clam on it side

jeep54 · #1 06/03/2007, 04:05 PM

is it normal for a clam to lay on it side?
everwhere i look clams sit upright but both my clams like to lay down. sometimes the one sits up right then the next day he is laying down again.

a4twenty · #2 06/03/2007, 05:03 PM

they are trying to move,

are they on the sand or rock?

what type of clams?

lighting and tank depth?

onecrzyboi4u · #3 06/03/2007, 06:24 PM

i had my crocea in the sand bed.. it was moving.. so finally i placed it in some rockwork .. he tiled himself at a angle.. and hasn't moved since..

jeep54 · #4 06/03/2007, 07:49 PM

they are in sand right now. i tried to put them on the live rock closer to the lite. but they ended up jumping down.

they are corcea clams i think

the tank is 20" deep
i don't think i have enough lighting i only have a Coralife Lunar Aqualights Compact Fluorescent Strip Lights

a4twenty · #5 06/04/2007, 11:26 AM

yes unfortunately that is not enough light to keep crocea clams. they are undoubtedly trying to move out from what the feel is the shade. crocea's require the most light out of any of the tridacnid clams, it would be best if you cold return the clams until you get a chance to upgrade your lighting. here is a great thread about lighting for clams.

jeep54 · #6 06/04/2007, 07:23 PM

unfortanetly the fish store i got it from did not have the corect lighting either which is why i was a little mislead at first

strayvoltage · #7 06/07/2007, 11:55 PM

Have I read your hobby experience to be one week? I am kinda lost here. How long has your tank been set up? If I am understanding this you haven't had enough time for your tank to even be ready for a clam in any way. Please do your research and learn about the things you are going to put in your tank, you are responsible for their well being. You can provide for them so much better if you know about them. And if you don't have what it takes to meet their needs please by all means don't buy them.

smithcreek · #8 06/08/2007, 05:58 AM

Quote:

Originally posted by strayvoltage
Have I read your hobby experience to be one week? I am kinda lost here. How long has your tank been set up? If I am understanding this you haven't had enough time for your tank to even be ready for a clam in any way. Please do your research and learn about the things you are going to put in your tank, you are responsible for their well being. You can provide for them so much better if you know about them. And if you don't have what it takes to meet their needs please by all means don't buy them.

Ok, now that he's been officially rebuked by an expert how about helping with the current situation?

First off, you said you weren't sure what type of clams they are, can you show us a picture? If they are crocea and the LFS won't take them back, even after you explain they were wrong when they sold them to you, your choices really are get new lighting or get rid of the clams because they will perish in a matter of a month or so. Is there a reef club in your area? Clams are usually easy to get rid of in the reef club in my area.

strayvoltage · #9 06/08/2007, 08:25 PM

smithcreek, no expert here in any way. I was not trying to be mean in any way. I was only asking questions and making a few points. jeep54 has yet to reply and let us know how long the tank has been set up and or if it has cycled. If it is really only one week old at time of his post, then it is really obvious besides light that right there is a big part of what the problem would almost have to be. No matter even if the tank has cycled and is mature enough for a clam there is still the matter of not enough light. You have already given the only real choices for the problem. Either get the light needed for the clams or get rid of them. If more light is provided there is still the matter of, has the tank cycled or not.

If you or anybody else thought I was out of line with my first post, I apologize. I really only thought it would be obvious with the info I gave that doing smething about the matters at hand would be the place to start.

jeep54 · #10 06/09/2007, 12:12 PM

i said 1 week when i started looking on reef central about six months ago after i had the tank set up up with live rock in it for a week. it dosn't auto up date sorry for not changeing that.
sorry for not posting right away i had to go out of town.i lost one of my clams while out of town. so now i am on a mission to find lites but that is not easy every LFS i go into dosn't stock anything i know one know anything. and when i order it they never call when it comes in. if it does come in
thank you all for your help

strayvoltage · #11 06/10/2007, 11:21 PM

Don't get it from your LFS. Order one online. There are a lot of places you can buy a good light from and also save $$$$ over what the LFS is going to charge you. Here are just a few.
marinedopet.com
everything4saltwater.com
drfosterandsmith.com
Oh I could list at least 50 or more that you could try. First figure out what light you want, then do a search for it and find the lowets price that way. They all have spexials at different times.

smithcreek · #12 06/11/2007, 11:38 AM

Quote:

Originally posted by strayvoltage
smithcreek, no expert here in any way. I was not trying to be mean in any way.

My bad, shouldn't have posted what I did. I agree with what you said, but I know I've made mistakes regardless of how much I try to research, and then there are those times that you trust the LFS guy because it just looks so darn nice at the store. When I first started I researched some fish I was interested in, and when I went to the store I was careful not to buy a mandarin since I knew my tank did not have sufficient pod population, so I ended up buying a scooter dragonette. Doh! So when I see someone looking for help, trying to get the right info, do the right thing, I try to cut some slack.

strayvoltage · #13 06/12/2007, 11:01 PM

Cut some slack. Sounds good to me
We have all made mistakes and we will all prob make more if we stay in the hobby long enough. But when we do we need to try to fix the problem asap. Like I said we are responsible for the things we buy to keep in our tanks and should try our very best. Again I wasn't trying to sound bad or be mean.

onecrzyboi4u · #14 06/12/2007, 11:44 PM

If i was closer id gladly take the cam..

reefdood · #15 06/13/2007, 01:07 PM

Lights are often available for good prices here, in the For Sale forum. FWIW

jeep54 · #16 06/16/2007, 09:53 AM

thank you all
the clam seems to be doing well now
i bought another compact lite while waiting to find the right lite that i need.

but now i seem to be losing my snails,i had a preey big one that just died and after looking around it looks like i lost a couple medium sized ones?

chrisstie · #17 06/16/2007, 11:31 AM

you could also try reefgeek.com for lighting for clams. Metal Halide or T5s with individual reflectors should work well

Opcn · #18 06/17/2007, 02:56 AM

CF's put out a lot of heat, by putting a second one on you have probably raised the temp of your tank.