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  #101  
Old 09/30/2005, 01:18 AM
iCam iCam is offline
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Quote:
Originally posted by The Shrimp X
im a little confused. Are the clams you guys getting the ones that are wrapped up at the stores? I thought those were dead. Or are there ways to see if there alive?
Generally, if the shell is tightly closed, they are still alive. They don't have to be submerged in water to live. As long as there is some moisture, they can survive for some time.
  #102  
Old 09/30/2005, 12:02 PM
jlehigh jlehigh is offline
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I can attest to this.. I froze a few lbs of Manilla clams overnight. The next day I thawed a few in warm water and they all were living.. Crazy..
  #103  
Old 11/18/2005, 11:17 AM
whatnot45 whatnot45 is offline
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I just washed the shells off myne with regular warm tap water to get the gunk off, and dropped em in they seem to be doing just fine.
  #104  
Old 11/18/2005, 11:18 AM
whatnot45 whatnot45 is offline
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has any one had any bad experiences yet? do they die after a while?
  #105  
Old 11/18/2005, 01:48 PM
Mr.Lizard Mr.Lizard is offline
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Yeah- I lost another of the smaller ones a few days ago in my 20Long experiment. All the fish are still doing great! No water changes....

I wouldn't depend on these clams as a cure for what might ail you- just an additional interesting piece of a diverse biosphere. In my main reef tank system I have Feather Caulerpa, Chaetomorpha, giant clams, (derasa and gigas) Red Mangroves, wet/dry, DSB refugium on reverse daylight, feather duster colonies, multiple mobile inverts including an awesome purple and orange reef lobster (@ 5 years in the tank and no fish attacked- I hand feed him!), several varieties/colors of all types of coral from SPS to LPS to softies and gorgonians and zooanthids and all the bugs my 4 year old fat mandarin can pig out on, and about 20x worth of turnover per hour water flow....I feel that having a wide diversity of animals, water flow, bacteria, and filtration methods are the best way to have a healthy system. A little bit of everything to get the job done. With more going on you have less chance of any one thing that might go wrong destroying the entire system, in my opinion. Did I mention this is only a 55g with maybe 5g worth of additional under tank water? It's been an active running system for nearly 14 years! I'm not skimming at all currently, and I change @ 5% of my water 2 or 3 times a month. B-Ionic supplementation mostly- some others here and there like kalk drip, strontium/molybdenum, and Reef Plus. Just enough to point the tank in the right direction- nature takes care of the rest!
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  #106  
Old 11/18/2005, 02:19 PM
whatnot45 whatnot45 is offline
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thanks lol I kidna want myne for that same reason Im not using them as a cure for high nitrates or organincs, they look cool agains my macros
  #107  
Old 11/19/2005, 09:37 AM
Dr4g0nf1y Dr4g0nf1y is offline
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All of mine have passed on. I personally think that they may do better with colder temps and heavier feeding. A biotype setup would probably be best.
  #108  
Old 11/20/2005, 06:19 PM
Mr.Lizard Mr.Lizard is offline
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I read about differing species of clams generally available and there was mention of some being more temperature-adaptable than others....I think it was when I searched the 'net for Manilla clams....Find ones that are widespread climate-wise and you should be OK. I also acclimated mine slowly from the store bag to tank water temp, and as I did so, I poured out the old water (down the drain) to remove material the clams purged during the process....
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  #109  
Old 11/20/2005, 07:45 PM
olemos olemos is offline
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Check these out
http://www.saltwaterfish.com/site_11...ot_parent_id=4
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Here... take this astronaut dipper so you can spend more time next to your tank.
  #110  
Old 11/20/2005, 08:41 PM
Mr.Lizard Mr.Lizard is offline
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Those look very similar- except mine were 79 cents each and I didn't have to pay shipping....
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  #111  
Old 11/22/2005, 08:17 PM
eastcoastzigzag eastcoastzigzag is offline
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I have had 2 cohags(sp?) in my 65 from the get go in early october. i freshwater dipped them when i got them and threw them in an uncycled tank. every day they are open( quater inch ) and siphons out. my leveles are zero across the board running a prizum skimmer, berlin sump w/ live rock rubble and carbon and live sand.
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  #112  
Old 11/23/2005, 10:01 AM
Chrismo Chrismo is offline
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I bought ten, and dumped them all in after letting them thaw. All ten lived, but every other day I crack one open and feed it to my moorish Idol. He loves them. I try to just break the tip of the clam open enough so that it doesnt die right away, and then throuout the day the Idol eats it.

Oddly, he has no interest in my Blue Maxima Clam.

Chris
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  #113  
Old 11/23/2005, 11:32 AM
Rivalpc Rivalpc is offline
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Yet
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"What is a scientist after all? It is a curious man looking through a keyhole, the keyhole of nature, trying to know what's going on." -Jacques Cousteau
  #114  
Old 11/23/2005, 11:45 AM
Chrismo Chrismo is offline
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Very true.

Also, I have a Big snail in my tank which I believe is some kind of whelk. It's been in the tank for a year now, and it makes a beeline for the Clam as soon as it's injured. It eats the injured clam but ignores the non-injured littleneck clams.

I find it convienient to keep this food live and in my tank, ready for feeding, though I feel guilty killing anything in my tank, even though it's a food item anyway...

At the end of the day, I can just pick up the clamshell, and any un-eaten remaining inside. Very tidy. My skimmer doesnt go crazy, so I'm assuming that the clam doesnt start to decompose right away.
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  #115  
Old 11/23/2005, 12:29 PM
Mr.Lizard Mr.Lizard is offline
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I had a whelk- it ate a lot of my little snails, but none of the turbos, which is incidentally where I got it.(Infiltrating a batch of turbos) I kept it in my mantis tank (too tough for my N. curacaoensis to crack) for over a year until it finally died a few weeks ago....It ate snails I put in there for it and the mantis. The whelks have a 'snorkel' sticking out of one end of their shells- there's a shell formation around it that makes it different from the turbos. Hope this helps in IDing it- I had trouble finding anything about them online other than recipes....LOL
I also had a Hippo tang that got the idea of carrying my gold maxima around the tank....and I have a Coral Beauty that nips clams, but doesn't really bite them- just nibbles them lightly. Watch 'em all !!
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  #116  
Old 10/11/2006, 10:18 AM
RedSonja RedSonja is offline
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Resurrection for an old thread... my local Harris Teeter has littleneck clams on sale this week - $3.99 for a bag of 16 clams. I'm going to get a bag and see how they do in our DSB 'fuge. Thanks everyone for the info!

-Sonja
  #117  
Old 10/11/2006, 10:37 AM
eastcoastzigzag eastcoastzigzag is offline
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whoa blast form the past! im still a fan of this idea. mine original ones have since died but they were good food for the scavengers
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  #118  
Old 10/11/2006, 10:38 AM
RedSonja RedSonja is offline
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Quote:
Originally posted by eastcoastzigzag
whoa blast form the past! im still a fan of this idea. mine original ones have since died but they were good food for the scavengers
Gotta love RC Search for research.

-Sonja
  #119  
Old 10/11/2006, 10:46 AM
Chrismo Chrismo is offline
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I left 6 of these in my tank since last year this time. Every few months one died, and now there is only 2 left.

When they die. Often, a day or 2 before they die, they seem to come up to the surface of the sand where I can see them. Otherwise I never see them.
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  #120  
Old 10/13/2006, 09:58 AM
RedSonja RedSonja is offline
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I got some of the littleneck clams Wednesday and all were alive (I went the first day of the sale to maximize my chances of this). I RO/freshwater dipped them for 5 min or so then drained most of that out and dripped tank water on them. They started opening up and excreting pretty soon after that. I left them in there a couple of hours then put 6 in our display tank's fuge, 6 in our stock tank's sump, and a couple in different small quarantine and food culture tanks. So far all are open and seem happy, well, as clams. The ones in the 'fuge have burrowed down into the DSB and all I can see are their siphons, the others are in barebottom environments.

We'll see how it goes.

-Sonja
  #121  
Old 10/13/2006, 10:41 AM
critterkeeper critterkeeper is offline
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A few cents (rather than just two)


Clams eat a lot more than you'd think.

Their metabolic rate (like that of most cold-blooded things) is strongly affected by water temps. So, putting a clam like this in a reef tank will speed up its metabolism, which means it will need even more food than normal.

There very likely isn't enough food in any of our tanks to support a whole population of clams, although having a couple of small ones in a big tank might work (obviously there are about a thousand variables to consider like species, size, numbers, food preferences, etc.)

Clams can take weeks to months to starve to death with no indications that anything is wrong.

I would watch VERY closely for shell growth. If the shell is growing things are probably okay. If not - something's wrong (unless they happen to already be full size at the time).

Also, I saw that someone mentioned using sponges for filters - however, sponges eat bacteria for the most part, not plankton.
  #122  
Old 11/15/2006, 07:55 PM
catalyst catalyst is offline
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good points to remember, thanks critter

glad I found this thread today - there looks to be very few on this subject

was buying raw shrimp last night at the grocery & there were all different types of "live" aquacultured clams available - the smallest being Little Necks, about the size of a half-dollar (they also had live scallops) - they were all in a refrigerated case (like the butcher)

one thing I thought interesting - the clerk put the clam in a small lidded container and said the clam would suffocate if left in there too long w/o air vents (which he proceeded to make for me). I was amazed that they were truly alive, being out of water and sitting on crushed ice, let alone that they can suffocate in a air-filled container 5X their size.

clam was acclimated with a slow drip from the tank and placed in the fuge (now I know why the skimmer went crazy!)

he has extended his foot into a crevice in a neighboring rock and has extended his mantle onto the surface of the sand, drawing back into his shell whatever he can get his 'hands' on

pretty neat
  #123  
Old 11/15/2006, 10:36 PM
OrionN OrionN is offline
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Guys and Gals,
These calms are non photosynthetic. Because of this they, like fish, are net producer of nutrients instead of remove them. This is just plain crazy to use them to remove nitrates from your system because they produce ammonia with turn to nitrates, not remove them. They are filter feeder, so they can remove bacterial plankton or whatever food they eat from the water, which can be detrimental to other filter feeder in your tank.

From jlehigh
Quote:
I can attest to this.. I froze a few lbs of Manilla clams overnight. The next day I thawed a few in warm water and they all were living.. Crazy..
This is just plain crazy
Certainly not believable

Just my .02
  #124  
Old 11/16/2006, 10:24 AM
Chrismo Chrismo is offline
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OrionN:
You should do some research on this before posting so emphatically. A simple search or knowledge of clams would have told you that you are wrong. There is no doubt that Clams absorb Nitrates and phosphates. There is much scientific literature and experience about it. Clam farmers add nitrates to their cultures to increase growth.

http://scholar.google.com/scholar?hl...es&btnG=Search

By your reasoning, bacteria can not absorb nitrates either because they are non-photosynthetic, and yet some eat nothing but.
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  #125  
Old 11/16/2006, 12:28 PM
OrionN OrionN is offline
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Chrismo,
Living things either use light energy to produce complex molecules (producers like plants and certain bacterial and microorganism) or metabolize complex molecules for energy (consumer like fungi, and the rest of the animals)
These manila clams are filter feeder. They eat and produce waste, most of which is nitrates. Tridacna (due to their symbiotic relationship with the zooanthlle) are net producer. Without the zooanthelle, Tridacna clams are consumer also.

BTW, all the link you provided are about Tridacna clams, these steamer clams are not.
 

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