Wild Maximas

[AquaticMadness]

Someone told me wild imported maximas do not do well in the aquarium. Is this true? Thanks for the input.

 

[mscarpena]

If you can get tank raised clams why would you want a wild caught one?? Wild caught ones will have a huge acclimation to a reef tank conditions, lighting, and flow. Also You will have a much greater chance of getting pests. The tank raised ones are much better suited for aquarium life as well as they are inspected and monitored much closer for pests. Also clams in the wild have very low numbers. I would leave a healthy clam in the wild and buy from ORA. Good luck.

 

[adambirk]

+1 mscarpena i know a guy who got a beautiful maxima in and put it in his tank it had some kind of disease because it kiled every clam in his tank which was about 10 including the biggest croeca i have ever seen. so why chance it. i have 3 ora maximas in my tank now and yes you will pay a little more but you are also getting a clam that is used to aquarium life and not disturbing the already low population of clams in the wild.

 

[AquaticMadness]

Thanks for the info. I haven't read much about them yet and was asking from a wholesale stand point. One of my suppliers has them for sale dirt cheap but I wont buy them if they are low numbered in the wild.

 

[MM WI]

I have bought both over the years, in my personal experience wild caught do fine. I would think a few antidotal success stories should carry a bit more weight than the opposite. I bought several wild caught long before mariculture were available and had good success. There are lots of ways to kill a clam that have nothing to do with the source. The source would certainly be a factor but I would be caution about weighing in given the complexities involved in this question.

- mark

 

[adambirk]

with the rate that the reefs are being destroyed via climate, overharvest, polution, and ecological destruction(huricanes, cyclones) i think the 5 to max 10 dollars more you would pay for a farm raised clam is well worth the price than overharvesting the already shrinking reefs. now i am not saying that wild caught species are bad but if you have the option avalible to buy tank raised of any species i think that the positives outway the negatives. hardier, healther, and more eco friendly. now if a tank raised clam was 100.00 and a wild was 40.00 that would be a diff. story all together but we are only talking about a few dollars more per species. just my opinion

and yes there are many ways to kill a clam but your chances of sucsess is MUCH greater when getting a species that has lived its entire life in an artificial environment. they are for the most part just hardier than wild caught. this goes for anything not just clams.

 

[MM WI]

Clams were hard to get before mariculture because they were overharvested mostly as a local food source. This has changed. The situation is much more complex than you suggest. Most notably on the eco friendly point. I also think the wild caught are more expensive. Unless you are buying from different sources than I am. It is far too easy for people to empower themselves by "eco friendly" choices that end up being something completely different. The cultured clams are the bulk of the market because the are readily available and affordable. Usually this coincides with the actual best choice for conservation but is contrary to popular opinion. This is not always correct as the market fails to incorporate all of the long term costs but it is much better than its billing. With the mariculture in place the wild populations are recoverying. As this occurs the ecological choice will be some mix of wild caught and cultured. Under utilizing a resource is nearly as damaging as over utilizing it. So make your own choices here and dont use your choice as a moral facade.

- mark

 

[waxy]

From my experience

Wild clams look better.

Ultra Grade Clams - Majority are wild.

Black and White Clams can only be Wild, originated from Vanautu.

We had to get those clams somewhere to culture them right?

ORA has great looking clams, some are Ultra Grade. Still don't look as good as the one's I've seen.

Wholesale wild cost's as much as wholesale cultured.

Clams are clams, either you kill them or someone else kills them.

I've purchased some tank raised clams and they die more often than wild.

Why?

Sure the tank raised clam are used to the tanks conditions, but only that specific tanks conditions.

Wild, they go through storms, floods, dry seasons, low tide, high tide and still manage to survive somehow. Going into a tank is like a luxery for them. Not having to worry about anything eating them.

I'm like 90% of the reefers here. If it looks nice and cheap I'll take it! LOL!

Some reference pictures from the internet.

 

[MM WI]

WOW, those are great shots, so much food for thought there. You read about how the maximas dissolve the coral to embed themselves, the battle between the two must be constant, even the small one inch clam is completely embedded. At first i thought that was a before and after shot, some major change to the reef. On closer examination two different coral heads.

- mark