Low-light clam?

gilbert

Member
Hey, are there any Tridacna clams that don't need really high light? I have power compacts and I know that Squamosas don't need the same lights as maximas. If I put one in the upper portion of my tank, would it work?
 

bang guy

Moderator
Generally speaking the larger the species of clam the less light it requires. There are no photosynthetic clams that I would consider low-light though. T. gigas is about the lowest light clam that is still photosynthetic.
 

nycbob

Active Member
all tridacna clams need large amount of light. squamosa and derasa need a little less. with out t5, mh or the correct led setup, these clams wouldnt do well long term.
 
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saxman

Guest
i have to disagree here...T. derasa, T. squamosa, T. gigas, and H. hippopus will all do well under PC's. these clams are all found on the substrate in the wild and tend to come from deeper waters.
how deep is your tank, and how many Watts of PC are you running? what color temp are you running?
I've kept all of these species under 220W of PC (110W 10k and 110W 03 actinic) in a std 55 gal tank for years and they have done quite well. i've even kept gold T. maxima
high in the rockwork under this lighting with good results.
HTH
 

gilbert

Member
Wow, really? That's amazing... Don't know about the wattage, but it's stock Biocube lighting for their 8 gallon tank. Not 220W.
The tank is (I think) about 12 inches deep, and the rockwork goes about 6ish inches. I'll check the wattage and get back to you.
 

speg

Active Member
I would think that a hippo would require the least amount of lighting, but they're not as "cool" looking as the rest available tot he hobby.
I'd personally not attempt it with your lighting...there's plenty of cool stuff out there without risking the clam.
 

speg

Active Member
Oh, and by the way...those clams usually get pretty large... you'd end up making the tank into a one-clam-species-only biocube.
 
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saxman

Guest
yikes! 8 gals isn't going to be NEARLY stable enuff to keep a clam. they REALLY dislike water fluctuations. additionally, as Speg mentioned, the lower-light species get rather large. best to wait till you get a larger setup.
 

candycane

Active Member
No. A clam could probably drain the calcium out of an 8 gallon tank in under 72 hours. Or at least deplete it a good deal.
Even if the thing was the size of a peanut, it would in all likelihood still outgrow a tank that small in under 2-3 years. And it would probably only take that long because it couldn't make the carbonate it needs. Let alone the amount of oxygen in a tank that size probably is no where near enough for the thing to even utilize carbonate to grow it's shell.
Just because a clam MIGHT be able to be housed under certain lights, doesn't mean it should be. There are probably, EIGHT TRILLION (LOL maybe not that many) color variations the thing could potentially go through in order to adapt, but it would also in all probability stress the clam out to the point of perish because it's "system" would be pretty much constantly shifting what it can and can't take in.
I have seen Gigas', Derasas', and Squamosas' go through so many color changes under PC lighting that I would never recommend anyone ever even try it. Someone could have 500 thousand Watts of PC lighting over a 900 gallon tank and I would still say it shouldn't be attempted.
 

gilbert

Member
No, I mean upgrade from a 29 gallon that has metal halides. But I guess I won't be trying any clams under PC. Thanks for everyone's input.
 

cranberry

Active Member
Our Derasa lived 10 years in a 60g with PCs. It was SO big when we killed it accidently when we moved (I forgot about the bucket and it had no flow and heat) So you can't tell me certain clams do not thrive under PCs... because mine did.
We also had a blue spot deresa that HATED the MH lights so that we had to shelter him UNDER a rock while we tried to acclimate him. We had to move him back to PCs. We placed him in a 28g tank JBJ nanocube with stock lights. Mind you, a clam will outgrow that size tank in time. Ours was placed on the substrate in that tank and outgrew it after 2 years.
You should get the book "Giant Clams in the Sea and the Aquarium" by James Fatherree. It's a really good book and he agrees some clams can be kept under PC. He's pretty reputable on the topic.
 
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