Clam placement outcurrent siphon

[Nikita1981]

Hi all,

I bought a nice Maxima clam this week from a fellow reefer that quits the hobby. I thought this would be the perfect opportunity to get one. The clam was already with the previous owner for almost a year and has good shell growth. Second, we have the same lighting so this also matches.

But it came tightly attached to a big piece of live rock. My tank was already full, so it was a lot of rescaping to get the big rock in and give the clam a nice place on a higher end of the reef.

It fits nicely now, but it is kind of upside down. The outcurrent siphon is below the incurrent siphon, and I read this is not advisable. However, I have no possibilities to turn the rock so it kind of rotates position.

Will this hurt the clam? Will it turn by itself if it is not comfortable?

Excuse me if its not making sense, I tried to take a picture but the angle makes it hard to see. Bluntly saying, the big hole is higher than the small hole of the clam....

 

[campaign000]

Bluntly saying, there's no problem. In fact you could see lots of wired postures in the wild.
Looking forward to the pic.

 

[tenten900]

I wouldn't be worried, but if you feel like it's a big problem then you can take a knife and try to cut its byssal thread and lay it on another piece of rock.

 

[High ICP]

Hi all,

I bought a nice Maxima clam this week from a fellow reefer that quits the hobby. I thought this would be the perfect opportunity to get one. The clam was already with the previous owner for almost a year and has good shell growth. Second, we have the same lighting so this also matches.

But it came tightly attached to a big piece of live rock. My tank was already full, so it was a lot of rescaping to get the big rock in and give the clam a nice place on a higher end of the reef.

It fits nicely now, but it is kind of upside down. The outcurrent siphon is below the incurrent siphon, and I read this is not advisable. However, I have no possibilities to turn the rock so it kind of rotates position.

Will this hurt the clam? Will it turn by itself if it is not comfortable?

Excuse me if its not making sense, I tried to take a picture but the angle makes it hard to see. Bluntly saying, the big hole is higher than the small hole of the clam....

I was watching a YouTube vid the other night, the clam owner was British or UAE’ish, can’t remember.

Anyway he had all of his clams lying on sides slightly. So that the big hole and small hole were horizontal to each other.

That was weird.

Anyway, heterosexual conventional wisdom dictates that the big hole goes to the bottom or towards the front glass.

 

[xjiang7]

If the clam feels the position uncomfortable it will move itself by ditching the existing byssal threads. I won’t worry about it as long as the clam is opening and getting light

 

[KrisReef]

Hi all,

I bought a nice Maxima clam this week from a fellow reefer that quits the hobby. I thought this would be the perfect opportunity to get one. The clam was already with the previous owner for almost a year and has good shell growth. Second, we have the same lighting so this also matches.

But it came tightly attached to a big piece of live rock. My tank was already full, so it was a lot of rescaping to get the big rock in and give the clam a nice place on a higher end of the reef.

It fits nicely now, but it is kind of upside down. The outcurrent siphon is below the incurrent siphon, and I read this is not advisable. However, I have no possibilities to turn the rock so it kind of rotates position.

Will this hurt the clam? Will it turn by itself if it is not comfortable?

Excuse me if its not making sense, I tried to take a picture but the angle makes it hard to see. Bluntly saying, the big hole is higher than the small hole of the clam....

When clams burrow into the rock they are trying to avoid predators. In the wild, a dislodged clam from the rock equals clam death by predation in most instances. Relocated clams will let go of the rock they are attached to if they land in a spot where they are out of sufficient light or in a "bad" water flow location. In the wild, clams get relocated when storms move the rock they are attached to, or when urchins undermine the clam and the rock breaks free. Your relocation is a similar event for the clam. Watch it and see if it lets go of the rock. If it does, it wants either more light or more current. If it stays attached, it may take time to adjust to its new circumstance, but hopefully, it will start/continue to lay down new shell. If it does, you did "good"!

Good luck.

 

[Nikita1981]

Thanks all For now, it is still attached to the rock and not moving except when it gets startled by a passing fish. I will keep observing it and see how it goes. The angle makes it hard to get a decent pic of it unfortunately but I will try tomorrow.

 

[Lasse]

and I read this is not advisable

My Deresa clams that live on the bottom and are free to adjust how the openings are does not agree with this statement.. One have the wider higher up, one have the wider lower down and 2 have them at the same level. No order at all

Sincerely Lasse

 

[Oshengems]

after about 2 years I decided to move my Maxima from the sand Bed to higher juicer lights, she was attached to the a small piece of rock so it was easy to move but where I placed it I saw a bit of mantle movement because of the flow, after about 3 weeks it decided to detach I guess it was telling me it wasn’t happy, it’s back to its original spot, let it be for a while if it doest like it’s position you will know