New Crocea Clam

[Reefer Al]

I have a crocea clam in my tank now.

 

It is about 2" across and very beautiful. He is a light blue with prominent gold splotches.

 

I have a bottle of DT phytoplankton.

 

175W MH in a 10gal tank.

 

 

My questions are:

 

Will he need to be fed heavily due to his juvenile size?

 

What is the best way to feed DT?

 

Can I start growing phyto using DT's as a starter culture?

 

Will he do fine in the sandbed?

 

He quickly recedes into his shell about a cm every thirty seconds or so. Is this a behavior due to his filtering technique?

 

Thanks

[coolwaters]

yeah the sand bed is fine. if it starts to move around a lot then try putting it on rocks.

 

as for the DT phytoplankton i do recommend you growing it. since that stuff is like $10 a bottle which runs out fairly fast.

 

its easy to grow too.

 

you dont need to feed clams. even when its young. lots of light is the only thing they need. feeding just helps. at least it helps for me. my clams seems happier with DT phytoplankton.

 

look out for your calcium

[Reefer Al]

Thanks, cool.

 

 

I guess I'm just feeling a little uneasy about the clam because I have never had one before and I don't know what looks "normal." It's hard for me to judge how it's doing. The mantle is open, but it's not extended out past the shell like I'm used to seeing. Is this characteristic of a tiny clam?

[dtfleming]

Crocea clams dont like the sand, the sand tends to mess up their gills per say. Plus crocea's are rock dwellers and borrow into the rock with their foot.

 

"normal" clam should fully open with it is acclimated to your tank and it should close when something passes in front of it. You can use a turkey baster to target feed the clam phyto.

 

Also keep an eye on your calicum and alk. Clams will eat that up so you may need to dose 2-part to maintain the normal parameters for each.

[dsoz]

According to the guy at my LFS (knowledgeable and mostly trustworthy), DTs phyto is not great for clams. They can ingest it (take it into their stomach), but not digest it (break it up). Supposedly the cell wall on the DTs is too tough for the clams digestive juice. Also AFAIK the DTs phyto is mostly dead cells in suspension. I don't think you can culture it.

 

He told me to get Reef Nutrition phyto feast. http://www.reefnutrition.com/ If you want to culture it, get the phytofeast live.

 

Once the clam is attached to a small rock, you can take that rock out and put it in a bowl of phyto-enriched tank water (green water) for a short time (20-30 min). When the water clears up, the clam has been fed and can go back into the display.

 

dsoz

[basser1]

Clams don't require supplemental feedings. Good lighting and water quality is all that's needed. Make sure you test your water for calcium as they really suck it up. If your clams' mantle is stretching out way past its' shell, it could be a sign of it not getting enough light. I've got a maxima I have had for well over a year and I've never fed it. Post pics of yours if you can!

[Reefer Al]

It's not in a fine sand so I would think he would be fine in my sand bed. I only resist the rocks because of my tank setup.

 

That's interesting about the DT and not easily digesting.

 

I would think he has plenty of light where he is. About 12" under a 175w mogul base halide

 

I'll see if I can't get a pic from above.

[coolwaters]

u can culture DT phytoplankton i tried it and so has others.

 

not sure about them being able to digest it?

[disaster999]

Clams don't require supplemental feedings. Good lighting and water quality is all that's needed. Make sure you test your water for calcium as they really suck it up. If your clams' mantle is stretching out way past its' shell, it could be a sign of it not getting enough light. I've got a maxima I have had for well over a year and I've never fed it. Post pics of yours if you can!

 

+1 clams do not need to be fed. all they need is enough calcium and light.

[Urchinhead]

Weee! The Feed/Not Feed clam debate! You can feed them if you so choose. They need food particulates in the 50 nanometer range so think reef chili or the like.

 

They also benefit from some nitrates as well. Not allot but some. This is the reason I like them. They are good looking natural filters of the stuff. They won't replace chemical filtration, water changes, etc but they do help.

 

Crocea are the most difficult of the clams to keep (source: ClamsDirect.com moderator) and are rock dwelling animals. Thus a small rock under it will be better.

[chris&barb]

Looks like a few posts are missing from this thread since last night. Just wanted to reply to a few comments.

 

That is not an article, it's a thread written by somebody named chris&barb on a reef aquarium forum. It does not even begin to debunk anything.

 

Hey everyone, Chris here

 

You can call it a thread or article or what ever you like. I wrote this (what ever you want to call it) a few years back to try and clear up how clams work and how they get their nutrients, and to put to rest the myth that clams under X" long need to be feed phytoplankton or they will die.

 

It starts out quoting information that is OVER 70 YEARS OLD, but still mostly valid.

 

No it doesn't. It starts out quoting something from 1971. INTRACELLULAR DIGESTION OF SYMBIONTIC ZOOXANTHELLAE BY HOST AMOEBOCYTES IN GIANT CLAMS (BIVALVIA:TRIDACNIDAE), WITH A NOTE ON THE NUTRITIONAL ROLE OF THE HYPERTROPHIED SIPHONAL EPIDERMIS

 

 

 

If you actually read what has been quoted, you'll notice that tridacna at any stage will nutritionally benefit from the absorption of particulate matter.

 

Sure they can, however they can only get about 8% or less of their daily carbon energy needs from particulate matter. Whereas with photosynthesis they can get 200% to 400% of their daily carbon energy needs. The raw nutrients in the water are all they need to sustain themselves. I covered this in what i wrote with links to research papers to prove it.

 

Clams process bacteria, and zooplankton (phyto) by stripping it of N & P, but whether this happens in the gills or mantle is an absolutely ridiculous argument.

 

First zooplankton are not phyto. Zooplankton are animals, think rotifers, krill ect... Phytoplankton is algae, big difference.

 

but whether this happens in the gills or mantle is an absolutely ridiculous argument.

 

You clearly dont understand the animal or the argument. When clams gain nutrients from particulate matter they digest it in the stomach, not the gills or the mantle. What happens in the mantle is the zooxanthella photosynthesizes with the N&P the clam provides to them from the surrounding water and produce sugars which the clam then uses for food. I covered this in what i wrote with links to research papers to prove it.

 

 

 

These bivalves have evolved to have a full digestive tract for a reason.

 

They use it alright. They need to process the food(sugar) given to them buy there symbiotic zooxanthella. I covered this in what i wrote with links to research papers to prove it.

 

See here (notice this data is not more than 70 years old):

 

"After the food is conveyed to the mouth it is swallowed in a strand of mucus and transported to the stomach where it is mixed with some enzymes. Although some digestion occurs in the stomach, most digestion occurs in a pair of large digestive glands located on either side of the stomach. The food enters these glands through small pores in the sides of the stomach wall. After digestion, undigestible residue is expelled from the digestive glands and sent back to the stomach. From here it goes to the intestine where it is compacted into feces and expelled from the gut. There is no musculature around the gut except in the region of the intestine, which typically passes through the heart. The only large and evident muscles in the body of the clam are generally located on either side of the foot. These muscles, called adductors are used to pull the shell shut. There is much diversity in the position of these muscles, but most bivalves have two, one near the mouth and the other near the anus (Salvini-Plawen, 1988; Morse and Zardus, 1997). "

 

This above quote shows nothing except clams can make poo

 

He goes on to base a theory from something not being mentioned in an article on a study of the anatomy and histology of giant clam by dissection, basically stating that the anatomy of a 20 day old tridacna is exactly the same as that of a mature tridacna. That's preposterous!

 

Preposterous? Hardly. Your also miss quoting me. Heres what i say

 

"So this paper states that with in 20 days the ZTS is developed and the symbiosis is established."

 

Quite a bit different then

 

basically stating that the anatomy of a 20 day old tridacna is exactly the same as that of a mature tridacna.

 

The above statement was made to show that the claim that small clams (very small in this case) cant support them selves through photosynthesis alone and that that reason is because their ZTS (zooxanthella tubular system) is not fully developed is total BS.

 

They have a fully functional symbiosis with their zooxanthella and the ZTS is also fully developed and functional at 20 days, cant dispute that . I covered this in what i wrote with links to research papers to prove it.

 

 

basically stating that the anatomy of a 20 day old tridacna is exactly the same as that of a mature tridacna.

 

 

I quoted this again because... Anywhere from 8 days to 29 days after fertilization clam larva go through metamorphosis and when this is complete they are essentially exactly the same as adults except reproductive changes that happen later in life.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Still have more to post but the forum is not letting me

[chris&barb]

Forum is letting me post again so heres the remainder of what i wanted to post

 

Here's another relevant and current piece of information:

 

"Additionally, all of the tridacnids are suspension-feeding animals and there have been a couple of recent references indicating that feeding of the clam is necessary for good growth and health of the zooxanthellae, which in turn benefits the clam (Klumpp and Griffiths 1994; Klumpp, and Lucas, 1994; Hoegh-Guldberg, 1996; Knop, 1996). In culture situations, the sea water containing the clams is enriched with both nitrate and phosphate based fertilizer. As a result of this, good water, and lots of sunlight the clams grow very rapidly. In the average reef aquarium, phosphates and nitrates are minimized and the light really isn't that intense. To gain the necessary materials for good health, the clams must feed. In nature these clams seem to feed primarily on unicellular green algae and bacteria, so it will benefit the clams for green water (a culture of unicellular green algae) to be added frequently to the system."

 

Your above quote is from here http://www.reefs.org/library/aquarium_net/0597/0597_1.html written by Dr.Shimek and he is the reason i wrote this in the first place. Shimek was commissioned by a company that grows and sells phytoplankton to write an article on the necessity of phyto for clams. The article he wrote for DT's and this one (in regard's to Tridacna) are incorrect and tailored to make it look like if you dont feed small clams phyto they will die. I covered this in what i wrote with links to research papers to prove it.

 

 

 

Heres a quote from From klumpp and lucas 94

 

"It is now established that photosynthates fixed by symbiotic zooxanthellae are able to provide sufficient energy to cover at least the metabolic needs of Tridacna gigas (Fisher et al. 1985, Mingoa 1988, Klumpp et al. 1992), T squamosa (Trench et al. 1981), T. derasa and T. tevoroa (Klumpp & Lucas 1994 "

 

And from klumpp, griffiths 94

 

"The absolute amounts of carbon trans located daily by the zooxanthellae to the host (TP in Table 4) follow similar patterns of variation with size and species of clam described for P, That IS, in the smaller size categories (0 1 to 10 g tissue weight) Trldacna gigas has a considerable nutritional advantage over the other 3 species, gaining 2 to 20 times more energy in the form of photosynthates TP was similar in the 3 species which attain 100 g In all 4 species and size categories of clam TP was well in excess of host respiratory needs (RH in Table 4) Calculation of the percent contribution of zooxanthellae to the host's daily carbon requirements for routine respiration (l e CZAR = (TPIRH)lOO)a, s given in Table 4 shows that symbiotic algae were capable of providing 2 to 4 times more carbon than required by the host for respiration CZAR increased with clam size in all species, except in H hippopus, which had a comparatively high and more constant CZAR of -340% The lowest CZAR value was 186 % in the smallest T squamosa"

 

 

 

Go back and reread what i wrote. It absolutely dispels and disproves the myth that small clams " need" to be feed.

[basser1]

WELCOME Chris to Nano-Reef!! For those of you who may not know who Chris&Barb is, they are mods for ReefAquariumForums. This is the forum that was clamdirect. Very knowlegeable on anything related to clams. I feel "honored" to have him post info here and hope he does more!

 

BTW, I actually started a thread about feeding clams, but it disappeared when the web-site mysteriously crashed. I had made links to your write-up.

[chris&barb]

Thanks for the welcome Basser

 

No need to feel honored, im just a reef dork like everyone else

[FiReBrEaThInGCuTtLeFiSh!XD]

Thank you so much for the article, I've read through the first page and plan on printing the rest out as a bedside reading. I personally can't wait for my tank to become established enough for a maxima/corcea. You ought to write up the Ultimate Clam Husbandry Guide to be stickied for all to read

[Marteen]

I'm pretty sure the OP said this clam was dead. But did not elaborate on it, although we'll never know for sure since the great data loss of 2009.

[Reefer Al]

Hahaha or you could just ask lol

 

I had no idea that this site crashed until just now.

 

I tried to log on a few days ago.. couldn't

 

Then mysteriously could and my post was gone!!

 

It read:

 

"Yeah... It died."

[Rockfish]

Hahaha or you could just ask lol

 

I had no idea that this site crashed until just now.

 

I tried to log on a few days ago.. couldn't

 

Then mysteriously could and my post was gone!!

 

It read:

 

"Yeah... It died."

 

bummer dude.....sorry about that