Healthy clam?

[JoJosReef]

Yeah, I would only order a clam from someone I trusted or had a really good track record of providing healthy clams. Also, John has given some weird advice about clams that seems contradictory sometimes, but you can easily spot the healthy clams when he’s at shows. I have two croceas that I bought from him last year and they’re doing great. Sometimes I ignore the people selling the animals and simply pay attention to the animals themselves, they’ll show you everything you need to know.

Right, the last time I was at the Anaheim show, I got some confusing info about croceas being much easier than derasas and needing less intense light. All the while there was a large aiptasia staring at me and I couldn't stop thinking "why don't you nuke that thing"... Left with no clam, but I'll spend more time examining the individual clams next time. Show is in 2 weeks, so we'll see!

 

[RockBox13]

I’ve received a good number of shipments from ORA of everything from corals and clams to seahorses to their Mandarins and Clownfish. Their quality control and health of livestock are hard to beat. It’s very rare to get something that isn’t in good health or like those fish you know shouldn’t have been bagged up because they started looking rough or falling out during acclimation. Their clams are pretty much always on the small side but very clean shells. Their Yellow Assessors are probably the most under appreciated Nano Reef fish around, other little reef rarities like the Greenbanded and Jaguar Goby, Randall’s Assessors and very cool Kamohara Blenny are Nano Reef gems. The Stubby Ocellaris Clowns are still cooler to me than almost any other color or pattern too.

 

[FishOkay]

Hippopus clams are under appreciated in the hobby i think, but they are really nice!. Quite hardy aswell and good tank filters.

 

[minus9]

I’ve received a good number of shipments from ORA of everything from corals and clams to seahorses to their Mandarins and Clownfish. Their quality control and health of livestock are hard to beat. It’s very rare to get something that isn’t in good health or like those fish you know shouldn’t have been bagged up because they started looking rough or falling out during acclimation. Their clams are pretty much always on the small side but very clean shells. Their Yellow Assessors are probably the most under appreciated Nano Reef fish around, other little reef rarities like the Greenbanded and Jaguar Goby, Randall’s Assessors and very cool Kamohara Blenny are Nano Reef gems. The Stubby Ocellaris Clowns are still cooler to me than almost any other color or pattern too.

Agree, all of the ORA stuff that I bought and found in stores have been pretty good and without issues. I love my Randall's assessor.

 

[RockBox13]

Agree, all of the ORA stuff that I bought and found in stores have been pretty good and without issues. I love my Randall's assessor.

Awesome!!! Does yours swim upside down sometimes or live most their life upside down? I always liked that. I had a Yellow in an Elos Mini display that would confuse people and they would always have to say, “There’s something wrong with your fish.” So before they could get to the next sentence, I would shout “He’s swimming upside down again!?!?!!”

 

[RockBox13]

ORA Aquacultured Maxima

This is about average size for them upon arrival. Shells so clean and that only comes from inspection and scrubbing on a regular basis.
Regular size Trochus on the left there.

 

[minus9]

Awesome!!! Does yours swim upside down sometimes or live most their life upside down? I always liked that. I had a Yellow in an Elos Mini display that would confuse people and they would always have to say, “There’s something wrong with your fish.” So before they could get to the next sentence, I would shout “He’s swimming upside down again!?!?!!”

My Randall’s has never swam upside down, but he’s always out usually in the front. I have a wild caught yellow that swam upside down while in QT, but once I put him in the display he stopped.

 

[Madison Reef]

Hi clam experts, what do you think about this hippopus? It's hard to tell if these clams are in good shape or not from just a photo. My last derasa may have been in steady decline by the time I received him.

ORA Aquacultured Hippopus

Photo obviously heavily doctored. But does anyone see from the shell if this specimen is in decent shape?

@minus9 you and any other clam experts you know have an opinion?

Hippopus are obviously on the rarer side, so I'm interested in moving on it if it's a good bet. Would love to see it in person, but that doesn't seem possible.

Thanks!

Hey I just wanted to report back that I got 2 hippopus and 1 maxima on 02/23 Friday. One hippopus died overnight. I will post the stock photo. K28 is the dead one that died overnight, which is similar in size and openness compared to I53 you asked.

The other clam I got (K26) is doing much better.
How's your doing? Also who got the I53? Can you share how's I53 is doing?

 

[minus9]

Hey I just wanted to report back that I got 2 hippopus and 1 maxima on 02/23 Friday. One hippopus died overnight. I will post the stock photo. K28 is the dead one that died overnight, which is similar in size and openness compared to I53 you asked.

The other clam I got (K26) is doing much better.
How's your doing? Also who got the I53? Can you share how's I53 is doing?

Sorry about the clam. There were only a couple hippopus there that looked okay and I’m not sure why they kept the closed ones there? If my memory serves me right, there at least two other hippopus fully open and a couple more that were slightly open. I didn’t think their lighting was that good, as I find a lot of places don’t give their clams proper lighting.
Hopefully the hippopus will recover for you. These guys can handle a lot of light.

 

[JoJosReef]

Sorry about the clam. There were only a couple hippopus there that looked okay and I’m not sure why they kept the closed ones there? If my memory serves me right, there at least two other hippopus fully open and a couple more that were slightly open. I didn’t think their lighting was that good, as I find a lot of places don’t give their clams proper lighting.
Hopefully the hippopus will recover for you. These guys can handle a lot of light.

Hi @minus9 thanks for all the help you're giving everyone with their new clams. Edit: and @shakacuz as well!

I went to AquaSD to look at the clam. It was closed when I got there, but they had recently moved out from its spot underneath 4 T5s to the front of the shop, under a Radion, I think (but not set very high because that's where they were keeping the plate corals). In any case, the hippopus were being held under T5s.

The clam was much smaller than I imagined. I took it knowing there would be risks--Kaleb also said it was open when he went to grab it. I have been emailing them daily with updates on the clam.

Today is day 7. Monday through Friday was desperation. The clam was kept in a small screened shelter I made just in case it caught attention from the blenny. Lighting over it was Noopsyches with one rigged up with a 35 degree reflector. It was sitting under about 325 PAR at peak Saxby-esque schedule

Unfortunately, the clam was not opening up much at all and on Friday looked like it was nonresponsive. I was going to tranfer it out kf the cup in any case, and it didn't respond to my touch. NOTE: I'm not grabbing or pressing the clam, just letting gravity move it around in my hand:

On Friday evening I got a new Kessil a160we set up with the reflector instead of the second Noop. With this, the clam area is easily getting 400PAR or more during peaks.

On Saturday, there were a few glimmers of hope. The clam was open slightly more. I could see its incurrent siphone, and most importantly, it reacted to me dosing Reef Nutrition PacPods into the gyre:

New video · Saturday, Feb 24, 2024 ð¬

Tap to view!

photos.app.goo.gl

Hopefully this is a turning point, but I think we're still deep in the woods right now. I aim to keep it at high PAR for now and see if it opens more. If it closes more, perhaps I have to tone it down a bit.

Par measurements were taken with PARwise.

Any thought most welcome!

Hey I just wanted to report back that I got 2 hippopus and 1 maxima on 02/23 Friday. One hippopus died overnight. I will post the stock photo. K28 is the dead one that died overnight, which is similar in size and openness compared to I53 you asked.

The other clam I got (K26) is doing much better.
How's your doing? Also who got the I53? Can you share how's I53 is doing?

Update above! I'm sorry about K28. Hopefully K26 makes it. Mine seems to be doing better with the higher PAR.

 

[minus9]

Hi @minus9 thanks for all the help you're giving everyone with their new clams. Edit: and @shakacuz as well!

I went to AquaSD to look at the clam. It was closed when I got there, but they had recently moved out from its spot underneath 4 T5s to the front of the shop, under a Radion, I think (but not set very high because that's where they were keeping the plate corals). In any case, the hippopus were being held under T5s.

The clam was much smaller than I imagined. I took it knowing there would be risks--Kaleb also said it was open when he went to grab it. I have been emailing them daily with updates on the clam.

Today is day 7. Monday through Friday was desperation. The clam was kept in a small screened shelter I made just in case it caught attention from the blenny. Lighting over it was Noopsyches with one rigged up with a 35 degree reflector. It was sitting under about 325 PAR at peak Saxby-esque schedule

Unfortunately, the clam was not opening up much at all and on Friday looked like it was nonresponsive. I was going to tranfer it out kf the cup in any case, and it didn't respond to my touch. NOTE: I'm not grabbing or pressing the clam, just letting gravity move it around in my hand:

On Friday evening I got a new Kessil a160we set up with the reflector instead of the second Noop. With this, the clam area is easily getting 400PAR or more during peaks.

On Saturday, there were a few glimmers of hope. The clam was open slightly more. I could see its incurrent siphone, and most importantly, it reacted to me dosing Reef Nutrition PacPods into the gyre:

New video · Saturday, Feb 24, 2024 ð¬

Tap to view!

photos.app.goo.gl

Hopefully this is a turning point, but I think we're still deep in the woods right now. I aim to keep it at high PAR for now and see if it opens more. If it closes more, perhaps I have to tone it down a bit.

Par measurements were taken with PARwise.

Any thought most welcome!


Update above! I'm sorry about K28. Hopefully K26 makes it. Mine seems to be doing better with the higher PAR.

Keep doing what you're doing and provide a healthy home, hopefully it will recover and open more each day.

Here’s the one I picked up.

 

[Madison Reef]

Sorry about the clam. There were only a couple hippopus there that looked okay and I’m not sure why they kept the closed ones there? If my memory serves me right, there at least two other hippopus fully open and a couple more that were slightly open. I didn’t think their lighting was that good, as I find a lot of places don’t give their clams proper lighting.
Hopefully the hippopus will recover for you. These guys can handle a lot of light.

Could you please elaborate "proper lighting" in more detail?
For previous maxima I qt'ed was under LED then switched to MH 125 de which caused some stress. So I went back to LED for that clam and it went through qt just fine. Currently growing fast in my DT under halide and LED.

When I spoke with AquaSD on the phone, I was told clams were under t5 light.
So I thought providing them with the same kind of light source would be the least stressful option.
I do have choice of extra LED, T5, and MH available to provide them "enough" light but not sure what would be the "proper light."
Currently they are under tek light 6 bulbs with 2 new bulbs and 4 old bulbs slowing ramping up. I am at 2 blue bulbs for 10 hours, and 2 whitish bulbs, 1 turquoise, 1 purple starting at 2 hours ramping 30 minutes every day.

The remaining hippo is doing way better compared to the stock photo. I will take a photo tomorrow when light is on. Thank you for your wisdom and kind words!

Hi @minus9 thanks for all the help you're giving everyone with their new clams. Edit: and @shakacuz as well!

I went to AquaSD to look at the clam. It was closed when I got there, but they had recently moved out from its spot underneath 4 T5s to the front of the shop, under a Radion, I think (but not set very high because that's where they were keeping the plate corals). In any case, the hippopus were being held under T5s.

The clam was much smaller than I imagined. I took it knowing there would be risks--Kaleb also said it was open when he went to grab it. I have been emailing them daily with updates on the clam.

Today is day 7. Monday through Friday was desperation. The clam was kept in a small screened shelter I made just in case it caught attention from the blenny. Lighting over it was Noopsyches with one rigged up with a 35 degree reflector. It was sitting under about 325 PAR at peak Saxby-esque schedule

Unfortunately, the clam was not opening up much at all and on Friday looked like it was nonresponsive. I was going to tranfer it out kf the cup in any case, and it didn't respond to my touch. NOTE: I'm not grabbing or pressing the clam, just letting gravity move it around in my hand:

On Friday evening I got a new Kessil a160we set up with the reflector instead of the second Noop. With this, the clam area is easily getting 400PAR or more during peaks.

On Saturday, there were a few glimmers of hope. The clam was open slightly more. I could see its incurrent siphone, and most importantly, it reacted to me dosing Reef Nutrition PacPods into the gyre:

New video · Saturday, Feb 24, 2024 ð¬

Tap to view!

photos.app.goo.gl

Hopefully this is a turning point, but I think we're still deep in the woods right now. I aim to keep it at high PAR for now and see if it opens more. If it closes more, perhaps I have to tone it down a bit.

Par measurements were taken with PARwise.

Any thought most welcome!


Update above! I'm sorry about K28. Hopefully K26 makes it. Mine seems to be doing better with the higher PAR.

Wow your clam is doing way better! How fast can I ramp up my t5s? Unfortunately I do not have a par meter and I am little worried of bleaching other corals that are in qt with clams. Some corals came in harsh conditions to a point I do not want to dip. Let's keep this conversation going! Your knowledge is very helpful since this is my first time with hippo, I need your help.

 

[Madison Reef]

Holy molly what a nice mixed tank you have! Will you be keeping the clam at the sand bed? can they also live on hard surface like maxima?

 

[JoJosReef]

Could you please elaborate "proper lighting" in more detail?
For previous maxima I qt'ed was under LED then switched to MH 125 de which caused some stress. So I went back to LED for that clam and it went through qt just fine. Currently growing fast in my DT under halide and LED.

When I spoke with AquaSD on the phone, I was told clams were under t5 light.
So I thought providing them with the same kind of light source would be the least stressful option.
I do have choice of extra LED, T5, and MH available to provide them "enough" light but not sure what would be the "proper light."
Currently they are under tek light 6 bulbs with 2 new bulbs and 4 old bulbs slowing ramping up. I am at 2 blue bulbs for 10 hours, and 2 whitish bulbs, 1 turquoise, 1 purple starting at 2 hours ramping 30 minutes every day.

The remaining hippo is doing way better compared to the stock photo. I will take a photo tomorrow when light is on. Thank you for your wisdom and kind words!


Wow your clam is doing way better! How fast can I ramp up my t5s? Unfortunately I do not have a par meter and I am little worried of bleaching other corals that are in qt with clams. Some corals came in harsh conditions to a point I do not want to dip. Let's keep this conversation going! Your knowledge is very helpful since this is my first time with hippo, I need your help.

I have very little knowledge about clams and hippos in particular, although I've read most of James Fatheree's most recent edition of his giant clams book (excellent, if you can get it).

I can confirm that ASD had their clams under T5s. They pointed out the runway tank under T5s to me from across their warehouse. I had my hippo already brought to the front in a different tank.
I'm still quite worried about my clam(s). Feel you on the bleaching of other corals. I made a post on just this topic earlier tonight. That is also why I am trying to fit a 35 degree reflector on the extra Kessil light. I want it to act as a spotlight directly onto the clams. I could just have the Kessil on at higher intensity accompanied by the Noops, but that would blast everything on the left side of the tank.

Clam spot:

Bit of light spread from the Kessil, but not nearly as much as without the reflector:

I learned early on that a PAR meter is very important if you want to keep clams. I had a beautiful crocea clam for months in a nano tank, very stable system with all TBS rock and sand, with just an AI Prime over it. I had assumed with the great AI Prime it would be getting sufficient light. It died of starvation and I only found out after getting a PAR meter that it was getting 220 PAR at the Peaks of my Saxby schedule. My fault. I'm trying to do better.

I'm glad this thread is catching some attention. It's great to have new clam enthusiasts get advice from the successful clam keepers like @minus9 @shakacuz @Miami Reef Thank you, thank you!

And everyone get the James Fatheree book! It has wonderful pictures if you cannot read!

 

[JoJosReef]

Holy molly what a nice mixed tank you have! Will you be keeping the clam at the sand bed? can they also live on hard surface like maxima?

According to James Fatheree, almost all of the hippos he observes in his dives are on soft substrates, so it would probably be more natural for it to stay on the sand. I understand they have limited byssal threads or sometime don't use byssal threads at all.

I have a great piece of reef rock that makes a natural cradle that I pushed into the sand with the ends sticking up, so it is sitting in the sandy part of the cradle. Still falls over a bit, but never fully on its side:

Here it is reacting to dosing the tank with PacPods:

I'm still crossing my fingers that this little guy makes it.

PS. I swapped out the Noop/reflector for a Kessil/reflector and it seems to be responding favorably, although too early to tell.

This:

To this:

I'll let you soak up the inspiration of my DIY ingenuity:

What do you when the reflector doesn't fit because you bought the wrong light? Black and white vinyl tape, of course!

 

[minus9]

Could you please elaborate "proper lighting" in more detail?
For previous maxima I qt'ed was under LED then switched to MH 125 de which caused some stress. So I went back to LED for that clam and it went through qt just fine. Currently growing fast in my DT under halide and LED.

When I spoke with AquaSD on the phone, I was told clams were under t5 light.
So I thought providing them with the same kind of light source would be the least stressful option.
I do have choice of extra LED, T5, and MH available to provide them "enough" light but not sure what would be the "proper light."
Currently they are under tek light 6 bulbs with 2 new bulbs and 4 old bulbs slowing ramping up. I am at 2 blue bulbs for 10 hours, and 2 whitish bulbs, 1 turquoise, 1 purple starting at 2 hours ramping 30 minutes every day.

The remaining hippo is doing way better compared to the stock photo. I will take a photo tomorrow when light is on. Thank you for your wisdom and kind words!


Wow your clam is doing way better! How fast can I ramp up my t5s? Unfortunately I do not have a par meter and I am little worried of bleaching other corals that are in qt with clams. Some corals came in harsh conditions to a point I do not want to dip. Let's keep this conversation going! Your knowledge is very helpful since this is my first time with hippo, I need your help.

In regards to proper lighting, it's a combo of spectrum and intensity. Clams look and do better with a "full" daylight spectrum and not heavy blues. As far as intensity, that's based on the individual clam and species. The key is to have plenty of power on tap so you have more than enough power to exceed their minimum requirement, which is based on new shell growth. So let's say a clam needs 215 micro moles at minimum to keep growing. A number of other factors can reduce that clam's ability to utilize all of that light, like water clarity, surface agitation, shade from neighbors, etc.. so if you don't have the ability to provide more power/intensity, then the clam may suffer and slowly starve. The kicker is, two clams from the same parents will most likely have different lighting needs and will grow at different rates, and they can be side by side.
Do have James Fatherree's book on clams? If not, I would buy it from Amazon.

 

[minus9]

Book

 

[JoJosReef]

Well, I just caught the tailspot blenny having a nip at the hippopus, or maybe something inside of the hippopus shell, but either way, not good news for the hippopus.

Now I need to think of something fast.

 

[minus9]

Well, I just caught the tailspot blenny having a nip at the hippopus, or maybe something inside of the hippopus shell, but either way, not good news for the hippopus.

Now I need to think of something fast.

Tailspots are known nippers, at least that’s been my experience. They’re kinda like centropyge, you have a 50/50 shot.

 

[Madison Reef]

In regards to proper lighting, it's a combo of spectrum and intensity. Clams look and do better with a "full" daylight spectrum and not heavy blues. As far as intensity, that's based on the individual clam and species. The key is to have plenty of power on tap so you have more than enough power to exceed their minimum requirement, which is based on new shell growth. So let's say a clam needs 215 micro moles at minimum to keep growing. A number of other factors can reduce that clam's ability to utilize all of that light, like water clarity, surface agitation, shade from neighbors, etc.. so if you don't have the ability to provide more power/intensity, then the clam may suffer and slowly starve. The kicker is, two clams from the same parents will most likely have different lighting needs and will grow at different rates, and they can be side by side.
Do have James Fatherree's book on clams? If not, I would buy it from Amazon.

I definitely need a par meter. I do not know the par they are getting but I am using t5 6bulbs. I have an option to provide them more lights with MH. The DT they will be in is currently lit by metal halide.
I should get a Fatherree's book and take some time to read it through.
Thank you for your kind words and suggestion!

According to James Fatheree, almost all of the hippos he observes in his dives are on soft substrates, so it would probably be more natural for it to stay on the sand. I understand they have limited byssal threads or sometime don't use byssal threads at all.

I have a great piece of reef rock that makes a natural cradle that I pushed into the sand with the ends sticking up, so it is sitting in the sandy part of the cradle. Still falls over a bit, but never fully on its side:

Here it is reacting to dosing the tank with PacPods:

Wow it is such amazing to see its response to PacPods. I do feed phyto everytime when I get new clams but I never knew about feeding pods. Do you only feed pods? what about phyto?