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Squamosa Clam Placement & general help


drfu

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I have on order a squamosa clam that is arriving this week, im quite excited to have a clam! I do have a few questions on placement:

1) do i place it on the bottom on a piece of live rock then move it up a level every day till i find the final spot i want.

2) what amount of light is too little or to much for it as i know it needs quite a bit of light?

3) does it like or need any supplimental feeding of phytoplankton?

 

I have the IM Skkye 92 watt fixture, my estimated PAR is as follows:

Substrate;150-250

Middle rock;250-350

Top rocks;350-450

 

I would prefer to keep it lower but im up for advice on where it should go

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How did you estimate? Clams need more than just intense light, what kind of stocking do you have? How big is the clam, the more info the bettef we can help

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My 2" sqammie started on my sand bed this past April. 24" tank with Maxspect Razor LED lighting. He is now 3.5" and has recently been moved up to the middle of the tank. I feed a drop of concentrated phtyo to my tank once a week.

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I had my hybrid Squa/Croc on the sand for a few weeks and then tried to raise it up 5" on a shelf rock. It lasted one day before he decided to kick himself off back down to the sand. I have a ton of light and a shallow tank though so maybe not the best reference.

 

Looking at how "open" the clam is can be a somewhat useful metric also. I just switched lights and the clams in my tank are getting a bit less light (slowly ramping up) then usual, today they are both open about 30% more then normal. They can regulate their exposure to light as well as the amount of zoox inside them. As a fair estimated i'd say make sure he gets 200+ PAR and plenty of fish waste B)

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How did you estimate? Clams need more than just intense light, what kind of stocking do you have? How big is the clam, the more info the bettef we can help
The estimate is from the manufactures specs -25% as they always spec better than actual.I have a IM Micro 30 with a pair of clowns, pistol shrimp/goby pair, 3 bangaii, 1 blue reef chromis & lots of other invertebrates.I jave not recieved the clam as of yet so i dont know the actual size or if it's mouned on anything.

 

My 2" sqammie started on my sand bed this past April. 24" tank with Maxspect Razor LED lighting. He is now 3.5" and has recently been moved up to the middle of the tank. I feed a drop of concentrated phtyo to my tank once a week.
Good to know, i target feed 1ml of phyto to my flame scallop, i may try the same with the clam, thx

 

I had my hybrid Squa/Croc on the sand for a few weeks and then tried to raise it up 5" on a shelf rock. It lasted one day before he decided to kick himself off back down to the sand. I have a ton of light and a shallow tank though so maybe not the best reference. Looking at how "open" the clam is can be a somewhat useful metric also. I just switched lights and the clams in my tank are getting a bit less light (slowly ramping up) then usual, today they are both open about 30% more then normal. They can regulate their exposure to light as well as the amount of zoox inside them. As a fair estimated i'd say make sure he gets 200+ PAR and plenty of fish waste B)
That sounds like good advice, i might just start @ the bottom and work its way up over time, expecially if it comes as a real small sucker
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Deleted User 8

Be careful moving it around. They can start to attach to wherever they are and you can kill them by moving them. They will even attach to the glass bottom.

 

Buzz

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Be careful moving it around. They can start to attach to wherever they are and you can kill them by moving them. They will even attach to the glass bottom.

 

Buzz

Thanks for the tip, i was hoping it would be attached to some live rock when it comes, if not i will attach it to a small rock and just move the rock around with the clam attached

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Deleted User 8

I tend to try and not monkey with clams once they get settled in. They will attach past the small frag of rock that it may come attached on. Moving a clam that is attached to a bigger rock can be tricky too. Especially if the rock is big enough to stabilize the clam. Then if the clam rock combo comes tumbling off the higher spot you placed it, that will be bad ju-ju. You would be amazed at how strong a small clam can be. If it liked the lower spot, it will often try and move back, taking the attached rock with it. Tumble, tumble, bonk, tap, crack, gush, splash, slosh, swear, swoon, cry.

 

Look at these guys moving this monster!

 

http://vimeo.com/68819170

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I tend to try and not monkey with clams once they get settled in. They will attach past the small frag of rock that it may come attached on. Moving a clam that is attached to a bigger rock can be tricky too. Especially if the rock is big enough to stabilize the clam. Then if the clam rock combo comes tumbling off the higher spot you placed it, that will be bad ju-ju. You would be amazed at how strong a small clam can be. If it liked the lower spot, it will often try and move back, taking the attached rock with it. Tumble, tumble, bonk, tap, crack, gush, splash, slosh, swear, swoon, cry.

 

Look at these guys moving this monster!

 

[/url]

Well my clam just arrived @ noon, dripped acclimated for almost 2 hours just to be safe and OMG, its big, almost 6" across! Way to big to place on rock unless i re-arrange everything so my questions are these:

 

1) will it be happy on the sand substrate or does it need a rock to attach to?

2) where its placed i'm thinking my Par rating is around 300 at its top, since its this big will it be fine with that little of light?

3) it came with some bubble algae on its shell, after a couple of days can i take it out and place it in my water change bucket with used tank water. I could then carefully remove the bubbles without popping them?

post-82698-0-89151300-1414108064_thumb.jpg

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I had a 4" squamosa on the sandbed of my nuvo. about 18" down from my razor and towards the edge of my tank. did very well. you can check my thread to get an idea of the placement. had it for a year and a half or so and gave it away since it was getting too big and i noticed my damsel nip at it. you should be fine taking it out to get rid of the bubble algae, it looks really healthy.

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I had a 4" squamosa on the sandbed of my nuvo. about 18" down from my razor and towards the edge of my tank. did very well. you can check my thread to get an idea of the placement. had it for a year and a half or so and gave it away since it was getting too big and i noticed my damsel nip at it. you should be fine taking it out to get rid of the bubble algae, it looks really healthy.

 

Thanks for the help, feel better now!

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So just under 24 hours since its been in its new home, lookes the same, seems to react to light changes is i wave my hand in front if its light so if i were to guess its doing fine so far, is this a correct?

 

I have noticed something that im not sure if this is a issue or normal. I have seen it burp or fart out some water a couple of times and it was open for a bit, is this a normal behaviour?

post-82698-0-77977500-1414173256_thumb.jpg

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Spin it 360 and make sure no air is trapped. Other than that if it is closing a lot it may be trying to relocate itself. Make sure nothing is obstructing it from fully opening. Also mine was a little finicky with flow, it seemed to like more moderate to low flow. HTH

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Spin it 360 and make sure no air is trapped. Other than that if it is closing a lot it may be trying to relocate itself. Make sure nothing is obstructing it from fully opening. Also mine was a little finicky with flow, it seemed to like more moderate to low flow. HTH

no its not closing at all, its staying open but since i have never had a clam before i wasnt sure what it was doing was normal or not. I dont know if its got any air trapped in it or not, i did do the flip around when i put it in my tank, can try again if it does mind being handled.....makes me think, do they like being handled a bit or is it a no no?

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