clam's feeding and care?

[jhale]

For those with clams, are you feeding them DT's Plankton, or your own home grown plankton. If your growing your own, what is your set-up?
And if you have a clam and do not feed it anything special, how is it doing?

thanks.

Jonathan

 

[Deanos]

Jonathan, I don't have a clam (yet!), but I found this article extremely helpful in determining tridacnid care.

Tridacnids

Best of luck! It looks great.

Dean

 

[jhale]

Thanks Dean,
that looks cool, I'll read it tonight.
I just ordered some materials to grow my own plankton,
anyone interested check out these two page, and this company.

http://www.melevsreef.com/phytoplankton.html

http://www.sjwilson.net/reef/phytosteps.html

florida aqua farms
https://3kserver7.com/~frank/secure/agora.cgi

 

[jenniebutterfly]

i have always heard that after a clam has grown over 3" it only needs the light for added growth, although i am not too sure about it. i am just starting to look up stuff on clams as well since i am starting up my new tank soon. keep posting if you do get one so i can check back on what you are doing

 

[yessongs]

Jon, i have kept Tridacna clams for 4 years (Maximas & Croceas). I feed my tank DTs or LiquidLife . After they reach 3.5" they depend mostly on strong light. Juvenile clams will have to be target fed thats a PITA. There are a lot of things to look for in a clam high on the list is Byssus is not damaged, and response to shadows. Also some fish pick at them. Giant Clams by Daniel Knopp is a great book.

 

[jhale]

Thanks Robert, and Jennifer,
Robert do you think I should go ahead with the phytoplankton?
The clam is just big enough, 4" so it might not require the plankton.
I was not planning on raising the plankton, but the DT's gets pretty expensive over time.
Are you feeding the tank DT's for the other inverts other than the clams? If I do start raising the phyto is that something you would want. from what I read it seems like you end up with a lot of extra.

 

[jhale]

Jennifer: I did get one, I posted the photo of it under solbbys "show us your tank" thread. check it out.

 

[yessongs]

The DTs is added for the other corals mostly for my worms they need a lot of phyto. At that size its depending more on light.
Also the LL BP will last longer its frozen and highly concentrated.
But its dead.

 

[jhale]

after doing some brief research I found that as the clams get larger they depend less on nutriants from the water and more on light to make their own food. Phytoplankton is still needed, though no one seems to know how much. I guess it depends on the clam. So it seems that growing your own phytoplankton, or buying DT's is the best food source. the stuff that's available that's dead does not seem to be used by the clams.

 

[House of Laughter]

Jhale,

I have found, people who make their own Phyto/green water have tons of it and wind up throwing it away and giving it away. Some do sell it in 2 liter bottles, but I personally, don't think you'll need that volume unless you are culturung clams etc. Also, I have found, if I dose too much my skimmer goes berzerk - one time I lost a few gallons of water becaus emy skimmer went nuts.

I tried all kinds and personally liked the spray dried phyto from ESV - it stays in the water column longer and is absorbed by all animals that like it. My experience has been positive with this. Just my .02

House

 

[jhale]

hey Jim,
I found someone in NJ on RC selling 2L of phyto for $7, that's not bad. I got some just to start with. I'm going to feed the tank very lightly with it. I just want to make sure the clam will have something to eat if it needs it.

 

[ctxmonitor]

Jon, I was also looked into clams. As I am getting a blue maxima clam about 1 inch by this week. Not as big as yours but I hope it will grow big in no times. Hope yours is doing fine.

Can't wait to get mine.

 

[jhale]

Tom, you should read the article deonos posted.And the links about the phytoplankton.
If you get a clam that small you are either going to have to spend money on live plankton like DT's or buy from someone local, or start growing your own. Small clams have to have phytoplankton to grow and live. I just want to make sure you know all this before you get one. I think getting one in the four inch size would be better for your tank, you won't have to worry about it as much.

 

[cali_reef]

FWIW. I never had much luck with Maxima in the last 4 years, they usually die within 5-6 months from one reason or another. You should try Croceas or Squamosas first, they are less demanding and cheaper to buy. I don't see many shops around here that carries good healthy clams, the ones they have are less colorful and usually is 50% more expensive than west coast. I am glad I brought all eight of the clams I currently have in the tank from LA during the move.

FYI. Check the lower part of the clams regularly for pyramid snails, they are one of the major killers. I found yellow wrasse do a pretty good job at eating them, you can also use a soft bristle tooth brush to get them off.

Tony at acropora.net had some nice large croceas the last time I was at his place.

 

[ctxmonitor]

yea, that is a great article. Very useful links for the culturing phyto. I know I should have posted before I ordered it. I was getting some sps from this guy at ebay and he happen to have a maxima clam that he will sell to me for $25. So I tooked it. I should have did a little more research.. Now i have to spend even more time with the tank .

 

[jhale]

Tom go here and order some phyto from Dave, it's just $13.00 shipped for 2L size. You have to have this, and this is the cheapest and best way you can get it, unless someone here has some they will give away. go get some now before he sells out. save your clam

 

[alrha]

i dont feed my clam anything special, and he seems to be pretty happy. then again i dont have a skimmer either, so there is probably enough "stuff" in my water for the clam to eat up.

 

[jhale]

if your clam is big enough, it's probably okay not to feed it.
is it growing?

 

[ctxmonitor]

so jon, are you going to culture your phyto? albert what kind of clam you got? and for how long have you had it or them?

 

[jhale]

I ordered the stuff to culture with. it's not hard, but you need to shake up the phyto everyday. this might be hard for me, since I'm not home all the time. this means my cultures might not last as long as they could. If a few of us are running cultures then we could give eachother extra if our cultures go bad. It should not be hard to do. It seems Dave in NJ will always have extra phyto on hand as long as he has a tank. So that's a good back-up.
What do you think, are you up for some phyto farming?