need some help with clams

mng777777

mng777777

Shark Wrangler Wannabe
I have had a rough start with clams in my tank and I would appreciate the help of those of you who have experience with them. I added a Crocea about 3 weeks ago, and a maxima about 1 week ago. The Crocea was doing great on the sand. The Maxima died within the first 12 hours. I took him back and they ordered me another one which they are going to acclimate for 2 weeks in the store for me, as they attributed its death to stress from shipment. Shortly after the Maxima died, the Crocea starting moving himself in the sand and Gaping frequently and not fully opening. I noticed that he had moved himself entirely off of the piece of live rock I buried below him in the sand. I moved him up a bit in the tank onto a piece of live rock. and now he seems content and is opening nicely everyday, and the gaping seems to have stopped. I want your help because my plans for the clams did not include placing them in the LR. I want them out in fron on the sand where I can fully see them. I am using T-5's with both 10k, and 18k bulbs which, from my research should be plenty for these guys. Is there a lighting issue? Could something be bothering them in the sand? I have Nasarius snails, and there are some small worms in the sand but from my research neither seem like the source of the problem. The worms are about the diameter of a piece of thread and about an inch long. There are only a few that I have seen, but I did notice some brown "tubes" in the sand, against the glass, that they seem to be making. Any help would be appreciated!
 
the corcea is a rock dwelling clam, so its not going to be as happy in the sand as it is in the rock. and the maxima could have died from stress
 
I thought they were all rock dwellers in the wild? The LFS store keeps them all in the sand and they seem quite content. His are gorgeous!
 
i had mine on the sand for awhile and it did great but keep tipping over. and i did not like that so i put it up on the rock and it is doing great.
 
Sand irritates their foot.Is there anyway you can place it on a small rock.Let it attach itself and then move the rock closer to the light?
 
its on a rock now and doing great but I was hoping to keep it in the sand as I like it to be out in the open where it can be seen up close. Do you think I could bury the piece of LR that it is on once it has attached itself to still get the effect of it being in the sand.
 
1st things 1st, your system must be mature in order to properly support clams. say at least a year or more. Now that we addressed that, you can place the clam on the sand once it has attached to the rock. you need to be careful not to damage the foot. If you want clams then you are going to want a six line to consume shell drilling snails and such. If your system is over populated with bristle worms you might have some difficulty with them irritating the clam at the foot area. once attached the clam will excrete some white stuff that will seal the foot opening. this will take some time and once completed the clam should be fine at sand level with the rock buried. I would recommend one of the clam books on the market if you are serious about keeping clams. (good luck.)
 
Thank you. This info is very helpfull. I may have more bristles then I should. I definately do in my fuge. I have tried a couple of times to catch them but my trpas just wind up full of crabs. I will keep trying.
 
to capture the worms, get a nylon knee high, cut to length, put some smelly marine fare inside (squid, clam, mussle, etc), tie some fishing line around the open end to seal it, make sure the nylon is firm against the bait but not squeezing it, put it in your system near where you see most of the bristle worms just before lights out, take out in the morning, the bristle worms will try to get at the bait and get snagged in the nylon, discard the nylon and any bristle worms attached. good luck. watch your water quality when doing this. best time is just before a water change. keep us posted. also you may want to research some wrasses will also eat the bristle worms as will several other fish available on the market. depending on where you want to go with your system I would start with the six line but it should be the last fish to add to the system as once acclimated it will become somewhat aggressive to new additions until the addition is settled in. again good luck. pm me if you have any questions on my posts.
 
Thanks again! The Crocea looks better than ever today and seems to like his spot on the rock. I bought a royal gramma about 1 week ago because that was what the fish store recommended for keeping the bristle worm population under control. I would also like to have the six line, but as you stated it needs to go in after everything else and I am not done stocking. As of now I have only 3 small fish, the Gramma, a spotted Mandarin, and a black clown Goby. I plan to add a couple of picasso clowns and possibly one or two other small fish before the six line. In other news, they got my replacement maxima in and are acclimating it at the store as we speek.
 
Where did you buy the clams? I bought two clams from SWSW about a year and a half ago, and they were (and still are) doing great. About six months ago, I bought two more from them, and the two new ones went down hill FAST. Within a few days to a couple weeks, both had turned to slime and were dead. But my two old ones were (and still are) perfectly fine. I think clams can be especially difficult depending on where they came from, how they were shipped and how they're taken care of until the time you buy them.
 
Mine too came from swsw and I think there is something to the acclimation process that they go through at the store. I really like Bill, so dont get me wrong, but I think he tends to be the type that will sell you what you want and when you want it, without a whole lot more thought. I believe that clams need to remain in the store for at least a week but two or more would be preferable so that they can recover from shipment so as to be healthy enough to survive the trip home and acclimation to a new tank. I found out after the fact that the dead clam had arrived two days before I bought it. I am consequently, having them mount my replacement to a shell, and acclimate it for two weeks. In the mean time I am going to set some worm traps... just in case.
 
A tip on the maxima's, the less you move um and mess with um once in your system the better chance you will have for success. good luck.
 

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