[Elmo18]

I will be acquiring these two species for the 80 gallons, and would like information on acclimating them correctly. I know I will have to put the Derasa on the sandbed, and the Maxima on the rockwork.

Thanks,
Ilham

[Ninong]

Elmo ~

Are these captive-bred specimens or wild collected? And are you acquiring them from an online retailer or an LFS?

You need to know the conditions the clams have been kept under before you got them. There is a big difference in how you should handle a T. maxima that has been kept for several weeks at an LFS under metal halide lighting and how you should handle one that has been kept at an LFS for several weeks under normal output fluorescent lighting.

Even if the specimen is wild collected, you have to make allowances for the fact that it may have been kept for several days in the dark during shipment. In all of these situations, if you think that the clam is coming from a low light environment, you would need to acclimate it slowly back up to its normal intense light environment. If it is coming from an environment similar to what it will be going into, then their really is no acclimation.

You should place the derasa on the sand from the very beginning. The maxima, assuming that it has intense dark blue coloration, should probably be placed fairly high in the tank from the start. Of course, if the maxima is small (less than 3"), you could place it a little lower down in the rockwork. There is no one answer to your question. It all depends on several variables and whether or not you know the lighting conditions that the clam was most recently under.

Ninong [img]/ubb/smile.gif[/img]

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Irrational Exuberance!

[Elmo18]

Thanks for the reply Ninong.

Both clams will be coming from ffexpress.com. I didn't ask them the conditions that they keep them in. Anyone out there know?

Regards,
Ilham

[Ninong]

Elmo ~

If you're asking if the price is right, then the answer is that the price is very low. Tridacna clams are graded based on the appearance of their mantle. This is especially true of maxima clams. The most expensive maxima clams are graded "ultra" or sometimes "electric," although electric is usually reserved for crocea clams. Then there is "1st. grade" and "2nd. grade."

Beauty is all in the eye of the beholder. I am sure that a 4" 1st. grade maxima clam that sells for $49 is just as healthy and happy as a 4" ultra grade maxima clam that sells for $99-$149. In fact, unless someone has the proper lighting to maintain "ultra coloration," they are wasting their money by buying that class in the first place. You can maintain ultra coloration in an aquarium with metal halide lighting provided you are careful in the placement of your ultra grade maxima or crocea clam. If you have 400w metal halide lamps, you have a larger area, and more flexibility in depth below the surface, for placement of your clam. You also have to realize that not all 400w metal halide lamps are equal. In fact, 250w HQI double-ended lamps are more intense than almost all 400w metal halide lamps except for the 400w 6500K Iwasaki lamps naturally. If you have 250w HQI double-ended lamps or 250w 6500K Iwasaki lamps you can certainly maintain ultra grade coloration in the mantle but the area under the lamp and the depth below the surface would be less than if you had 400w Iwasaki lamps.

You can maintain clams under less light than that but you cannot maintain ultra grade coloration under less light than that. You could probably maintain 1st. grade coloration under 175w metal halides, but if you put the most expensive "electric grade" crocea under anything less than 250w MH (say 6" below the surface), you would probably be able to notice some change in the coloration. Ultra grade and electric grade clams represent less than 1% of wild-collected clams. I have no idea what the numbers are for captive-bred clams but suspect that they are better able to control coloration since they can control conditions. But they still probably aren't producing true ultra or electric grade clams with their captive breeding programs in the tropics since they usually grow out their clams in cages that are 2 to 3 meters below the surface.

It is possible that some of the hobbyist/entrepreneur types (like Dr. Mac) that are growing out baby clams that they purchased in bulk, may be getting some ultra grade coloration in their babies due to their intense lighting. But when they did it the old fashioned way by just chopping them out of the reef, the percentage that were ultra or electric grade was far less than 1%.

So, bottom line is, you probably aren't getting an ultra grade clam at that price, but that doesn't mean that it isn't a nice clam.

Ninong [img]/ubb/smile.gif[/img]



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Irrational Exuberance!

[Elmo18]

Thanks for the addiitional info Ninong. I believe they are both 1st grade, but since I won't be seeing what they each look like, mantlewise, I will post pictures after they are in my tank tomorrrow.

I'm so excited, I have the two clams coming, an anchor coral coming, and a pair of true perculas from Flying Express.

Regards,
Ilham

[Elmo18]

Ninong,

I called up ffexpress.com and they tell me they are using 400 watt Metal Halides on the clams. Now, I have 2 X 250 on the 80 gal, will this be okay so that I can just pop the clams in without acclimating?

Regards,
Ilham

[Ninong]

Elmo ~

If Flying Fish has had them under 400w MH for awhile, you should be OK putting them in your tank under 250w MH. I'm assuming you are having them shipped overnight. Just place the derasa on the sand bed and the maxima somewhere in the upper half of the rockwork.

Good luck,

Ninong [img]/ubb/smile.gif[/img]

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Irrational Exuberance!

[Elmo18]

Yeah, they are coming tomorrow. Been reading on clams for awhile, so I said I'll take a shot at it. Overnight delivery so it should be here before 10:30 am tomorrow Fedex. I believe I ordered the 3-4 inch Samoan Blue Derasa and 3-4 inch Purple Maxima, and I paid $23 for the derasa, and $29 for the maxima. Is that a good deal?

Regards,
Ilham