Clam jumped

[B-Man]

Hey there, I have a question for you all.

I'm a little bit nervous because my 1.5" maxima jumped to the sand bed last night. I got 3, 1.5" maximas on Saturday (16th) and I placed them in the tank on rock work. The first night one fell/jumped and by morning it was empty, not a trace of the clam at all, except the shell.:( He was High up in the rocks and I can't be sure if he landed face up or down, I had to do some digging to find him. I suspect that some of my rather large Bristle worms cleaned him out. Well, now that my other clam made it's way to the sand bed should I be worried about the predators? He has had great mantel extension and is looking healthy. I just hope that he's still around when I get home from work.

Any suggestions, or should I not be worried at all?

[B-Man]

Thanks for all the help people.:rolleyes:

[MiNdErAsR]

Originally posted by B-Man
Thanks for all the help people.:rolleyes:

Patience grasshopper :p

I personally keep all my clams on the sandbed. No issues with the clam(s) jumping off the rock and disappearing behind the structure.

As for the bristleworms, they would only eat the clam if it smelled of death (or near-death). Evidently a dying clam emits an oder which other life find highly enticing. So *if* they did clean out the shell, they were just doing the job they were "hired" to do. My guess is (especially if you have hermit crabs or nassarius snails) the worms had help. :)

Also immature clams (under 4") are more demanding. They require phytoplankton as their mantles are simply not large enough to use sunlight as a sole source of nourishment.

And finally, a dying clam will look and respond as a healthy clam would. By the time a problem is evident the clam is already done for.


IMO, IME, HTH