flame scallops

Spcoley1 · Dec 21, 2014

Any special requirements for keeping flame scallops?

crayonbreaker · Dec 23, 2014

I personally dont know many people that have successfully kept them long term. For the most part what I see is they starve to death.

saltyphish · Dec 23, 2014

crayonbreaker said:
I personally dont know many people that have successfully kept them long term. For the most part what I see is they starve to death.

I have heard the same and yet the lfs always seems to have some.

LostInTheDark · Dec 23, 2014

My LFS threw a couple in because no one was buying them. I threw them in the tank figuring free food for the angels. They quickly settled in holes in the live rock pretty much out of site. They are still there a year later. Mixed reef heavy feeding.

WindeyD · Dec 23, 2014

I too understand that there is a low success rate keeping them alive long term, don't want to ever put anything in my system that I don't think I can provide the proper conditions for

vic67 · Dec 23, 2014

I had one a short time even though I was target feeding it daily. My system was probably too small (55g) for it to thrive. I'm guessing that a big mixed reef is what it would need.

Jlobes · Dec 23, 2014

LostInTheDark said:
My LFS threw a couple in because no one was buying them. I threw them in the tank figuring free food for the angels. They quickly settled in holes in the live rock pretty much out of site. They are still there a year later. Mixed reef heavy feeding.

pretty similar here, except my housemate bought one, when the tank was fairly new. Still in there to this day, almost 3 years later. I mostly dont see it, as it hides in the rocks/pockets. But every once in awhile, it will make an appearance on the sand bed or ill see it "swimming" to a new spot.

crayonbreaker · Dec 23, 2014

LFS sell them because they are cheap to buy wholesale and there is a large markup.

Amphibious · Jan 6, 2015

crayonbreaker said:
LFS sell them because they are cheap to buy wholesale and there is a large markup.

Yes, Flame Scallops are cheap to buy wholesale. Not sure what you mean by a â€œlarge markupâ€ but, keep in mind the LFS has losses, too. Guess who makes up those losses, the retail buyer. I have been in this business a long time (40 years) and I have yet to see a profit equal to the markup. We have bills, overhead, replacement of DEAD animals to cover, just like our customers. Plus there are employees to pay and it sure would be nice IF there was money left for us to get paid a living wage, too. This is not an easy business to make money in. Although you would be amazed at how many hobbyists think differently. Many I know personally spent their life savings to go into a LFS business only to fail and lose everything in a year or two. I had to go bankrupt in 1973 when my first LFS attempt ran out of money after one year. You would also be amazed at how quickly 30 days pass, the bills are due again and the cash flow will not cover the outgo.

Now to the longevity of Flame Scallops. I buy 12 at a time because I EXPECT losses. The last purchase was last May. Two have sold (they are not in high demand because of their reputation) and I have six left. So Iâ€™ve lost four. I do not target feed. With 12 to begin with, target feeding is a waist of my time and generally not very effective. I feed them the juice from my fish food which is a mix of frozen Hykari spirolina brine shrimp and PE mysis with vitamins added. When mixed with tank water it produces a â€œbrothâ€ of juice from the food. I pore it into the flow of water that spreads it around the tank. Scallops, being filter feeders will pick it up. ALSO, I regularly add ZEOvitâ€™s Sponge Power to the tank. That is good for all filter feeders. PLUS, I add other ZEOvit additives for the coral and Iâ€™m positive that helps, too.

So yes, the Flame Scallops is challenging to keep long term but, we have to keep in mind not all animals are genetically programmed to live years in their home habitat much less the cubicles of less than beneficial water we keep them in.

Happy reefing,

Dick