New Clam Pics

[Sahin]

Yesterday I took a 30mile trip down in STM in Kent. I saw this clam and just had to buy it. It cost me £70 ($112 US) so its a good price. Its a large specimen as well; at 4inches by 3.5inches high. The colours range from deep blue to a greenish-blue with very pretty reddish-gold.

This is my new Crocea Clam:

This picture does not do the true colours justice, nor does it show up the gold colour as good as it is in real life.

 

Here is a shot of the two clams, some green centered button polyps, brain coral and a bit of the candycane coral all together.

 

 

My maxima clam: This one is just about 2inches, so is still a baby.

 

My Crocea clam: the Blue metallic lines and dots are BEAUTIFUL in real life.

 

And finaly, a picture of section of tank with all the clams:

 

Hope you liked the clams.

[NaNO ReeFiN]

Daayyyuuuuuum!! Those are freakin' nice!! Very cool Sahin!!

[printerdown01]

AWESOME! Those are some of the most beautiful clams I have EVER seen!!!!

[Metznreef]

i can't say this about many tripple digit$ aquarium inhabitants but that clam really is worth every penny.

[NanoReefer53]

gee willy ! those are nice. darn u europeans along with the japs. all the wholesalers usually ship to u guys before comming to the US

[Sahin]

Thanks. I hope he does well, the other ones are doing fine and this new clam is the center piece of my tank.

 

Now I only need a brown coloured clam

to complete my collection. hehehe

[UofAHog]

First off I love your clams. That crocea is the best specimin I have ever seen. The coloration is wonderful.

 

On the other side of the coin what lights you have. Is the info on your web page correct? Crocea are the most demanding clams when it comes to lights I believe. From all acounts I have read it is nearly impossibe to keep them alive much less thriving without the intensity of MH. Sorry to seem like the bad guy but I was just curious if your lights had changed.

 

Beautiful clams.

[Sahin]

UofAHog: No lighting is still the new T5 type recently available here in the UK.

 

There are many who are keeping clams and SPS under this type of lighting. The Germans started off more than a year ago, and now the technology is available here in the UK to reef hobbyists.

 

The LFS I bought it from kept the clam under T5, so its the same in my tank.

 

I wouldnt have spent the money if I had not known that others were having success with this type of lighting.

 

So far the clam is doing well, no signs of gaping of stretching for more light etc

 

I plan to move the clam up higher slowly as I have done with the other clam. The small Maxima is still on the sand bed as its too young (under 2inches).

 

And no I dont think you are the bad guy. Such questioning is totally acceptable--especially when it concerns living creatures.

 

I will keep you posted as regards to the growth. The 3inch Crocea is growing superbly in the time I have had it, there is new shells growth so thats doing alright.

 

Thanks for your comments.

[tinyreef]

verrry niiice! colorations are great!

 

do they flouresce more under the T5's than the NO's you had before? i was wondering about the 20000K 'actinics' (starcoat or whatchamacallits), are they better actinic emitters, the same, or less?

[Sahin]

Hi Tinyreef, the corals do infact flouresce more under the T5's. The 20K tube is said to be really good by many top UK reefers.

 

After I put the T5's the plate coral, brain coral and one of my unkown LPS corals didnt open up full for many days.

The brain coral has now adjusted, but the plate still doesnt open up full. The lighting is too much for these corals.

 

But the lighting does definately make the coral colours look much better.

 

I am also supplementing with the Actinic as the 6.5K tube is really bright, and overpowering so the 20K and the Actinic together with the 6.5K tube give a nice crisp white appearance with corals flourcesing much more.

 

Oh the 20K is a Narva tube, not starcoat. The 6.5K is a Starcoat.

 

Hope fully aquarium lighting manufacturers will be releasing even better tubes with proper colour spectrums for aquarium use.

I have heard Arcadia are planning something.

[Gilman]

OH MY!

BEAUTIFUL clams Sahin. The pattern on your new Crocea is absolutely amazing. :love: I also really like the blue lines and dots on the other Crocea.

 

Thanks for sharing and keep up the good work,

 

Gil

[reefitis]

<------- in aww...very nice sahin

[tommy]

Awesome-I want a small clam now!!!

[quiksilver5768]

Hey Sahin,

Very nice looking clams! I was wondering, how do those T5's compare to PC's...are they more powerful, about the same, or less powerful? For some reason, my 2 x 55 watt bulbs on my 20 gal dont seem to look as bright as your T5's on your 24gal. Maybe its the pic, but I dunno...I've always wanted to keep a clam but always thought they were too hard...maybe I'll try it soon...

[NanoReefer53]

quiksilver, u can try squamosa clams under that kind of lighting. T5's from what I hear are stronger than VHO's. Reason, because it's more energy being shot into a smaller space full of phosphors so therefore giving the phosphors more power.

[tommy]

Do you think I could keep a small clam in my eclipse 6 with a 32w smartlite???? I mean something that would stay small for a while, I don't want it to die from lack of space!

[NanoReefer53]

Small clams require feedings rather than intense lighting until they are about 3" long. 32w over a 6g would be nice for a squamosa clam, just remeber to feed him with phytoplankton like DT's. You can do this by puting him in a separate container with tank water and let him sit in there with a small concentration of DT's. Let him eat for a while then back to the tank he goes. This way you'll also get a lot of water changes in since u don't want to put the water back in the tank.

[tommy]

Good Idea!!! But how often do I have to feed? I dont want to do water changes everyday!

[Bocephous]

your clams are awesome man. I can't wait to set up my 20gallon now so I can get one.

 

How do you go about feeding them Sahin? You do it like Nano Reefer 53 suggested?

 

I have 10g with 72w PC, if it's not too hard to feed one and keep it happy i might try one.

[Sahin]

Thanks.

 

I dont actually feed the clams.

I do dose Kents Mircovert, but I think this stuff is useless for clams anyway.

Cant find DT's over here. There isnt an equivalent brand in the UK either. ???

 

The two larger clams are over 3inches so they dont need feeding anyway, but the 2inch Maxima does probably need feeding. However I am think there is enough nitrates for it to use as well as maybe perhaps light. I am thinking about getting live phyto soon anyway.

[Paul G]

As already said, beautiful clams and beautiful tank

 

I'm no expert on clams and only going on what I've read, and I don't doubt that you have too judging by the way you have gone about setting your tank up. But I would second your comment about feeding your smallest clam and either culture your own phytoplankton or buy some (from STM maybe). Your comment about nitrates is kind of true IMO, but isn't it the zooxanthellae that use nitrate and the clam feeds from the zooxanthellae - and that's the problem, small clams aren't regarded as having enough zooxanthellae (or the by-products from) to feed from.

 

JMO though,

[Sahin]

Thanks.

 

Yes, I quite agree with your last comment, it sure makes sense to me now that I think about it. Thanks for pointing that out to me.