Clam Question

SaltyGal · Nov 18, 2011

I have a 54 gal corner mixed reef tank that has been up for 14 months now. I have mostly lps with a few montipora and sps frags. I have a rbt anemone that is very happy on the bottom right corner being hosted by a maroon clown. He was placed there 5 or so months ago and never moved.

I have a coral beauty angel, a sail fin tang and a royal bassett fish plus a coral banded shrimp and a cleaner shrimp, crabs and snails. I do have a hitchicker clam on my zoas that I have had nearly a year that is doing fine but the piece is midway up the tank rockwork.

My lighting is 56 watts of LED that is combo of aquaray 600 strips and reef brite which are quality leds not the cheap kind. The depth of my tank is 21 if the clam were placed on the sand.

I would love to have a clam on the bottom left of the tank but not sure what type would be best. I have read conflicting articles that say some prefer the sand while others should be up on the rockwork.

I would appreciate any suggestions.

Thanks!

skinz78 · Nov 18, 2011

I've had bad luck with Angels and clams, your Coral Beauty may be an issue.

With a clam on the sand you would want to look into ether a Derasa or Squamosa. They both grow rather quickly so start with a small one and plan on ether upgrading tank size or getting rid of the clam later on. Crocea's and Maxima's prefer to be on the rocks but in some cases they will do well on the sand too. I have 3 Maxima's on the sandbed in my tank that don't want to be on the rocks.

SaltyGal · Dec 1, 2011

thanks for the reply. Well, believe it or not I found a beautiful crocea clam that I placed up on the rockwork and so far seems to be ok. The beauty so far has not bothered too much with it. I have it in an area where she does not hang out much but gets plenty of light.