ATTN all current and future clam keepers!!

[skinz78]

ATTN all current and future clam keepers!!

Hello fellow reef enthusiasts. I check the clam forum "as many much more knowledgeable people than I do" almost dayly. When I can I throw in my $.02 and try to help others out.

I see alot of posts asking for help on sick and dieing clams that don't list all info that is needed. There is back and fourth communication problem asking for info and wasting time while clams suffer and die. People need to know how important it is to post all water paramaters, pic's of the problem clam, aquarium lighting, recent tank changes, and ALL tank inhabitants when asking for help.

Here is a good link to recomended water parameters:
water paramaters

And ten important tests:

#1 Calcium 380-450 ppm
#2 Salinity 1.024-1.026
#3 Alkalinity 2.5-4 meq/L
7-11 dKH
125-200 ppm CaCO3 equivalents
#4 Ph 8.1-8.4
#5 Magnesium 1250-1350 ppm
#6 Temp 78-82 deg F
#7 Nitrates 0
#8 Nitrites 0
#9 Phosphate < 0.03 ppm
#10 Ammonia <0.1 ppm

Pictures can sometime be worth a thousand words. So if you can please please post them.

Also I think all clam keepers old and new present and future should read about keeping clams from one or even both of these fine books:

Giant clams in the sea and the aquarium by
James Fatherree

Giant Clams: A Comprehensive Guide to the Identification and Care of Tridacnid Clams by
Daniel Knopp

Both books are about the same price of a small clam and I urge first time clam keepers to purchase one or the other and read it before buying thier first clam. In the long run people could possibly help thier clams thrive and save some money too.

More useful links:

clam pic's and Id
This site doesn't really tell you much about Id'ing clams but it has lots of pictures of different types of clams. Yow will have to scroll down and click the picture link on the left side to see the pic's
click on the clam type to see pic's
click on clam type on left side of page for pic's

Id page written by mbbuna
mbbuna's clam id

Reefkeeping magazine's clam Id page
clam id

clam care page

To be honest with everyone I find the search function on here is quite helpful to me. I usually find everything that I need just by using it. So many others have been down the road that I am going down and I try to learn from thier mistakes.

[a4twenty]

just noticed this new sticky ( yeah i'm a little preoccupied right now )

this should help diagnosing problems, if we can get people to read and follow the instructions.


nicely done and thanks skinz78

[JerseyWendy]

Awesome! Thanks so much for the info and the links. They are extremely helpful, especially since I'm a fairly new Clam mommy.

---
Wendy

[ludiNano]

But don't clams use some nitrates. Ive read one should dose nitrates if levels are to low. only to 2mg. or somthing like that

[skinz78]

Clams do fine without adding nitrates if you have fish. Essentially they get what they need from fish poo.

[rottbo]

clams will uptake ammonia over nitrate though

[skinz78]

Basically clams and the bactieria in our live rock and sandbeds compete pretty heavily for ammonia eaquily. Ammonia is preferred. The byproduct is then nitrite. Clams don't use this but the bactieria in the sand and rock does. And the byproduct from that is nitrate wich is consumed by clams but not the bactieria.

[skinz78]

First start off by turning off all of your lighting. Float it in the bag for 15-20 min. Then I take the clam in the bag if the bag is big enough hold at least 1 litre of water and if it isn't I dump the clam and all the water into a big plastic cup. I then place it and bag/cup in a 5 gallon bucket. Then I have a 1/4" airline hose that is about 3-4 feet long. On one end of the hose I have tied a knot in it to restrict flow to a very slow drip. Place the hose into your tank and start a slow siphon into the bag or cup the clam is in. I then forget about the operation for about an hour letting the container overflow into the 5 gallon bucket. When the bag or cup is starting to float in the bucket I check the water temp and compare it to my tank temp. Sometimes refloating is nesisary because the container water cools off again. Once I am sure the clam has been very slowly acclimated to the tank water temp and paramaters I add it to the tank on the sand bottom.

After the clam has been in the tank for about an hour I slowly start to turn my lights on again. Leave the clam on the sand for a few days and when you place it there put something small and flat burried in the sand under it. The clam will attach to it. This step makes it easy to move the clam from spot to spot on your rockwork later. After the clam has been there for a few days and it is one of the more light loveing clams IE Crocea or maxima. I slowly start moveing it up on to the rockwork.

If it is a squamosa giga's or derasa and I like it to be on the sand, if the clam hasent moved from where I placed it to begin with I just leave it alone. If it does move IE from side to side or turns I know it wants to be elsewhere and I move it to another spot until it sits in one space. The same go's for clams up on the rocks, if they move themselves I don't put them back to the same spot. They are moveing for a reason.

HTH
Chris