Does my red electric flame clam look okay?

[Victor Noda]

He seems to be open extra wide recently and he's stopped doing his electric show. And my bullet goby isnt helping with his sand blasts. But what do you guys think?

 

[albano]

Personally, I think that these should be left in the ocean…success stories are few and far between.

 

[Victor Noda]

I'm beginning to think the same. We've had clammy for about 7 months now and he used to be pristine white with outstretched red tentacles. He didn't cost much but we thought he was gorgeous.

 

[albano]

I think you did great if you’ve been able to keep it alive for 7 months… were you target feeding it?

 

[Victor Noda]

Yeah...spot feeding with these.

 

[Victor Noda]

Personally, I think that these should be left in the ocean…success stories are few and far between.

 

[Victor Noda]

I think you did great if you’ve been able to keep it alive for 7 months… were you target feeding it?

 

[vetteguy53081]

Flame scallop and looks very stressed, likely from starvation. They must be able to filter feed their foods and have ample supply. Feed phytoplankton at least 3x a week or even daily to ensure they have an adequate and proper diet which you seem to have an adequate supply of. They prefer low light areas and tend to move around tank making it hard to regulate light

 

[Victor Noda]

Flame scallop and looks very stressed, likely from starvation. They must be able to filter feed their foods and have ample supply. Feed phytoplankton at least 3x a week or even daily to ensure they have an adequate and proper diet which you seem to have an adequate supply of. They prefer low light areas and tend to move around tank making it hard to regulate light

He was doing great for the last 6 months but for the past couple weeks he's been having issues probably from my high 12.3 alkalinity. He gets fed 2 to 3 times daily and he is being sand blasted by my bullet goby. I heard they only live for a year but we are hoping for longer than that. I do 5 gallon water changes per day to keep my nitrates at bay.

 

[DaJMasta]

I don't think that one looks good - does it still close in response to stimulus?

I've had mine for a similar ballpark, but it seems to be doing fine and has swam around the tank a few times at night (much to my surprise the first time I saw it). I feed particulate foods (benereef, freeze dried phyto, reef roids, reef chili, etc.) daily in enough quantity to make the water a little cloudy for half an hour or so. About half the time I've had it, I've also dosed live phyto - didn't start culturing it until the end of the summer.

I'd say the most I see mine open is about half that width, with the 'pleats' inside all parallel and with only a bit of gunk inside the lip most of the time, which especially since they don't look very orderly in the image, makes me suspect a problem. I also seriously doubt they're supposed to live for a year - it likely took more than a year already to grow the shell of a mid sized one, so I would expect several years minimum if they are thriving.

 

[MaxTremors]

It’s a scallop not a clam, and as others have said it’s likely starving to death. These just don’t fair well in home aquariums, they are not photosynthetic, so they ideally need feedings multiple times a day (phyto and zooplankton). I don’t think I’ve ever known anyone to keep one alive past a year (and it’s not that they have short life spans, they are long lived in the wild). Like most starfish, they should be left in the wild.