Light acclimation and the clam's foot

sen5241b

Reef enthusiast
My new Maxima's clam foot is reaching down into the sand and he is digging in. I want to move him up slowly higher and higher onto the rock. I do not want to damage his foot though. If he roots his foot into the rock before I get him to his final ledge on the rock and then I pull him out --the foot could get damaged. How do you deal with this?
 
If its attached you can cut the foot with a sharp razor blade. Cut it as close to the rock as possible. Be sure not to pull on it so it rips or the clam will die.
 
I keep my clam on an old clam shell, like this:

clam-firefish_edited2.jpg


you can see the little half-shell my clam sits on. I just put some sand in it and set the clam on that. Then I can slowly move the clam with the shell around the tank until it gets to final placement. then you can either coax it off the shell, or just epoxy the shell in place.
 
Take a butter knife from the kitchen. Gently press the side of the knife (not the blade!) on the clam's foot. It should release it. They hate the feeling of metal on their flesh. This is a safe and easy way to get them to detach.
 
I have 3 clams on the sand bed. They will often move themselves around several inches. My sand bed is 5-6 inches so they never attach. In your case, I'd place a piece of shell under him as tanked suggested.
 
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