Clam Questions

catfishcity

Member
I am going to be buying a few clams soon and had a few questions. How powerful of a light do they need, i have a 20g setup that has a 150w MH on it, will this be enough? What do i feed my clams? I have a barebottom tank and was wondering if it would be ok just to put them right on the glass? Also, how big do clams get?
 

nycbob

Active Member
if u r new to clams, perhaps u should start with one 1st. ur 150w mh is sufficient light-wise. barebottom isnt good for clams to feel secured. u can try a small piece of pvc pipe. clams dont need feeding unless ur tank has none or very little livestocks, or the clam is less than 2-3 inches. besides lighting, clams, like sps corals will need very good water quality. as for size, deresa can grow to 18 inches, crocea, 8 inches, and maxima about 10-12.
 

jackri

Active Member
Do a little google research or in the threads first please.
Sounds like your ready fire aim on this.
Start slow, learn about their care and whats best for smaller tanks and your set up. 150w mh is fine, but these are "giant" clams and have other requirements like calcium etc.
 

old joe

New Member
Top of the mornin' to ya. Clams burrow. I keep a few in my refugium which has 4 inches of coral gravel in it. I got a bag of clams ( which are filter feeders ) at the supermarket, live, and after a few hours they're almost completely buried 'cept to filter water by their various own devices.
Anyway, i feed my filter feeders with home grown phytoplankton and frozen rotifers mixed in every other day by target feeding... until the hobby can develope qenuine, live zooplankton, home aquaria will have a hard time keeping filter feeders to maturity.
Nothing out of a bag or plastic bottle can match the myriad of ' things ' which constitute live zooplankton upon which all sea life depends.

I have a clam about 3 inches long for 2 years now and he's doing well. Longevity depends largely on the hobbiests skill and knowledge of aquaria.
150 w. metal halide is great.
 

spanko

Active Member
IMO start out with a T.crocea and place it about 1/2 way up into the rockwork. Make sure where you place it is a nice, relatively flat spot where the clam can attach to. They are not really a hard animal to keep if you provide them with high quality light, clean water and a balance of calcium, alkalinity and magnesium. If you get one in the 3" + range no need to worry about feeding as they will filter the water some but will get most of their energy from the light.
Good luck, do some more research and post some pictures here when you get one. Here is mine.
 

nycbob

Active Member
Originally Posted by old joe
http:///forum/post/3052156
Top of the mornin' to ya. Clams burrow. I keep a few in my refugium which has 4 inches of coral gravel in it. I got a bag of clams ( which are filter feeders ) at the supermarket, live, and after a few hours they're almost completely buried 'cept to filter water by their various own devices.
Anyway, i feed my filter feeders with home grown phytoplankton and frozen rotifers mixed in every other day by target feeding... until the hobby can develope qenuine, live zooplankton, home aquaria will have a hard time keeping filter feeders to maturity.
Nothing out of a bag or plastic bottle can match the myriad of ' things ' which constitute live zooplankton upon which all sea life depends.

I have a clam about 3 inches long for 2 years now and he's doing well. Longevity depends largely on the hobbiests skill and knowledge of aquaria.
150 w. metal halide is great.
he/she is referring to tridacna clams, not cleaner or the regular clams.
 
Top