Clam sucess?

[plum70rt]

How do you know if your clams are doing well?
I heavy feed DTs, and lot of light, have them like 3 months now how can you tell if they are getting enough? mine are open, colorful,and attached underneath to a piece of shell, what are the signs of a clam going bad?

 

[poiboy]

My guess would be the shrinkage factor / receding into it's shell.

 

[spsfreak100]

Gaping would be an obvious sign that a clam is not doing well.
Graham

 

[wamp]

Correct... They will begin to lose tissue and color..

 

[bang guy]

Usually unhealthy clams look fine until one night everything goes.
Healthy clams grow. If you'e not seeing the white area indicating shell growth then something is wrong with your clam. This does slow down with age but you should always see some growth.

 

[nm reef]

All the above ... plus if they stop reacting to movement they may be in trouble. I watch my squamosa for coloration/growth/response to movement...these factors help me determine if mine is healthy and happy.

 

[brooklyn johnny]

I agree with pretty much everything here. Sometimes it's a slow obvious demise for clams, and sometimes apparently overnight. After a while you'll be able to see what is normal for your clam and notice when something is up, much as we do with our own fish as only we know them.
Kevin tridacnids will not take anything that large. Phytoplankton is a great benefit as I've noticed, but these clams were and are kept successfully without the addition of even that.
Plum I'll take a look at your clams in a few weeks if we catch up with eachother when I'm in Florida.
As Bang mentioned one sure sign of health and happiness in a clam is sustained growth. Here is a shot of one of my maximas as it was reacting to the emerald crab walking over it. You could tell the rate of growth by the amount of white shell that's been deposited before it's able to be colonized by algae. Hope that helps!
Johnny

 

[nm reef]

Sweet pic yankee....I mean Brooklyn Johnny...
Good thing that emerald didn't get his leg stuck...be a heck of a deal to have to chew himself free!!!
PS: No offense intended with the name slip thing...
you know how us southerners are!!!
NMREEF website
Ka is the wheel that moves the world...and the man or woman that rages against it will be crushed under its rim.
bdjr@cox.net

 

[tiffster]

What defines "gaping." I ve read about it alot, but no one has ever described what it looked like.

 

[bigred]

I had some beautiful clams and then my emerald crabs found them. Also my coral beauty was nipping at that. Unfortunately I lost them. Mine had grown about 3/4" in about 2 monthes.

 

[bigred]

Here's a pic of the 2 I had.

 

[bigred]

That pic wasn't very good but o'well. Here's the other

 

[justinx]

Originally posted by kgrimes
Is direct DTs fine for food or do they need more?

Hey Kevin,
I read this and thought you might want to know that you should NEVER direct feed a clam anything. Doing so can actually cause damage to the clam. Look at it like this, take a turkey baster or fan or something and blow it dierctly at your eye. That response of closing your eye rapidly is the same response of a clam to any direct feeding. This is also why they close very quickly as soon as anything is over the clam. Adding DT's to the water column is a much better alternative. I have raised a maxima from one inch to just over three by only feeding the water column. Young clams of this size rely 99% on feeding instead of light. So if this works for a clam of that size, any size will be fine.
HTH
Justin