How many tridacnid keepers here?

[Delphinus]

Just curious, how many people here are keeping any tridacnid clams?

If so, which ones do you have?

How long have you had them?

Anyone have little ones (<2")?

[DJ88]

Hey Tony,

I have three Maximas.

The largest, a black and gold is about 5" long, next is a purple and gold at 4" and the newest and smallest is a gold maxima which is about 1 3/4" long.

I have had the purple the longest at about a year. The black has been in my system about 5 months and I bought the little gold one just the other month. It is looking really good and has attached itself in a great spot to one of my rocks.

Anything else you are wanting to know and that I can pass on?

[Aquattro]

Tony, I have 2 maximas. One is about 4 inches and the other is now about 3 inches. The second one I bought about 6 months ago when it was about 1-1/2 inches. Both are doing well and growing rapidly.

[Delphinus]

Cool, a black maxima? Don't see too many of those.

Do you feed yours? If so are you using DT's or something else (Tahitian Blend)? Do you feed your tank, or are you target feeding them somehow? (I've sometimes heard the suggestion, especially for the little ones, to take the clam out of the tank, let it sit in a small bucket of tank water with DT's, for a few minutes, then return the clam to the tank. Personally, I get stressed out whenever I have to move anything delicate, but hey if it works must be worth a try, no?)

Thanks for the feedback.

[Seaquest]

Hi

Great question, and one of my favorite topics Clams. I have 6 x 4 inch T maximas and four 3 inch T crocea plus one 7 inch Squamosa. I've had all these clams for about 2 1/2 years now and so far so good. I pick most of my clams up at Dick Perrins in Michigan at Tropiquorium .

Cheers

[Aquattro]

Tony, IMO, moving a clam around to feed it is just asking for trouble. Especially if you place it somewhere it can attach and you tear the byssal thread. This will result in a dead clam. I didn't feed my small clam, but I have a lot of micro-bugs swimming around the tank. Most people recommend feeding clams less than 2" though. Reefcentral has a board dedicated to tridacnids; maybe take a look there.

[Delphinus]

Reef_raf: your comments regarding moving clams is basically echoing my own sentiments, which is one reason why I was asking... (BTW Yes I know RC has a tridacnid forum and in fact I check there several times per day but I specifically asked the question here first because I want a Canadian perspective! :D ) Thanks for the comments regarding the feeding. I guess as long as you're putting in enough DT's or whatever (but not so much as to foul your water), then they can pull out whatever they need?

SeaHunter: Ooooh... I am JEALOUS. I've been to Dick Perrin's place (I spent a LOT of time supporting one my systems in SE Michigan last year) and I found Tropicorium one weekend. What a fantastic facility. I'd be going there every month if I could. You'd never think Detroit was such a hotbed of coral aquaculture... :D I wanted to buy some mangroves from them but chickened out in the end, not sure if I was able to carry Mangroves over the bridge. (It was painful visiting and not allowing myself to buy anything!)

[ 12 March 2002, 14:28: Message edited by: delphinus ]

[DJ88]

Tony,

It is a sweet clam that is for sure. J&L had a few of them in. I only bought one. :( The best one of course. ;) There are two pics on my web page. Look in macros and clams.

I don't target feed but I am now feeding my tank 5ml of DT's every two days.

[canadawest]

I have a 3" T. Maxima purple and blue. Have had it almost 9 months now, and it has doubled in size from it's original 1-1.5" it was when I got it.

I do not target feed mine, it gets whatever nutrition it needs from the water and the lighting. So far so good, it's a great looking clam.

Pictures of it are available on my website.

[Dale D]

I have 2 big Derasa's that I have had for years. And 2 Maxima's that I have had for about a month now. I have never fed any of them directly, but, am looking into doing so in the future. I'll have to check out the forum on RC.

I'm thinking of gradually moving my tank towards being mainly a clam tank in the future.

[BCReefer]

I have a Gold maxima about 2” now. I have had it for about a month and it has already grown. Have not target feed except for 1 time and I think I scared the poor thing. It seems to be happy but I am curious to see what others think about target feeding.

I do hear that they are big time calcium suckers? I only have a small one and I use a Kalk drip so I haven’t had a problem yet.

Question for the other keepers. If you have more than 1 in a tank, how far apart should they be? What if they are both the same colour?

Patrick

[Aquattro]

Originally posted by BCReefer:
It seems to be happy but I am curious to see what others think about target feeding.

I do hear that they are big time calcium suckers? I only have a small one and I use a Kalk drip so I haven’t had a problem yet.

Question for the other keepers. If you have more than 1 in a tank, how far apart should they be? What if they are both the same colour?

Patrick<font size="2" face="Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif">Patrick, my understanding is that target feeding is bad. Apparently it can "choke" them. Allowing them to filter food from the water is the way to go.
Yes, they suck Calcium.
As for placement, it doesn't really matter. Color has nothing to do with it. As long as there is room to open fully, they'll be fine.