harley1965
Member
hi all if you were going to set a tank for clams how would you set it up size of tank lighting and anything else that i would need thanks in advance
clam tank setup
- Thread starter harley1965
- Start date
snakeblitz33
Well-Known Member
Where to start?
First of all, if you are going to set up a tank, you need to get the largest size possible that you can afford. I have two 135 gallon squares that are 4ft by 4ft for clams and sps corals. But, here's the catch, since all clams have photosynthetic xoozanthellae in their mantles, they have to have a lot of light. Metal Halide is the most preferable form of light that you can use for clams. Don't waste your time with anything less than 250 watts of light for every two foot squared. 400 watt, in my honest opinion is best, if you want to grow clams out. The tank must also be shallow for most of the light to penetrate to the mantles of the clams.
Second, you will need all of the basic equipment, filters, protein skimmers, a refugium maybe, definately a lot of flow. A good closed loop system will also keep you from using any internal powerheads and will definately make your tank look good.
Calcium - It's a must for all clams. Clams use calcium to build up their shells. To keep calcium and alkalinity high, I reccommend using kalkwasser or "lime water" to do this. Calcium should be anywhere between 480 and 500 to adequately grow clams. Also, alkalinity needs to be high, between 8 and 12dkh. pH should not vary, and should stay around 8.2 to 8.3. Dosing magnesium is also a good idea, but not necessary. Doing small water changes and keeping your salinity at around 1.026 is also ideal. Temp should be anywhere from 78 to 82, but should be kept constant.
Getting a good clam - keep in mind that a clam isn't just a clam. There are four major types that are sold for the aquarium trade. Tridacna maxima, tridacna crocea, tridacna squasmosa and tridacna gigas also shows up every now and then. The prettiest to me is maximas, though the lines and shapes of squasmosa are also stunning. When selecting one at your live fish store, make sure that the clam is in good condition. The mantle needs to be extended all the way out and the mantle also has to be connected to the shell, not showing any sign of gaps between the shell and the mantle. Also, when you put your hand over the clam, the clam should close most of the way back into it's shell. If it doesn't do this, don't buy it.
Feeding and care - It's a little more complex than just putting phytoplankton in the water. Small clams under three inches don't have enough mantle space for xoozanthellae to produce enough glucose for the clam to survive, therefore they have to suppliment their diets by filter feeding. This means that if you have a lot of small clams, they have a high demand for phytoplankton. Feed four caps of DT's Phytoplankton every day for four 3" clams in a 100 gallon tank. That should give you a good estimate of how much to feed. When going to a live fish store and checking out the clams, I think it is reasonable to look at the larger clams and buy from the larger stock. They are easier to care for.
When placing a clam into the aquarium, make sure you do not take it out of water. If it is open and you take it out of water, air will get between the mantle and the clam shell. Also, when checking out the clam, make sure that you don't see any sponges attached to the base, nor find small pin-prick holes on the shell at the base. Boring sponges cause a lot of damage. Also, make sure that when the guy at the live fish store doesn't pull the sponge off of a rock or off the bottom of the aquarium. This may tear the clams foot. If you tear the foot, the clam will most likely die.
Clams also have byssal threads which hold them in place, so if you see some thread-like tissue being torn, it's just the threads that hold him in that particular spot and is not his foot. Also, keep in mind that some clams like to lay on the sand while other clams like to stay on the rocks. Maximas like to stay on the rocks, croceas like to stay on rocks too. Squamosa clams like to stay on sandy substrates and gigas also.
If you are doing everything perfectly in your tank, and you have a bunch of four inch clams, you may have them spawn. Spawning is really, really fun but very dangerous in a closed system like our aquariums. You see, clams spawn when they think their species is in danger. If one clam starts shooting his load into the ocean, it releases hormones which makes the other clams shoot their loads too. (I know, sounds funny.) You should keep a close eye and make sure you have some water already pre-mixed pretty much all the time.
I know when I ventured off into clam farming, it was really neat and I kind of miss it. IT was kind of neat to make a clam spawn. All you got to do is make the clam close up under water, and then take him out and lay him on a table with a heat lamp. The clam thinks he's dying, so he produces hormones to release eggs or sperm when he gets back in the water. Veligers are so neat under the microscope too.
If you have any other questions, PM me here, or my AIM is SnakeBlitz33. My e-mail is SnakeBlitz33@gmail.com
First of all, if you are going to set up a tank, you need to get the largest size possible that you can afford. I have two 135 gallon squares that are 4ft by 4ft for clams and sps corals. But, here's the catch, since all clams have photosynthetic xoozanthellae in their mantles, they have to have a lot of light. Metal Halide is the most preferable form of light that you can use for clams. Don't waste your time with anything less than 250 watts of light for every two foot squared. 400 watt, in my honest opinion is best, if you want to grow clams out. The tank must also be shallow for most of the light to penetrate to the mantles of the clams.
Second, you will need all of the basic equipment, filters, protein skimmers, a refugium maybe, definately a lot of flow. A good closed loop system will also keep you from using any internal powerheads and will definately make your tank look good.
Calcium - It's a must for all clams. Clams use calcium to build up their shells. To keep calcium and alkalinity high, I reccommend using kalkwasser or "lime water" to do this. Calcium should be anywhere between 480 and 500 to adequately grow clams. Also, alkalinity needs to be high, between 8 and 12dkh. pH should not vary, and should stay around 8.2 to 8.3. Dosing magnesium is also a good idea, but not necessary. Doing small water changes and keeping your salinity at around 1.026 is also ideal. Temp should be anywhere from 78 to 82, but should be kept constant.
Getting a good clam - keep in mind that a clam isn't just a clam. There are four major types that are sold for the aquarium trade. Tridacna maxima, tridacna crocea, tridacna squasmosa and tridacna gigas also shows up every now and then. The prettiest to me is maximas, though the lines and shapes of squasmosa are also stunning. When selecting one at your live fish store, make sure that the clam is in good condition. The mantle needs to be extended all the way out and the mantle also has to be connected to the shell, not showing any sign of gaps between the shell and the mantle. Also, when you put your hand over the clam, the clam should close most of the way back into it's shell. If it doesn't do this, don't buy it.
Feeding and care - It's a little more complex than just putting phytoplankton in the water. Small clams under three inches don't have enough mantle space for xoozanthellae to produce enough glucose for the clam to survive, therefore they have to suppliment their diets by filter feeding. This means that if you have a lot of small clams, they have a high demand for phytoplankton. Feed four caps of DT's Phytoplankton every day for four 3" clams in a 100 gallon tank. That should give you a good estimate of how much to feed. When going to a live fish store and checking out the clams, I think it is reasonable to look at the larger clams and buy from the larger stock. They are easier to care for.
When placing a clam into the aquarium, make sure you do not take it out of water. If it is open and you take it out of water, air will get between the mantle and the clam shell. Also, when checking out the clam, make sure that you don't see any sponges attached to the base, nor find small pin-prick holes on the shell at the base. Boring sponges cause a lot of damage. Also, make sure that when the guy at the live fish store doesn't pull the sponge off of a rock or off the bottom of the aquarium. This may tear the clams foot. If you tear the foot, the clam will most likely die.
Clams also have byssal threads which hold them in place, so if you see some thread-like tissue being torn, it's just the threads that hold him in that particular spot and is not his foot. Also, keep in mind that some clams like to lay on the sand while other clams like to stay on the rocks. Maximas like to stay on the rocks, croceas like to stay on rocks too. Squamosa clams like to stay on sandy substrates and gigas also.
If you are doing everything perfectly in your tank, and you have a bunch of four inch clams, you may have them spawn. Spawning is really, really fun but very dangerous in a closed system like our aquariums. You see, clams spawn when they think their species is in danger. If one clam starts shooting his load into the ocean, it releases hormones which makes the other clams shoot their loads too. (I know, sounds funny.) You should keep a close eye and make sure you have some water already pre-mixed pretty much all the time.
I know when I ventured off into clam farming, it was really neat and I kind of miss it. IT was kind of neat to make a clam spawn. All you got to do is make the clam close up under water, and then take him out and lay him on a table with a heat lamp. The clam thinks he's dying, so he produces hormones to release eggs or sperm when he gets back in the water. Veligers are so neat under the microscope too.
If you have any other questions, PM me here, or my AIM is SnakeBlitz33. My e-mail is SnakeBlitz33@gmail.com
snakeblitz33
Well-Known Member
aww, no one else would like to help him/her? Harley, would you like to comment? Any more questions?
