Hannah’s tank journal

[Hannahhhh]

15 hours ago, Amphrites said:

Long as it isn't touching it should be fine, no guarantees though, some have their maximas surrounded by and touching euphyllia, others get stung by zoas or other softies /shrug. I actually meant put it on a piece of rubble, you don't want it to attach directly to your rockwork in case you ever need to brush, dip, etc.

I was thinking about putting it on a small rock and then potentially gluing that rock to my rock work. I figure I can always pry off the smaller rock without upsetting the clam if need be. I also might leave the smaller rock on the sand bed though, if the clam seems happy with the amount of light it is receiving. 

[A.m.P]

These are also a thing
Mine jumped into a hole in my rockwork and attached overnight so I never had a choice in the matter...

[Hannahhhh]

Wanna hear something crazy guys? The Green Bay packers zoas that I ordered from live aquaria came on a huge oyster/clam/something alive. I got them from divers den and they were listed as coming on a piece of rock/rubble. Honestly I’m not surprised that the folks at live aquaria didn’t realize it was an oyster not a rock, since it took me over a week to figure it out in my own tank. Having an oyster in my tank should be beneficial, right?  

Ill post some pictures soon. 

[A.m.P]

I have no idea, it should help keep the water clean, but it would depend on the species I imagine, people keep those flame scallops but supposedly they're incredibly difficult to keep alive. Maybe your oyster will be easier? I sure hope so, in any case that's insanely unique!

[Ratvan]

I think the type of Oyster will determine this for you

Some are notoriously difficult to keep 

Cant wait to see the photo though

 

[Hannahhhh]

9 minutes ago, Amphrites said:

I have no idea, it should help keep the water clean, but it would depend on the species I imagine, people keep those flame scallops but supposedly they're incredibly difficult to keep alive. Maybe your oyster will be easier? I sure hope so, in any case that's insanely unique!

 

1 minute ago, Ratvan said:

I think the type of Oyster will determine this for you

Some are notoriously difficult to keep 

Cant wait to see the photo though

 

I’m super glad I figured it out, in such a small tank I imagine it would cause a lot of problems if it died and I didn’t remove it. I’ll go take a video now. The only thing is it’s pretty hard to recognize that it’s actually an oyster, it took me ages to figure it out and I spend more time than I care to admit just staring at my tank. 

[Ratvan]

Well you could go all in and try and cultivate an Oyster Filtration system to recycle the waste water from your tank?

 

[Hannahhhh]

3 minutes ago, Ratvan said:

Well you could go all in and try and cultivate an Oyster Filtration system to recycle the waste water from your tank?

 

Oh gosh, I hope they don’t need such a dirty tank to survive!

[Hannahhhh]

It’s kind of hard to see that it’s an oyster. If anyone has any idea what type it is (or if it even is an oyster) I’d love to hear!

[billygoat]

My understanding is that oysters prefer cooler, nutrient-rich water and would not normally be found in a tropical setting, so it's probably not the type that likes the dirty water you see in the video above. Looks like maybe it's a turkey wing clam? I imagine it shouldn't be too hard to keep alive; I've had numerous similar bivalves living in my system since the very beginning (though admittedly nothing that large), and they seem to do just fine filtering the water. Like you, I didn't even realize that many of them were live animals until they had already been in my tank for many months! 😅 If you turkey baste your rocks regularly that will probably go a long way towards keeping the clam happy.

[748S911]

Cool clam/oyster, you should be fine with it in there.  I would just check on it from time to time to make sure its still alive. 

[A.m.P]

2 minutes ago, 748S911 said:

Cool clam/oyster, you should be fine with it in there.  I would just check on it from time to time to make sure its still alive. 

From the video I honestly can't tell whether it's alive or not already XD So many zoas on it, that's incredible.
Oh and you have a very grumpy clownfish there lol... My little springers damsel hides in the rockwork every time I'm in the tank, pouts and sulks for hours afterwards too.

[748S911]

Yeah I was gonna say maybe you can slice thru some zoas so she can breathe lol. 😂 

[Ratvan]

I'd be tempted to direct feed it and see what happens

[NaturallyKait]

That’s really cool! 

[Hannahhhh]

11 minutes ago, Amphrites said:

From the video I honestly can't tell whether it's alive or not already XD So many zoas on it, that's incredible.
Oh and you have a very grumpy clownfish there lol... My little springers damsel hides in the rockwork every time I'm in the tank, pouts and sulks for hours afterwards too.

It’s definitely alive, I periodically see it open and shut.

I agree, so so many zoas. I only wish that I liked that type of zoa more lol. 

And yes, my clownfish is kinda the worst. She tiny but vicious, she bites the crap out of my hand every time I put my hand in. She even jumps at me when I open the top of my tank. 

9 minutes ago, Ratvan said:

I'd be tempted to direct feed it and see what happens

That’s a great idea. I’ll give it some reef roids the next time I feed my tube coral and my coco worm. 

[Hannahhhh]

13 minutes ago, 748S911 said:

Yeah I was gonna say maybe you can slice thru some zoas so she can breathe lol. 😂 

I’ve never actually removed zoas. Is it possible to remove them without killing them? Can I just glue them to a plug after?

[Hannahhhh]

27 minutes ago, billygoat said:

My understanding is that oysters prefer cooler, nutrient-rich water and would not normally be found in a tropical setting, so it's probably not the type that likes the dirty water you see in the video above. Looks like maybe it's a turkey wing clam? I imagine it shouldn't be too hard to keep alive; I've had numerous similar bivalves living in my system since the very beginning (though admittedly nothing that large), and they seem to do just fine filtering the water. Like you, I didn't even realize that many of them were live animals until they had already been in my tank for many months! 😅 If you turkey baste your rocks regularly that will probably go a long way towards keeping the clam happy.

I blast my rocks pretty regularly so that’s good. I assume it will eat reef roids like my coco worm and tube coral. They’re both doing fine in my tank so hopefully it will too!

[Ratvan]

Just now, Hannahhhh said:

I’ve never actually removed zoas. Is it possible to remove them without killing them? Can I just glue them to a plug after?

Yeah they are fairly hardy. Don't do it in the tank though. Gets very messy. 

I'd try and get a razor blade between the shell and the Zoa foot, they should be on some sort of mat.

Yeah glue to plug, rock, empty bivalve shell whatever 

[billygoat]

3 minutes ago, Hannahhhh said:

I’ve never actually removed zoas. Is it possible to remove them without killing them? Can I just glue them to a plug after?

It is possible to remove zoas, but you should be very careful when you are doing this because zoanthids and palythoa produce one of the most dangerous organic compounds on the planet (palytoxin) in their mucus. It is extremely harmful if ingested or if you get it into your eyes/nose/etc., so take caution and don some protective equipment before you go slicing up your zoas. 😅

 

Can certainly be done though! They have amazing regenerative capabilities and should reattach to whatever you put them on fairly quickly.

 

As for the clam, it should be totally fine with whatever is growing on its shell as long as it still has enough space to get its siphons through the shell opening. If you can see the siphons, that means everything is peachy.

[Hannahhhh]

3 minutes ago, billygoat said:

It is possible to remove zoas, but you should be very careful when you are doing this because zoanthids and palythoa produce one of the most dangerous organic compounds on the planet (palytoxin) in their mucus. It is extremely harmful if ingested or if you get it into your eyes/nose/etc., so take caution and don some protective equipment before you go slicing up your zoas. 😅

 

Can certainly be done though! They have amazing regenerative capabilities and should reattach to whatever you put them on fairly quickly.

 

As for the clam, it should be totally fine with whatever is growing on its shell as long as it still has enough space to get its siphons through the shell opening. If you can see the siphons, that means everything is peachy.

Ok sounds good, thanks for that advice! I can see siphons, but I wouldn’t mind taking off some of the zoas anyway. There are just so many on there that it makes it hard for me to place the clam anywhere without burying some of the zoas. I was thinking of trying to trade some of them with my LFS

[748S911]

14 minutes ago, Hannahhhh said:

I’ve never actually removed zoas. Is it possible to remove them without killing them? Can I just glue them to a plug after?

Yeah, just wear gloves and glasses.  Once zoas are out of water just slice and sometimes you can even peel them off rock. 

[748S911]

 

[Hannahhhh]

2 minutes ago, 748S911 said:

Yeah, just wear gloves and glasses.  Once zoas are out of water just slice and sometimes you can even peel them off rock. 

 

1 minute ago, 748S911 said:

 

Thanks!!

Also if any of you live near Boston and want some free Green Bay packers zoas, hit me up!

[Hannahhhh]

@billygoat @748S911 @Amphrites @Ratvan or anyone else, does anyone know how long an oyster/clam/bivalve can be out of the water? Im all set up for fragging the zoas and then I went to pull the clam out and realized I have no idea if exposure to the air will kill the clam!