Just joined the clam crazy

[pineo]

I understand what you are saying, but a clam’s mantle is thicker when it gets older. The additional mass supports an increased population of zooxanthellae, which might indicate that it relies more heavily on its mantle when it is larger. I understand what you are saying, but I think relies on a false assumption that an organism's body (if you will) grows in perfect proportion with itself.

[Rockfish]

Right, I have questioned that logic myself, but a clam's mantle becomes thicker as the clam ages, this allows for more room for zooxanthellae to live. That could be a factor that makes a difference. I understand what you are saying, but I think relies on a false assumption that an organism's body (if you will) grows in perfect proportion with itself.

 

 

 

well in science you learn that nothing is perfect and certainly even some aspects of the human body don't grow in perfect proportion with itself

 

and it is in fact true that the clams mantle system does grow thicker as it gets more mature and at a very young stage of it's life the zooxanthellae are some what depleted or less than a clam that would be lets say 3 or 4 inches in size BUT you have to assume that (in theory of course) that this would be more than adequate for a clam of that size and the mantle system also thickens quite rapidly even with two clams that are 1 inch and 2 inches

 

I myself have raised clams from as small as 1 inch and have never fed them

 

the survival rates from those clams that I did house myself (there were 5) was 4 to 1

 

now again this is NOT an exact science and i'm not trying to disprove what you are saying BUT this sparks my interest in experimentation and i think i will get something together in a stable environment and do a bit of research of my own!!

[pineo]

I've had great growth from my small crocea and did no feeding, had it for about a year and its grown from 2'' to 3''. Since I got some small maximas, i've been feeding in small amount, 2 small cubes of plankton a week. I don't know if it will make a difference. I simply look for new growth at the time of clam's shell to determine health and so far I'm seeing growth on all clams.