A clam to complete my reef tank

[Donovan Joannes]

At last I found a good size local giant clam for my tank. Bought it for USD10 (5") and doing good so far. Should thrive in my tank as I stir my sump every hour keeping all the goodness in there suspended and feeds the whole tank.

 

[jda]

Squamosa is a fantastic clam. Well done. $100 USD is a good price for a large, healthy specimen, so yours is 10x as good since it was 10x as cheap.

The clam can get all of the nutrition that it needs from the light, assuming that you have a lot of light. You don't need to stir the sump to feed it - there is no guarantee that it will be able to feed on the stuff anyway, the particle size might not be right and most of what is in the sump is devoid of any carbon or other nutrient sources or else the bacteria would have gotten to them already. The clam can also feed on some ammonia and other water-borne organics before they enter the N cycle.

 

[DeniseAndy]

Nice clam. It will grow fast. Mine went from a 2-3" baby to a 10-12" monster in less than 2 years. Then a darn reef safe giant red foot snail ate it. I was not too pleased and it got banished to sump where it dies since clam was off the plate.

 

[DSC reef]

That's a beautiful squamosa, congrats. Nothing sets off a reef tank like a clam IMO

 

[Donovan Joannes]

Squamosa is a fantastic clam. Well done. $100 USD is a good price for a large, healthy specimen, so yours is 10x as good since it was 10x as cheap.

The clam can get all of the nutrition that it needs from the light, assuming that you have a lot of light. You don't need to stir the sump to feed it - there is no guarantee that it will be able to feed on the stuff anyway, the particle size might not be right and most of what is in the sump is devoid of any carbon or other nutrient sources or else the bacteria would have gotten to them already. The clam can also feed on some ammonia and other water-borne organics before they enter the N cycle.

Thanks for the info sir. I have been stirring my sump ever since I remove my mechanical filter. I do broadcast feed my tank with nutri cell filter feeders powder for my gonios, carnation, sun corals and live oysters for many months now. I can't keep clam alive last time due to fish bullying. That fish was dead after walloping a chunk of gel glue a month ago.

 

[Donovan Joannes]

Nice clam. It will grow fast. Mine went from a 2-3" baby to a 10-12" monster in less than 2 years. Then a darn reef safe giant red foot snail ate it. I was not too pleased and it got banished to sump where it dies since clam was off the plate.

Wow, never heard clam eater snail other than pyramid snail. Hopefully this beauty will grow into giant.

 

[Donovan Joannes]

That's a beautiful squamosa, congrats. Nothing sets off a reef tank like a clam IMO

Same here. Has been very patiently waited for this moment. Really fond of blue mantle clam but brown should be hardier I heard.

 

[DSC reef]

Squamosa tends to be a hardy clam. Ours grew from 3" to 12" in 5 years or close to it. Pyramid snails wiped out our entire collection.

 

[Lovemyreef2015]

That's a beautiful Squamosa! Makes me miss ours.

 

[Noahs Home Zoo]

It seems the moral of this story is that if I want clams there will be NO snails....

 

[Mark Gray]

Wow looks great, and nice price

 

[Yuki Rihwa]

It seems the moral of this story is that if I want clams there will be NO snails....

Well, old snails that already in your system are safe lol
Just don't buy new snails or anything that a snail can ride along without noticed and add to your system and for that reason I don't buy snail anymore instead I look for small sea hare to do algae clean up, it's better than snails most of the time IMO.

 

[Donovan Joannes]

Squamosa tends to be a hardy clam. Ours grew from 3" to 12" in 5 years or close to it. Pyramid snails wiped out our entire collection.

I brushed the whole outer shell at LFS before I asked them to pack. Don't take a risk bringing home pyramid snails.

 

[Donovan Joannes]

Well, old snails that already in your system are safe lol
Just don't buy new snails or anything that a snail can ride along without noticed and add to your system and for that reason I don't buy snail anymore instead I look for small sea hare to do algae clean up, it's better than snails most of the time IMO.

I brushed the whole outer shell. Who knows what is in it without magnifying glass.

 

[Yuki Rihwa]

I brushed the whole outer shell. Who knows what is in it without magnifying glass.

I do use magnifying glass to inspect my clam mostly for pyramid snail and snail eggs, then I brushed the whole outer shell before I place it in my tank. Of course there are thing you can't see even under our normal magnifying glass like Aiptasia, tube worm, tiny feather duster worm hid under deep scutes but those thing don't kill my clams

 

[Donovan Joannes]

New look with clam centre piece

 

[Rip Van Winkle]

Really nice Squamosa.
On the subject of predators, there's other clam predators also,....Moon snails and polyclad worms.

 

[Donovan Joannes]

Really nice Squamosa.
On the subject of predators, there's other clam predators also,....Moon snails and polyclad worms.

Good to know. Thanks for sharing. Cross finger non of these is in my tank.

 

[Rip Van Winkle]

Good to know. Thanks for sharing. Cross finger non of these is in my tank.

Yeah, I sure hope not. That worm is about 4" x 1.5"

Why don't you try barnacles and muscles for filter feeders? I'm doing that.

 

[Donovan Joannes]

Yeah, I sure hope not. That worm is about 4" x 1.5"

Why don't you try barnacles and muscles for filter feeders? I'm doing that.

I have live oysters in my sump, a lot hitchhikers clams and other feather worms.