Whats the trick to keeping small Maximas?
- Thread starter SINNERMF
- Start date
mine die
Kalkbreath
In Memoriam
How small?
Two inch maximas are easy!
Contrary to mis belief, small clams are easy if given what they need to do thrive.
[Its all about water chemistry.]
In one of my test tanks I have 60 maxima (2inch to 3 inch) clams in a 54 gallon with a single 150 watt MH.
[one piece of live rock and no skimmer or filter]
Its nearly been six months and all are activly growing and increasing color.
I'm hoping this over the top example will help disprove the notion that "small clams only last six months or less ".
[as you have suggested.]
I am getting ready to add even more clams to this tank to determine what is the max number of clams per gallon a system can hold.
I may in fact relocate these clams into a one hundred gallon system and see if I can hold 200 clams (or even maybe 300 clams )
Its all about whats in your water, having the correct elements in the correct ratios available to the tridacna is the key to keeping a clam or sixty clams happy.
[that and not getting nipped by a bi color angel all day]
Clams don't just calcify for growth, they calcify to produce useful byproducts like Protons , Co2 and Carbon which they in turn utilize for tissue and zoox health.
[some even suggest that the only reason clams continue to grow year after year is that they need to calcify daily as a way of aiding their metabolism]
A clam which is activly calcifying (growing shell) can use the byproducts of this chemical activity (calcification) to help aid its symbiotic zooxanthella in producing food/sugars for the clam .
[Zooxanthellae think protons taste great!]
Clams which are not growing shell have a more difficult task also of removing toxic elements (like heavy metals)from within their tissues.
as shell material is deposited these metals are incorporated into the shell and removed from the clam.
[when no calcification occurs, the concentration of poisons increases building up withing the tissues]
The best way to keep a clam happy is to have your water chemistry constituted in such a way that the clam can grow.
In order to grow, clams need pure sources of carbonate and calcium without all the contaminants found in many hobby grade supplements.
Many of todays reef additive products contain excessive high amounts of metal contaminates. Items like lead and zinc can play havoc with young tridacna health.
Recent salt studies have demonstrated just how many products have elevated levels of heavy metals contaminates.
[Do you really have any idea whats in your supplements?]
Whats in your aquariums water is more important then how much water is in your aquarium.
Two inch maximas are easy!
Contrary to mis belief, small clams are easy if given what they need to do thrive.
[Its all about water chemistry.]
In one of my test tanks I have 60 maxima (2inch to 3 inch) clams in a 54 gallon with a single 150 watt MH.
[one piece of live rock and no skimmer or filter]
Its nearly been six months and all are activly growing and increasing color.
I'm hoping this over the top example will help disprove the notion that "small clams only last six months or less ".
[as you have suggested.]
I am getting ready to add even more clams to this tank to determine what is the max number of clams per gallon a system can hold.
I may in fact relocate these clams into a one hundred gallon system and see if I can hold 200 clams (or even maybe 300 clams )
Its all about whats in your water, having the correct elements in the correct ratios available to the tridacna is the key to keeping a clam or sixty clams happy.
[that and not getting nipped by a bi color angel all day]
Clams don't just calcify for growth, they calcify to produce useful byproducts like Protons , Co2 and Carbon which they in turn utilize for tissue and zoox health.
[some even suggest that the only reason clams continue to grow year after year is that they need to calcify daily as a way of aiding their metabolism]
A clam which is activly calcifying (growing shell) can use the byproducts of this chemical activity (calcification) to help aid its symbiotic zooxanthella in producing food/sugars for the clam .
[Zooxanthellae think protons taste great!]
Clams which are not growing shell have a more difficult task also of removing toxic elements (like heavy metals)from within their tissues.
as shell material is deposited these metals are incorporated into the shell and removed from the clam.
[when no calcification occurs, the concentration of poisons increases building up withing the tissues]
The best way to keep a clam happy is to have your water chemistry constituted in such a way that the clam can grow.
In order to grow, clams need pure sources of carbonate and calcium without all the contaminants found in many hobby grade supplements.
Many of todays reef additive products contain excessive high amounts of metal contaminates. Items like lead and zinc can play havoc with young tridacna health.
Recent salt studies have demonstrated just how many products have elevated levels of heavy metals contaminates.
[Do you really have any idea whats in your supplements?]
Whats in your aquariums water is more important then how much water is in your aquarium.
Kalk is just talking about basic calcification. any calcifying organism is going to have a hard time if kept in an improper environment/water chemistry.
the real problem with very small clams and very large clam is the same with just about every other animal. the very young and old are more sensitive to environmental changes and stresses. These small clams are grown in one environment their whole lives(although short) to one day be stuck in a bag and sent out on a 30+ hour flight where they are then place into a totally different environment at an importers or distributors and then a few days later (or even the same day) stuck into another bag and shipped again and then placed into another different environment at an LFS and then you come in the next day and its stuck into a bag and you place it in your tank (another different environment). do you see where im going with this?
if the wholesalers and distributors would slow down some and hold the clams so they can adjust and build a little strength from all the shipping and changes they go through we wouldn't have so many losses in these small clams.
the real problem with very small clams and very large clam is the same with just about every other animal. the very young and old are more sensitive to environmental changes and stresses. These small clams are grown in one environment their whole lives(although short) to one day be stuck in a bag and sent out on a 30+ hour flight where they are then place into a totally different environment at an importers or distributors and then a few days later (or even the same day) stuck into another bag and shipped again and then placed into another different environment at an LFS and then you come in the next day and its stuck into a bag and you place it in your tank (another different environment). do you see where im going with this?
if the wholesalers and distributors would slow down some and hold the clams so they can adjust and build a little strength from all the shipping and changes they go through we wouldn't have so many losses in these small clams.
Kalkbreath
In Memoriam
Actually "holding clams" at the wholesaler level is about the worst case scenario for getting a healthy Tridacna.
Mixing clams fro different geographic regions is a recipe for spreading Perk and other protozoa to otherwise healthy clams.
[one single clam with a comunicable disease and all the clams in the system will have been exposed to the pathogen.
Even snails can carry bad stuff into a batch of tridacna.
Also when importing clams , I have not had one single DOA in the past six months. Farmed clams dont really die from the initial journey from over seas.
Maybe one or two per thousand.
Its only when mixing clams from the wild that the disease issues compound the situation.
Its much like the reported wipe outs in hobbyists tanks, "one bad apple can spoil the whole bunch girl".
Mixing clams fro different geographic regions is a recipe for spreading Perk and other protozoa to otherwise healthy clams.
[one single clam with a comunicable disease and all the clams in the system will have been exposed to the pathogen.
Even snails can carry bad stuff into a batch of tridacna.
Also when importing clams , I have not had one single DOA in the past six months. Farmed clams dont really die from the initial journey from over seas.
Maybe one or two per thousand.
Its only when mixing clams from the wild that the disease issues compound the situation.
Its much like the reported wipe outs in hobbyists tanks, "one bad apple can spoil the whole bunch girl".
Kalkbreath
In Memoriam
Actually , Its far more involved then that .
What I am saying is that even with what we think is a so called ...."proper environment/water chemistry, there can be several not seen and many unforseen issues contributing to clam losses.
Issues like contaminants in the supplements and excessive levels of certain not commonly tested for elements.
We all know how Salt mixes are often found not to contain what the bag states its contents has in it.
How often has testing of common hobby salts found that the calcium is at 320 not 400?
Well what about the Bromide or the Lead in that same mis mixed bag of 320 salt?
...or even worse when heavy metals are found to be at levels several hundred times greater then in seawater?
There are many concerns about whats in the water both at the wholesale level and at the consumer reef product level which hobbyists are not really aware of.
Seems like maybe its time hobbyists have the information they need to make wise husbandry decisions for tridacna care.....
it doesnt matter if its in their tanks for one day or 4 weeks because they dont break down and sterilize their tanks between shipments. any clam added from then on would potentially be exposed to anything any previous clam had.
but mixing of clams has nothing to do with why young clams have a higher mortality rate
Kalkbreath
In Memoriam
if you think exposing young clams to a tank mate with protozoan infections is not an issue.... then your ill advised.
http://www.sciencedirect.com/scienc...serid=10&md5=300a62480dcabc4a5cbe1e70042a50b5
The mixing of clams at the wholesalers has compounded the problems
http://www.sciencedirect.com/scienc...serid=10&md5=300a62480dcabc4a5cbe1e70042a50b5
The mixing of clams at the wholesalers has compounded the problems
Kalkbreath
In Memoriam
[Dont expose them to foreign pathogens they are not accustomed to and don't poison them with toxic levels of heavy metals and such found in low grade reef supplements and salts.]
What clams out in the market place pass this test?
.....The ones that live past six months
What clams out in the market place pass this test?
.....The ones that live past six months
Trotter
New member
I think maybe SINNERMF is asking what kind of lighting, feeding and water chemistry works to keep smaller Maximas alive and growing. Not all that other stuff you were talking about kalkbreath. Can you or anyone else answer his question. I would like to know as well. I may be getting a couple small Maximas.
I read all the poston the clam forum today on one of the threads it had a link to a study done on feeding juv. clams i can't find it now if anyone knows this link maybe it should be pasted on this thread also. The DT's came in 2nd for growth and longevity over the ten week study,I think feeding is the key to keeping small maxima's alive.
SINNERMF
New member
I have the lights to keep them. However is it a must to feed them phyto? I've heard both sides of that argument. Also with the younger guys, do they need to be kept lower under the lights than the adults or at the same level? Also what about currents? I've had some clams move themselves into bad spots in the rockwork. And is it better to keep them on the rocks or the sand? I know most of the wild pics I've seen they bored into rock or coral heads.
young clams just have a higher mortality rate. thats just the way it is. this is a study done at a clam farm. it involves clams that were cleaned regularly and ones that were not and compared the growth rates between them but look at the survival rates. http://www.blackwell-synergy.com/do...997.t01-1-00834.x?cookieSet=1&journalCode=are
add that to the stress of shipping and its no wonder people have problems with them.
Kalk is right that keeping proper water parameters is very important but he worded in such a way that it sounds like magic. i have know problem with Kalk but why try and dazzle people with bull**** buy talking about protons when you can say, "proper levels of calcium and alkalinity are very important." this is where he pulled the proton stuff from. nothing new just basic calcification. http://scholar.google.com/scholar?q...NWE:2004-51,RNWE:en&um=1&ie=UTF-8&oi=scholart
JNye
Moved On Up
i feed my little ones phyto and micro-vert, the mantles are always too small imo to support all their needs. my crocea's mantle has gotten huge in my tank and is now (i assume) sucking up that much more light. i just got a maxima 2 days ago, again its mantle is very small. i am hoping the phyto helps this to grow and grab more light for his zoox.
