Ordered Clams

[SharonFay]

Am so excited now that I have decided to give clams a try. Have read the book, Giant Clams and have to go back to read it again.

Placed a order with clams direct and my clams will arrive on wednesday. Read some very positive comments about this company and I hope I will be as happy. Going to have to work over time to pay for this order.

I know I will have some questions that I might be unclear about so I hope that I can ask for help.

Sharon

[dougchambers]

Sharon,

Welcome to the wonderful addiction of clams! Barry will take care of you! We've had great service from him over and over.

Clams are a wonderful thing. They can be a little finicky at times, but we love the 6 we have...

Why don't you share a little about your tank so we have an idea what you have going.

Doug

[SharonFay]

Hi Doug,

Our tank has been going now for a little ove 6 months. 90 Gallon. We have 2 250MH with VHO actinic suppliments. Six fish that should not bother the clams, we looked in Scott Michaels book.

Ca. 440
Alk 10+
Amm 0
Nitrites 0
Nitrates less that 20

Use Ro water for top off.

We are excited about getting these new additions but have heard that they are hard to keep. Hope that won't be the case here.

Barry asked us a lot of question about our tank and water quility.

Sharon

[dougchambers]

Sharon,

Looks good... Are you running a Ca reactor to maintain that Ca level or dosing Kalk?

Some will tell you that 6 months is early for clams, however, many have been very successful in less. Ourselves included.

What size clams did you order? The smaller ones can be more difficult to acclimate and require special feeding regiments. Regardless of the size, I’m sure Barry recommended DT’s? I would suggest you pick up the package at your FedEx counter. We have had much better success by going to the airport direct.

Barry is very thorough about what he sells and who he sells too… Don’t take offence to his questions; he has your best interest in mind.

Good luck and let us know how it turns out.

Doug

[SharonFay]

We do not have a ca reactor but am using B-Ionic but plans are to get a reactor soon.

We ordered clam that were 3" + . Barry says thay keeping babies was not recommended for the beginner. We are picking up at Fedex tomarow morning.

Sharon

[Captain Clam]

You'll do great with Barry's clams. Your setup sounds excellent for the as well. I would try to get your nitrates down to 5 ppm or so but at least under 10. That's just my opinion though. Post pictures when you get them. You'll love 'em. And Barry is first class. 7 of my 9 clams are Barry's and the only two that aren't were gifts from people who know how much I like my clams. Happy Clamming!

[Barry N.]

Bret, 2 CLAMS

Doug,

Thanks for the kind words.

Sharon,

I know you will enjoy them.

Barry

[SharonFay]

Picked up clams this morning at Fedex and after acclimating them ,hours later turing on the lights. All I can say is WOW! They are much larger than we thought they would be. They appear to be very happy and healthy. no sign of gaping at all.

Customer service the best. Even received a phone call from them this afternoon, checking to see if everything went well.

Will try to get one of our friends to take some pictures for us.

Barry, thanks so much for the very nice clams and your great customer service.

Sharon

[SharonFay]

Just a up date. My clams are doing very well. My husband says that they are his but I paid for them!

I want to get a few more but I don't know if I should wait for a while before ordering. Is there a time frame on ordering to close togeather?

Need to get here more often, I really enjoy this board but after spending 8 - 10 hrs a day at work looking at a monitor, I really hate to do it on my off hours.

[dougchambers]

Sharon,

Congratulations on your successful acclimation! I don't think there is a hard and fast rule for when to add more clams. Personally, since these were the first for your system, I'd give it 4-6 weeks just to make sure everything is stabile and you don’t have any surprises. If something does turn up wrong, it would be tragic to loose two orders…

Realizing that waiting 4-6 weeks is nearly impossible, I’d at least give it 2-3 weeks. Touch base with Barry and see what his thoughts are. He’ll have yours and the clams best interest in mind!

Doug

[Barry N.]

I would agree with Doug, I would wait for a month or so and see how they do in your system. Most likely will be fine as if there was a problem it would have shown by now.. I urge you NOT to add anything to your system durning this time. Other things such as corals and fish can also bring in a disease that might harm the clams. IME and IMO. Clams can be senitive.

Barry