Maxima or Crocea?

[InLimbo87]

The lfs told me that this clam that i just bought was a maxima, however it does not have the "scutes" on the side like a maxima. Is this a crocea clam then? Stumped... I don't have a good eye with these things.

[corndogg]

your right, it's a crocea

[InLimbo87]

duped by the lfs, but hey... works out in my favor because croceas do stay smaller, correct?

[acrodave]

that sucks but they so stay smaller

[Joshua1023]

It works in your favor only if you paid a crocea price for that clam. The crocea should have cost about 50 bucks or so. The maximas are ususally twice that price. Thats my experience with it anyway.

[Barry N.]

Tridacna crocea for sure but it will be much easier to keep then a tridacna maxima !

[InLimbo87]

i did only pay $45 for it, so either way i was getting a decent deal eh?

[MikeD]

But what are the differences between the two / how do you id them?

[rdmpe]

Originally posted by Barry N.
Tridacna crocea for sure but it will be much easier to keep then a tridacna maxima !

Is that the case? I was under the impression that crocea were more demanding. Can you elaborate?

[Barry N.]

I was under the impression that crocea were more demanding.

After keeping records on thousands of clams in the past 6 years, have found out that Maximas are by far the hardest to keep.

IME & IMO easiest to hardest to keep.

Tradicna derasa
Tridacna gigas Tridacna squamosa and Tridacna crocea
Tridacna maxima

Our records tell us that we lose 7-9 maximas per 1 crocea. The farmed raised ones, less than 2'' have about 70% mortality and wild collected larger ones are just senitive and it could also be due to poor collection practices.