Drew's 10 Gallon Softie Tank

[dferrari13]

Current water parameters:

 

Sal 1.026

Mg 1300 

Ca 410

Kh 8.0

Ph 8.4

Nitrates 2

Phos .25

 

I'd like to get the magnesium and calcium levels slightly higher... especially since I will be adding a clam, so the next batch of kalk+2 ATO water will be a slight bit stronger.

[dferrari13]

It's about 1 p.m. and the tank is just waking up, I've cleared a small portion of the tank for the clam and he will sit on the sand bed in the front, right side. Now I just need to find a small flat rock for the clam to sit and hopefully attach itself.

 

 

[Cannedfish]

2 hours ago, dferrari13 said:

It's about 1 p.m. and the tank is just waking up, I've cleared a small portion of the tank for the clam and he will sit on the sand bed in the front, right side. Now I just need to find a small flat rock for the clam to sit and hopefully attach itself.

 

 

Marine depot sells a clam holder that works really well with small clams, I had my attached to a rock at first but was super happy when I got it to switch to the 'clam dish.' Just a suggestion.  

[WV Reefer]

Things look great!

 

 Don’t be too worried about the clam.  I was a freak when I got mine..... checking on it at all hours of the night! 😂

[dferrari13]

2 hours ago, WV Reefer said:

Things look great!

 

 Don’t be too worried about the clam.  I was a freak when I got mine..... checking on it at all hours of the night! 😂

Any words of wisdom? Anything else you would do differently? I think I'm gunna spot feed phytoplankton until it's over 3 inches.

[dferrari13]

I hope to place the clam on this rock....hopefully he cooperates and attaches to it...

 

 

[WV Reefer]

7 minutes ago, dferrari13 said:

Any words of wisdom? Anything else you would do differently? I think I'm gunna spot feed phytoplankton until it's over 3 inches.

Not really. 😃

 

mine was a bit larger so I didn’t feed it......Plus with my “dirty” tank I was confident it had food.  

[teenyreef]

Good luck with the clam! I've never tried a clam because I've never felt like my tanks were stable enough. Someday I guess, but until then I'll live vicariously through you 🙂

[dferrari13]

Okay so I ordered a blue turquoise Maxima clam from LiveAquaria and it has arrived. It's so freaking tiny that it will be a miracle if this thing survives. I also ordered a bottle of phytoplankton and it is on the way. So I will be spot feeding this clam phytoplankton maybe 3 times a week. I've also set my kessil a160 to acclimation mode just in case, a lot of information out there has told me that they should be acclimated slowly to the light you have. 

 

So of course since the clam is new to the tank every hermit crab, fish and snail has to come look at it so I fear they will knock it over tonight while I'm sleeping. It came with a small rock attached to its byssal threads... so I applied a tiny bit of Superglue to that rock and glued it down to the rock I buried into the sand so hopefully that keeps it somewhat stable. 

 

 

 

[dferrari13]

🤞🤞🤞

[dferrari13]

I did a combination of float acclimation and also drip acclimation. I fully inspected the shell and didn't find any snails or hitchhiking pests. So far so good. It's also slightly optimistic that it came attached to a small piece of rock, cause the last one I had did not come with anything attached and I have read numerous places that experts won't buy a clam unless it's attached to something.

[A Little Blue]

3 minutes ago, dferrari13 said:

I did a combination of float acclimation and also drip acclimation. I fully inspected the shell and didn't find any snails or hitchhiking pests. So far so good. It's also slightly optimistic that it came attached to a small piece of rock, cause the last one I had did not come with anything attached and I have read numerous places that experts won't buy a clam unless it's attached to something.

I didn'thave much luck with tinny clams. Even though I wouldn't mind having one in my tank, I'm trying to improve my killing avarage by staying away from things that hate my tank. Good luck. 

[WV Reefer]

1 hour ago, dferrari13 said:

Okay so I ordered a blue turquoise Maxima clam from LiveAquaria and it has arrived. It's so freaking tiny that it will be a miracle if this thing survives. I also ordered a bottle of phytoplankton and it is on the way. So I will be spot feeding this clam phytoplankton maybe 3 times a week. I've also set my kessil a160 to acclimation mode just in case, a lot of information out there has told me that they should be acclimated slowly to the light you have. 

 

So of course since the clam is new to the tank every hermit crab, fish and snail has to come look at it so I fear they will knock it over tonight while I'm sleeping. It came with a small rock attached to its byssal threads... so I applied a tiny bit of Superglue to that rock and glued it down to the rock I buried into the sand so hopefully that keeps it somewhat stable. 

 

 

 

 

Its soooo cute and tiny! 😍

[dferrari13]

15 minutes ago, WV Reefer said:

 

Its soooo cute and tiny! 😍

I know right!! Oh god I just know I'm gunna lose him...I'm trying so hard not to get attached. Lol

[dferrari13]

I had to surround the clam with rocks and rubble, a hermit tipped it over before and I'm worried it will hurt its byssal thread.

 

 

[dferrari13]

New Maxima Clam

 

 

 

 

Random Kenya tree/ rhodactis frag on the side of my tank

 

 

 

Yellow Fiji Leather refuses to die, come back little buddy!

 

 

 

[dferrari13]

If this little baby clam doesnt work out... I will eventually have to drop 150-200 bucks on a good size 3 inch clam.....but let's hope it doesnt come to that.

[dferrari13]

Well so far the clam has survived the first night. I thought for sure I would wake up in the morning to a massacre of bristle worms snails and hermit crab destroying my clam....but so far so good.

[mtgmichaelg]

That's awesome. So how big is it right now? Like one inch? Also how do you spot feed a clam? Like a coral i'm guessing? 

[dferrari13]

23 minutes ago, mtgmichaelg said:

That's awesome. So how big is it right now? Like one inch? Also how do you spot feed a clam? Like a coral i'm guessing? 

Yeah he's super small he's about inch and a quarter long.... and I will probably spot feed him phytoplankton using a turkey baster I'll turn off all the pumps and make the water super calm and slowly squirt him..... the only problem with that idea is every living creature in the tank will then surround the clam, looking for phytoplankton. This is going to be challenging to say the least. Everyone says you cannot have a clam in a 10 gallon tank, but I'm taking a shot.

[specore]

Good luck to ya.   I am way too chicken to try a clam myself 🙂

[A Little Blue]

Just over an inch? Ohh boy, get ready for a bumpy ride. I just hope your tank is mature enough. If it is, you have a good chance with her. Feeding consists of most energy clams get at this stage. Mature clams get most of that energy from the light. But I am sure you already knew that. 

[dferrari13]

Night two went well and no one tried to kill him. Phytoplankton is due to arrive today, so we will see how feeding goes. Updates to come.

 

P.s. Thanks to all following along. 34,000 views and going strong!!

[dferrari13]

On 9/13/2018 at 12:54 PM, A Little Blue said:

Just over an inch? Ohh boy, get ready for a bumpy ride. I just hope your tank is mature enough. If it is, you have a good chance with her. Feeding consists of most energy clams get at this stage. Mature clams get most of that energy from the light. But I am sure you already knew that. 

I am only about four years into the hobby so I'm not sure how to tell if my tank is 100% mature yet but things have seemed stable especially since dosing kalkwasser in my auto top off. The tank has maintained proper pH, alkalinity and calcium for a long time now... SPS corals seem to be flourishing, and encrusting on to my rock. Seems mature to me. But I guess that's a good question to everybody that's reading this. What makes a tank a truly mature tank? Thoughts...

[dferrari13]

 

Clam update.....when feeding phytoplex (by kent marine) today, the clam did react alot and "pumped" as I fed it, so that's seems to be a good sign from what I've read. I am determined to keep this little clam alive!!! Lol