So I bought a clam at RAP

JojosReef

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#21
moondoggy said:
I guess being an Monkey's Uncle and have a 1 in million clam, it appears to be still a live, but clearly not doing well. View attachment 110637 View attachment 110637
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Crocea?

That is a rock boring clam that need exceptional amounts of light. Find the hottest spot in your tank on a rock and get it situated there. Keep your nutrients between SPS and LPS levels and make sure nothing is bothering it. If it can fix its byssal threads, it should stick its mantle out and hopefully start growing some shell.

I don't see any new shell growth on that clam, which means it might already be on its way out. People, correct me if I'm wrong.
 
JojosReef

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#23
You want to see white new shell growth:
1691795486768.png


If that's not happening, clam is slowly starving to death.
 
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moondoggy

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I can put right smack in the middle of two AI Primes in a IM Lagoon 25, or I can put the clam in a IM 15 Fusion with a single AI Prime HD higher up in the rock so about 14" below the light and high enough to not get bothered by anything. The IM Lagoon has more fish that swim around so shadow dancing across its mantle. So I do have options.
 
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moondoggy

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I am having issues with cyano, should I put the clam in the IM 15 Fusion with a single AI Prime HD?
 
JojosReef

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I would move it to the cleaner/more stable tank for now. A single AI prime is not great for a crocea. What % are you running it? I would gradually crank it up to the max. My crocea died 10" under an AI Prime 16HD. I mistakenly thought it was getting SPS level PAR but had never measured until after it died and only found it getting around 180-220 at the peaks (Saxby schedule). Extremely stable tank. Slow death, lasted about 10 months. Beautiful clam until one day it had no insides and shriveled up--no growth on the shell, starved to death.

Then I bought and read the book by Fatheree.
 
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NickleCheese

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I bought the clam at CFM last year, didnt do a long drip acclimation process. i put it on the plastic cap and leave it on the sandbed.
So far, it still survives and happy.
Maybe yours not happy b/c of the mushroom touching it.
 
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moondoggy

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JojosReef said:
I would move it to the cleaner/more stable tank for now. A single AI prime is not great for a crocea. What % are you running it? I would gradually crank it up to the max. My crocea died 10" under an AI Prime 16HD. I mistakenly thought it was getting SPS level PAR but had never measured until after it died and only found it getting around 180-220 at the peaks (Saxby schedule). Extremely stable tank. Slow death, lasted about 10 months. Beautiful clam until one day it had no insides and shriveled up--no growth on the shell, starved to death.

Then I bought and read the book by Fatheree.
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I will have to start moving things to make this happen., the old problem with LPS and high light corals. I really never wanted to buy a Par Meter but it looks like I will need to purchase one. Edit I just saw the price of those things big ouchie.
 
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drexel

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Just move the clam to the highest spot in your tank, directly under the light(s). Maintain stable parameters, feed your fish daily (multiple times if you can?) and make sure you see new shell growth. Croceas are the most light demanding clams, so they need full spectrum intense light. Also, small croceas will grow pretty fast, so there should be a big white margin at the top of the shell, always.
PARwise is a pretty cool piece of reefing gear, as it measures spectrum and DLI, plus it's software/firmware can be upgraded in the future.
 
Ohiostreetz

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Clams in my opinion are one of the true expert only pieces. They require a lot and most of them are very sensitive to water chemistry. I’ve tried a handful of them in my 10+ years in the hobby and always seemed to kill them one way or another. I consider myself an advanced hobbiest and have kept all ranges of the hardest to keep corals and fish yet still struggle when it comes to them. I’d say take it as a learning experience and maybe next time you could try a different acclimation approach or make sure your system is ready and tailored to a clam before getting another one. Happy reefing bud
 
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I bought three at RAP and they all seem to be doing great. Yes, at the show the water was murky but that is exactly what sold me on trying them. I figured if they still looked good in that soup I should have no problems. The Alk, Calcium and Magnesium are good but the Nitrates and Phosphates are a bit high right now. I'll wait and see how quickly the clams bring it down.
20230812_120839.jpg
 
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dattack

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#36
Ohiostreetz said:
Clams in my opinion are one of the true expert only pieces. They require a lot and most of them are very sensitive to water chemistry. I’ve tried a handful of them in my 10+ years in the hobby and always seemed to kill them one way or another. I consider myself an advanced hobbiest and have kept all ranges of the hardest to keep corals and fish yet still struggle when it comes to them. I’d say take it as a learning experience and maybe next time you could try a different acclimation approach or make sure your system is ready and tailored to a clam before getting another one. Happy reefing bud
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It might have nothing to do with you but where and how the clams are harvested. Most will eventually die because of some unkwown bacterial/viral infection.
 
drexel

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#37
dattack said:
It might have nothing to do with you but where and how the clams are harvested. Most will eventually die because of some unkwown bacterial/viral infection.
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Not necessarily true, but for wild caught clams, most certainly true. Derasa and squamosa are a little easier, more forgiving than maxima and crocea. If you can keep basic sps, then clams should do fine. The major issue for most is lack of quality light. The problem with derasa and squamosa is their size, as they get big and fast.

Here are some of my clams, two croceas and a derasa (temporarily in this tank) in my 10g.
 
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moondoggy

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One of the problems with RAP is sometimes I get home really late and it makes it tough to do a good drip acclimation, another reason why I do not like buying coral from the show, but I am weak sometimes and cave in.
 
drexel

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#40
moondoggy said:
One of the problems with RAP is sometimes I get home really late and it makes it tough to do a good drip acclimation, another reason why I do not like buying coral from the show, but I am weak sometimes and cave in.
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If you need to do a long drip acclimation, just suspend a container over your sump and drip from the display, when it reaches the top, it just overflows into the sump and eventually it will match your tanks parameters. This is how I usually acclimate clams. The first hour or so, I will dump half the water when it doubles in the container, which I do a couple times, then I let it overflow and I know it's pretty much matched to the tank. If you can float the container so it can retain the same temp at the tank, even better.
 
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