do cleaner shrimp have a taste for clams?
- Thread starter peckhead
- Start date
yosemite sam
Active Member
They were probably scavenging things off the clam shell and not eating the clam itself.
miaheatlvr
Active Member
I have read they like to pick at the clam mantles sometimes.. almost to the point to stressing the clam but not to kill it.. You might have to get rid of the CS..
teen
Active Member
the mantle is the colorful part.
ive never had a problem with CS picking on any of my clams. he would crawl over them occasionally at night, but only picking stuff off the shells like YosemiteSam said.
i would ditch the CS. if anything, you can buy new ones that hopefully wont pick.
ive never had a problem with CS picking on any of my clams. he would crawl over them occasionally at night, but only picking stuff off the shells like YosemiteSam said.
i would ditch the CS. if anything, you can buy new ones that hopefully wont pick.
amanda46051
Member
I have seen a few tanks with cleaners and clams in them and they were fine but with everything saltwater you are always taking a chance nothing is a forsure bet. Atleast that is what it seems like to me.
1journeyman
Active Member
Originally Posted by peckhead
do you guys think i should leave them for another day or so and see if they keep it up? it has been going on pretty much nonstop for the last day since i put the clam in.
That's a tough call... if the clam isn't fully opening then there is an issue.
Was the clam healthy when you got it? (did it react quickly by closing when you moved your hand over it?)
The shrimp may be picking at food in the clam, or picking at dead tissue, or it may like fresh clam.... Shrimps can be opportunistic just like crabs and other inverts.
If the shrimp won't let the clam open you're going to have to choose one or the other.
do you guys think i should leave them for another day or so and see if they keep it up? it has been going on pretty much nonstop for the last day since i put the clam in.
That's a tough call... if the clam isn't fully opening then there is an issue.
Was the clam healthy when you got it? (did it react quickly by closing when you moved your hand over it?)
The shrimp may be picking at food in the clam, or picking at dead tissue, or it may like fresh clam.... Shrimps can be opportunistic just like crabs and other inverts.
If the shrimp won't let the clam open you're going to have to choose one or the other.
nycbob
Active Member
i got a derasa about 4 months ago that didnt make it after my cleaners kept picking at it. after 2 days, the derasa died. i started getting clams again couple of weeks ago, but my shrimps havent bother them one bit. my guess is the clam i got 4 months ago wasnt healthy, so the shrimps were basically eating him alive.
peckhead
Active Member
ok, the shrimp have left it alone for a little bit today, and it was open like normal.
my new questions are...
1. what are the holes in the mantle? are they the mouth?
2. how many should there be? i have 2 and one is pretty big and i can see all the way through to the sand, and the other one is smaller and i can see inside the clam a little bit. is this normal or did the shrimp eat the mantle
my new questions are...
1. what are the holes in the mantle? are they the mouth?
2. how many should there be? i have 2 and one is pretty big and i can see all the way through to the sand, and the other one is smaller and i can see inside the clam a little bit. is this normal or did the shrimp eat the mantle
paintballer768
Active Member
Theres a clam diagram in this .pdf I just found on google. It has alot of other off topic information because its about lagoon farming for giant clams (Tridacnidae).
Credits to Simon Ellis, the College of Micronesia, and whoever else helped create this. The diagram is on the first page.
http://govdocs.aquake.org/cgi/reprin...26/5260080.pdf
This isnt a competitors site so I hope its acceptable. My appologies if it isnt.
Credits to Simon Ellis, the College of Micronesia, and whoever else helped create this. The diagram is on the first page.
http://govdocs.aquake.org/cgi/reprin...26/5260080.pdf
This isnt a competitors site so I hope its acceptable. My appologies if it isnt.
1journeyman
Active Member
Hang in there, watch water parameters, and possibly sacrifice a young goat to Neptune....
It sounds like your clam wasn't healthy when you got it (so the shrimp might actually have been trying to help).
It sounds like your clam wasn't healthy when you got it (so the shrimp might actually have been trying to help).
yosemite sam
Active Member
Originally Posted by peckhead
i think it is gapping. on the one side, there is no tissue between the two shell, from the mantel to the bottom of the shell. what if anything can i do?? will it grow back ever? i will get rid of the shrimp.
It's completely separated? The wide area at the bottom of the clam is called they byssal opening, and it is where the foot and byssal threads come out. This can be open if the clam is gaping, but make sure the area isn't torn.
Where did you get the clam?
i think it is gapping. on the one side, there is no tissue between the two shell, from the mantel to the bottom of the shell. what if anything can i do?? will it grow back ever? i will get rid of the shrimp.
It's completely separated? The wide area at the bottom of the clam is called they byssal opening, and it is where the foot and byssal threads come out. This can be open if the clam is gaping, but make sure the area isn't torn.
Where did you get the clam?
peckhead
Active Member
there is no tissue starting at the bottom of the mantle, down to the bottom of the bottom of the foot. the mantle looks ok, the foot and bottom looks ok. the gap is on the side of the clam. there is normally some tissue there that connects the 2 shells together. but that isnt there on one side so when the clam opens up, i can see into the syphon and out through the side(not the bottom) of the clam, between the 2 shells. does this make sense? i will try to get a picture but they werent doing the justice before when i tried