New T. gigas and teardrop maxima clams...

brooklyn johnny

brooklyn johnny

Active Member
Well within the past week I've completed the series and now have all five major species of Tridacna clams after adding the true Gaint Clam (T. gigas) and finally found a colored teardrop maxima for a reasonable price (relatively). The day after I received the gigas our local club had a reef symposium and afterwards some of the speakers visited my house, including Dr. Bruce Carlson. He's ex-director of the Waikiki aquarium (now with the not-yet-opened Georgia Aquarium) and was one of the first five people to keep corals captively. In 1982 he received two T. gigas clams at the Waikiki Aquarium, one just settled and one about 5 years old. Now, they are reportedly the longest kept in captivity, and two years ago the big boy weighed 167 pounds. The funny thing is I was born too in 1977, and I weigh about 180 lbs. as the clam does now. Anyway, I thought that was an interesting story...
To answer some questions, this guy will reside in my 180 starting in December when our house is ready, and within three years hopefully my ~500 gallon will be up (the room for this I've already designed and is being built into the new house). My 180 would be able to hold him for quite some time, and the 500 (8'x4'x26") for decades. Hopefully when my not yet born kids are going away to college I'll have that problem to deal with:D . Anyway, the point is that only us crazy and addicted enough to get a 500 gallon system should buy these clams...
On a good note this clam is farmed, and while sold to me at 5.5 inches it is probably larger... in this pic of my tank you could see it in the center...
 
footbag

footbag

Active Member
Hey BJ, great pics. I can't wait to see the pics of your 500.
Also, let me be the first to congratulate you on 1000 posts. I've been drooling over the pics in some of those posts since I found the board.
 
footbag

footbag

Active Member
Also, where is the Waikiki aquarium. I visited my friend in Waikiki last spring. They must have been holding out for the next trip.
 
brooklyn johnny

brooklyn johnny

Active Member
Thanks footbag!! Wow... it's taken me longer than most people but that's kind of neat... the big tank will be a while, but I have patience and want to do it right... if I want something for it and cannot afford it I will just wait longer... I was able to put the room addition for filtration and such in the

[hr]
, but not the tank
:D . Anyway... here is a horrrible picture of my new teardrop maxima...
 
brooklyn johnny

brooklyn johnny

Active Member
The Waikiki Aquarium is a small aquarium (but third oldest in the country) located at the East end of Waikiki Beach right on the water. It's small and has no flipping dolphins, but is a true "aquarist's aquarium" with many rare species and beautiful reef tanks. Dr. Carlson unfortunately left, but over the weekend he told me how he had just ordered the largest acrylic order ever with this major company... some $8 million, so this aquarium should be something (and it will be!).
Anyway, I am going to throw up some new pics of my system soon, but here is another top shot showing my derasa and maxima (the one I had for a year and a half in the nano)...
 
robchuck

robchuck

Active Member
Johnny,
That maxima looks great next to all of those rics. With colors like that, I can see why you might refer to them as your obsession!
 
neowind

neowind

Member
Very nice clams Johnny I love em!! I am very impressed the the ricordea bed and I am in the process of starting one. How did you go about setting yours up? Did you buy bulk ric's or did you buy em all together? How much do each polyp ussually run. About how much am I looking to spend on a ric bed like that?
 
brooklyn johnny

brooklyn johnny

Active Member
Thank you very much guys... I am going to take some more full tank shots soon when I receive a new purple A. formosa and red teardrop maxima... anyway here is a shot of three more of my clams...
Neowind please don't make me add up what I've spent on the rics:D . Just kidding... in general you'll pay around $10 a polyp for high quality ricordia, but most important is a trusted vendor you can get on the phone with and tell what you want. All rics are not equal, and there are a few vendors who work with divers who have some great ric locations on their GPS, and will only collect about one in ten in order to allow the population to stay behind... that's with floridas at least... unfortunately in the Pacific when nice yumas are found they usually take every last one...
NMreef at my pace I will have 8000 posts in about 25 years!:D
 
brooklyn johnny

brooklyn johnny

Active Member
To prove a point on difference in quality in ricordia... there are orange yumas... and then there are orange yumas!!!:jumping:
One of my buddies is hooking me with a pink yuma soon...
 
neowind

neowind

Member
You don't put your yuma's and florida's touching do ya? I am so sorry I won't hijack your thread anymore thats last question i swear :D
 
brooklyn johnny

brooklyn johnny

Active Member
Neowind this board is for discussions... no worries!! With soft corals you could easily tell when touching is a problem, and if one bothers the other you move them. With hard corals in general you should give them room, and definately sps. With that said I have yumas touching floridas with no problems, but the deep orange guy gets his own real estate!
 
fishman830

fishman830

Active Member

Originally posted by Brooklyn Johnny
NMreef at my pace I will have 8000 posts in about 25 years!:D

post a lot of kegs ;)
 
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