Woe's of the misguided attaching clam

[Jovreefer]

My first 2 clams I put in the sand & put a flat rock or shell under them to attach to. They attached right away & stayed put in their sandy homes. I had been waiting to find this last clam I wanted for a long time & had a prime spot picked out for it right in the center of the tank under the halide on a low lying flat rock, lower current area & the rock was alittle concave where the clam would sit, supposedly a perfert spot to live & grow.

I placed my little beauty in the spot & sat back to watch her open up right away. She looked perfect in that spot, I was very proud of myself for constructing such a great home for my clam, but she thought otherwise. That night she jumped off & into the sandbed she went. I placed her in another area of the same rock, the next morning she was back in the sand. I left her there for 2 days kinda miffed as to why she did not like my great planned home.

I saw her digging pretty deep into the sand bed by the second day so I figured "maybe she wants alittle sand around her foot" so I filled her concave area on the rock full of sand and placed her back snug into bed & read her a bedtime story. The next morning I found her back in the sand

3 strikes & I'm out for the rock, so admitting to defeat I grabbed a shell to stick under her in the sand & lo & behold she's FIRMLY attached herself to the side of the rock I want her on top of !!! Why does she insist on tormenting me like so?!?!

All I gotta say is she better not lose color being on the side of a rock like that.

Do you think she will climb the rock if she's not getting enough light?

[mbbuna]

i doubt it will climb the rock.

if you want it on the rock try again. people seem to equate a clam falling from where they are placed to an intentional act by the clam to move somewhere else. all that's really happening is that the clam is not attached or in a secure place where it cant fall and sometime over the night it either clears its gills by closing it shell quickly or is spooked by a fish and closes it shell quickly and tips over falling from its perch.

[Jovreefer]

How would you sugest getting her off the side of the rock?

(yes its a her ...nothing that hot could be a guy )

[mbbuna]

take a sharp knife and cut the threads where they attach to the rock as far away from the clam as you can.

[Jovreefer]

is there no other way to get her off the rock? The idea of cutting makes me sick to my stomach.

If I do get the nerve to cut her off, should I waite till she settles alittle more in the tank? she's only been in there about a week.

Also, how long should it take for a clam to recover from being cut, whats the avarage time that it would take for them to open again after being cut? How long before I should worry that I killed her if she does not open?

[mbbuna]

the byssal threads are a glandular secretion put out by the byssal gland. they have no blood flow or nerve endings, there a lot like our hair or finger nails, the clam would feel a thing and there is no recovery time because there's nothing to recover from

[Jovreefer]

Thank you so much for walking me thru this

I have just one last question I swear!

Would you pull the clam as your cutting or just take a rasor blade as the clam is sitting there & scrape the rock under the clam?

Ok...2 questions...

& is there any chance of harming the clam in doing this?

[mbbuna]

dont pull on it just cut the threads where they attach to the rock. the only chance of damage is if you cut the threads close to the clam but if you cut at the rock you will be fine

[Jovreefer]

Thank you for all the help on this!!! I went home & grabbed a fresh razor blade. I swear my clam knew what was comming because those threads were long & the clam was not so tightly stuck onto the rock. I sliced the very visibal threads & placed her back on the rock, she was open before I had my hand out of the tank.

I placed several branch corals around her in hopes that it will block her in on the rock & she'll attach insead of jumping.

I think your right on a fish scaring her off the rock. I watched my sixline wrasse pass over her & she snaped shut so hard.