ratched Posted August 2, 2004 Share Posted August 2, 2004 Hello. A few months ago purchaseda very small maxima. Less than 12 hrs. later I woke up to find my hermit crab Finishing him off for breakfast. Are small hermit crabs predators? My LFS says no, it probably died first. Would like to try another, but I am hesitant because of this. I have 3 hermits one is an electric blue,2 two others of unknown name.All are pretty small. Was it because the clam was so small? ( 2 in. about ). By the way, they get plenty to eat as I tend to overfeed. Thanks for the help. Link to comment
nano-nemo Posted August 2, 2004 Share Posted August 2, 2004 i think it died, as my clam is unbothered by the crabs Link to comment
xien2000corp Posted August 2, 2004 Share Posted August 2, 2004 overfeeding can be a very bad thing for clams because it puts too many nutrients into the tank. clams really should only be kept by expert aquarists but they are so often sold to the less experienced. the thing about clams is you need to do major research and find the one best suited for your system. for instance, if you only have pc's you will want to limit your selection to either squamosa or derasa, when upgrades to metal halides you may think about croceas and some blander looking maximas. the "ultra" maximas need an intense amount of light and pristine water conditions to live. your hermits did not kill your clam. that is a major issue i have been seeing that many aquarists are blaming their hermits on killing their other inhabitants, if you have reef safe hermits like blue legs, scarlets, and electrics they are all scavengers and will only kill when they need to(ie they are hungry or they need to upgrade to a larger shell and kill snails for them) my advice would be to do much more research before thinking of buying another clam. chances are there is something that isnt sufficient in your setup that killed it(skimming, lighting, water quality, etc.) make sure ALL of these and MORE are set straight and figure out what needs to be done rather than buy another clam for it to potentially have the same fate as your last one. hth, steve Link to comment
ratched Posted August 4, 2004 Author Share Posted August 4, 2004 Thank you for your advice. My tank is almost a year old. No water quality issues. i run a skimmer 24/7 and have 250 w MH on a 18H tank. amm - o nitrite - 0 nitrate 5 sp. gr. -1.025 T- 79- 80. alk - 10.2 ca- 420 What else should I be looking at b/4 I consider another clam? I have had no problems otherwise with my inhabitants. ( mushrooms, LPS, etc. ) Water changes 10% every 7-10 days. It was only in my tank for 12 hrs...Appreciate the help. Link to comment
xien2000corp Posted August 4, 2004 Share Posted August 4, 2004 check the facilities from where you bought it. clams are one of those purchases you want to watch and see how it does in the lfs tank for a few days before buying it. the clam may have been too stressed and the lfs may have not properly cared for it. youll definitely always want to be on the look out for the pyramid snails that will kill clams, they live on the mantle and are quite small to the naked eye. other than that your setup sounds like a perfect system for a clam. oh, get those 2 unidentified hermits you have identified before anything else. you may have some sort of killer, most hermits sold in the hobby are reef safe like the electrics, blue legs, and scarlets but sometimes lfs can mismark them and give you fish killers. 0_o -steve Link to comment
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