clam lighting ?

shanekennedy · #1 01/07/2004, 03:05 PM

got a encrusted clam on recent live rock purchase. thought it was just the top of the rock, until it opened up & stuck out its tounge. everything i read on clams said they need MH lights, so i decided not to keep them. however, most of what i read was referring to the more elegant & vividly colored clams. mine is a plain jane incognito clam. will it live? can't afford MH lights right now.

JonK · #2 01/07/2004, 03:24 PM

It sounds like you just got a regular clam. They don't require light like Maximas or Squamosas. It's hard to say if it will live or not. It depends on if there is enough food in the water column for it to filter out.

Squidman · #3 01/07/2004, 04:11 PM

A picture of the clam you are refering to would help us make an intelligent answer. I have had several different types of hitchhiker bivalves on my live rock and some thrive with little in the way of lighting.

shanekennedy · #4 01/07/2004, 04:15 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by Squidman
A picture of the clam you are refering to would help us make an intelligent answer. I have had several different types of hitchhiker bivalves on my live rock and some thrive with little in the way of lighting.

i think JonK's description of "regular clam fits perfect". i dropped/broke my camera this weekend, but i don't think a pic would help. you can't see the clam, only it's crack. it's completely encrusted. any suggestions on what to feed this critter?

sharkdude · #5 01/07/2004, 04:33 PM

if your tank is mature and you have a well established refugium, you probably won't need to feed anything as your tank will be producing zooplankton that will get filtered out by the clam.
adding products like DT's or other plankton products will indirectly benefit the clam through increasing infauna zooplankton production.

so long as it gets adequate current, is opening regularly and not geting stung or overgrown by other corals, or predated by something, it should do fine.

I too have had an ocassional hitchiker bivalve and a few have grown from smaller that 1/4 inch to nearly an inch over the past year. who knows on the species, so I have no idea how large they would get.