you(are you willing to) pay for clams?

what do these clams look like(what are we missing)?

For the industry insiders

What will it take to get these clams into the U.S.?

Are there other things that play into it other then "the big bucks"?

Any other in-site you could give on this?
 
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From my understanding most of the rest of the world eats these clams. In Japan/China the bysal gland is used as an Aphrodisiac & goes for big bucks.
 
I am from Taiwan and I have only eaten these clams at special occassions like wedding banquets. They are not terribly expensive but can be a bit pricy. Neverthless we never have to pay more than $30 per meal that involves clams. The only part that we Chinese utilize is really the adductor muscle while the rest of the clam are not much of value to us. I know that not many people in Asia would have the kind of spear money for a clam that would cost more than $400 so I'd say your rumor is just a rumor. I feel the price of the clam is strickly raised by the middleman. And the price of such specimens will stay that way unless someone can figure out how to breed clam in U.S. soil.
Which reminds me that shipping is much more frequent and convenient to Asian countries from these clamc sources. For example, it's only 2 hours of fly from Phillipines to Taiwan and add 3 more to Japan. In contrast, a clam goes thru at least 24 hours of flying and transits to reach U.S. soil. And that, might be the difference.
Personally I would not pay more than $60 for any clams under 4"
All six clams in my tank now are under $60 and I think they are as beautiful as any other clams out there that goes $400.
 
ORA is selling the blue squamosas. I think vendors are the one ripping people off. A guy gets them from ORA at a reasonable price and was selling them for 99 bucks. This was 2 weeks ago. This just goes to show you the markup to make a buck. The most I'll pay is 100 bucks for a blue squamosa and I won't pay over 55 bucks for a clam. All mine have been that or lower and I agree with Steven, they look just as good or better then those 400 dollar clams.
 
I agree a $55 clam looks as nice as a $400 clam but you also can't blame someone for making a buck, Especially if its your main source of income. Actually $99 not bad considering some jokers are trying to get 400-500 & getting it. J.M.O.
 
I just paid $69 for a clam, he's a nice rich blue color, love him...
My LFS has what she calls "Blue", but wants $79, and they look like crap! They are very dull looking.

My new Blue Crocea Clam... He was $69, and I got 15% off.
blue_crocea_clam_001.jpg


Rich
 
I agree Donavan. You know who I'm talking about with the 99 dollar blue squamy. Very fair price and the guy is always fair IMO. However I've seen several getting the SAME ora clam and marking it up to 500. Yes, I understand making money but I also think overcharging that much IMO is wrong. This is just my opinion and it rubs me the wrong way. I stay away from places like that when I found out that is how they run.

I know a couple places that had frags of corals for a very reasonable price. As soon as they thought it appeared just like the LE, they marked em 3 times as much and labeled it as such.
 
Hey i know all about price gouging I went through Hurricane Katrina & Willma last year (lol). I agree with you totaly theres a differance between making a buck and just flat out racking someone over hot coals. The sad thing is as long as people are willing to shovel out the dough there will be people there to take it. I guess it's all relavent I mean If Dan Marino wants to pay 500 for a blue squamie to put in his tank thats like five buck to you & me (LOL)!
 
Yeah its been over two weeks now & no more P.M. After the dip (twice) i started running heavy carbon like mbbuna suggested and it hasen't returned yet....Thank God!
 
I was notified about this post about a week ago and I have finally come around to putting in my half cent of information.

Clams of incredible quality have been very difficult to come across over the last year or so. The Solomon's used to send some incredible Teardrop Maximas but the survivability was very poor due to the long transit. There was also a source from the Cook Islands but that had the same problem. Fiji also used to send some beautiful Lightning Striped Maximas (I saw quite a few while I was there in November) but the government shut down the exportation of them a few years ago. Pohnpei also used to send some amazing Maximas but they had some sort of viral disease that was being spread around so they have not been available as well.

I have seen a few beautiful cultured Maximas coming in but they are quite expensive and I cannot seem to be able to hook up with the fellow who is selling them.

The only source of colorful clams at the moment is Vietnam. But they only have Croceas, Gold Teardrops and Tiny cultured Gigas.

I hope that some more suppliers start culturing them so we can have a few more choices to pick from, otherwise we are going to continue to have a hard time getting these incredible Bivalves.

I hope this sheds some light on the subject and have a great weekend.

Chris @ RM
 
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Interesting. Thanks Chris.

Being someone who sees wholesale lists regularly, I find your statements to be very accurate.
 
I was in Tahiti last year and those blue clams grow like weeds. They are all over the beaches and you have to be careful not to step on them. Of course, it costs about $6,000 to get there from here so it may not be profitable.:eek1:
 
There is one store in the Dallas area that seems to be very proud of their maxima's. They want $100+ for the 1 1/2 to 2" Maxima's, I believe they are all from ORA. The other local stores that I go to are in the $59 to $69 range for the same clams. I had read about a year ago that the maxima's would be hard to come by this year because the growers had oversold their inventory and would have to hold back this year. I'm still seeing some really nice ones though, just not as many as in previous years. Gold teardrops have really dropped in the last year. I've seen them below $50 now. Just wish the colored ones would show up and become cheaper.

Glad that ORA has the blue squamosa now. I still haven't seen one in a LFS yet. We have several local stores that get in ORA stuff so hopefully I will see one soon. Depending on what it looked like, I might pay $99 for it.

I remember paying around $125 plus shipping about 10 years ago for a blue maxima. I can get the same one now for around the same price so I guess I can't complain about prices too much. I have been seeing an increase in fish prices. I used to pay around $20 for a Midas blenny a couple of years ago and now they are all around $50 locally.
 
I have seen wholesale lists and bought Cherry $15 3"-4" croceas and I am in FL. You know there is a big mark up. I also bought a 4" blue maxima and 41/2" Gigas for $45 ea at a LFS. Other LFS around sell 1-2" ORA for upwards of $85. Just depends how much they want to mark up. Still seems crazy!
 
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