Who doesn't remove Clams when feeding?

justletmein

justletmein

Premium Member
I skipped two days feeding my maximas and one of them went and attached to the live rock. I hit the tank pretty heavy with phyto every night, but I want to make sure he's getting enough. If you have clams and don't remove them to bowl feed please give me an idea of how much you feed the tank to take care of them. Also, does it matter if I feed at night or during the day? Thanks
 
As discussed in a previous thread, one suggestion would be putting a tupperware or a half-cut 2-litter soda bottle on top of the clam and pour DT's in there.
 
I never bowl feed. I don't see a need. The growth is good (always nice new outer shell showing). They are not wandering, the mantles are always open, & the color is good. If things change I start bowl feeding. My phyto dosage has changed recently. I used to use 2 liters of homebrewed phyto a week. But, since my cultures died (who knows why?). I've been dosing with Liquid life as directed on the bottle.
 
You didn't mention what size clams you are target feeding, but general consensus is that you don't need remove clams under 2-2.5" for feeding.

As such, we don't remove any of our six (6) clams for feeding. They range from 3" - 6" and are only fed by DT's every 3 days and what ever they get from our normal tank feedings.

Doug
 
I have never directly fed clams and I have some that I got under 3" over 18 months ago and have seen fantastic growth over this time. I do not dose phyto but have on occasion added some yeast.
 
I never remove or target feed my clam and I've had it since it was a baby 1" small....i've had the guy for 3-4 years and it's now about 6" across without any special feedings, but DT's and golden pearls throughout the tank.
 
I've never target fed also and watch my clams grow from 2 inches to now over 6 inches in less than a year. I think most of their growth is due to the halides i have! I do feed bioplankton (liquidlife usa) once in a while to the whole tank but doubt that alone is contributing to their growth!
 
I'm with Firechild, I don't feed clams and I don't plan on feeding clams regardless of their size. I still feel partical size of the current foods available is still too big and only a minute amount of it is being absorbed by the clam if you do feed those foods.

DT's are too big and Golden Pearls are just ridiculously too big. But regular DT's and GP feedings will eventually cycle down and produce food that the clam can actually eat, by indirect means.

A nice healthy flourishing refugium is a better option IMO.
 
No, I just use dried baking yeast. I'm not too sure if it is any good for the clams but I'm sure something eats it.
 
I don't believe DT's is too large for clams. Whenever I feed DT's phytoplankton, I see my clams react by closing their incurrent siphon more and the tentacles and mantles evert slightly upwards.

I don't move the clams, ever. :D
 
Commercially prepared phytoplankton products usually are "clumped" particles. In preparation to concentrate the culture, particles are filtered to <1 micron or centrifuged. This is to remove culture water and excess fertilizer. As a result the cells clump and most die. The resultant may resuspend in water but most probably doesn't. IMO.
Nannochloropsis is nonmotile algae and will settle in culture. It becomes large clumps of algae and would require blending to resuspend to <10 micron particles for clam utilization.
This is the reason I prefer Isocrysis for feeding it is motile and when settled-dead.Thus I know when it's in suspension my particles should be ~4-8microns.
I target feed my clams every 2 days using a syringe and do not remove them. I just turn off the current for 1/2hr. Adam
 
i used to occassionally bowl-feed my clams with DTs, but they would just spit it out their siphons as a long green mucus string.
 
i used to bowl feed my small clams but i really saw no difference in their growth. now i just feed the tank and everyone seems happy.
 
Hey manderx,

I see you do Boreder Collie Rescue. I have two myself (my wife wants a third) . Best dogs in the world!!!

Mike
 
manderx said:
i used to occassionally bowl-feed my clams with DTs, but they would just spit it out their siphons as a long green mucus string.
Click to expand...
Can some tell me why and how bad it is if they spit it out like this. I bowl fed mine for the first time and saw when i was going to put him back in the tnak he spat out green stuff. Is this healthy, did he just throw up all the food?
 
Manderx and zack-
Large food particles clog the gills. The arrangement of the gills is to channel small and large particles of food. Large particles are expelled undigested(ie green stuff) Clams will digest food and expel small 'fecal' pellets. IMO these can vary with the type and size of clams. My large derasas produce black grains while the smaller clams make dust-like particles.
Adam
 
How's it going Zack-
Yes, I think that clams will reject food particles that are too large.
Their gills are delicate filters. Clogging will result in some type of 'emesis'. Adam
 
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