My new Gigas

[OrionN]

I have been looking for a Gigas for a long time. Just recently got this Gigas from a friend who is trying to convert his Reef tank to low light FOWLR. He is about 14 inches. Somewhat smaller than my last Gigas when he died in a tank crash some years ago. Here is a picture of him taken with my cell phone

http://www.reefcentral.com/forums/picture.php?albumid=6831&pictureid=52313

[AquaTDV]

Nice score Minh!! Good luck

[superchargeme]

Nice score for sure! I've been looking for awhile also. Give it your best!!

[biodegraded]

I think you are the most diligent searcher I know. lol. Nice score on a rare animal.

[trueblackpercula]

very nice i have been looking for a long time now myself...............good luck and congrats

[wjgeese]

a beauty! Any pics of that derasa in the bottom?

[OrionN]

I am building my system and fish room. These animals are just in holding tank right now. There is a full house in that tank, all 5 species of Tridacna clams

[CIGARSC351W]

Congrats, it's a beautiful animal!

[Overboard]

Nice! Hard to find these days.

[Winwood]

Just when I just get exhausted of you scooping up all the desired anemones available, you open up a whole new can of worms! LOL!

[OrionN]

Thanks everybody. It was just plain luck on my part for knowing the right person and contact him at the right time.

[ZephNYC]

impossible find these days! congrats and good luck. Ive had mine for 8 years now.

[reefs4lifee]

Lucky! I've been looking for one as well ever since mine passed when I was a nooby in the hobby :( just that back then they were much easier to come across. I would really love to complete my collection but who knows when that will happen.

Anyways, good luck to you with that beauty!

[SNAKEMANVET]

awesome clam minh.

[OrionN]

Thanks. I am happy and lucky to get him.

[ca1ore]

Indeed. Sold my green/yellow Gigas 5 years ago when temporarily giving up on reef tanks - absolute beauty.

[Rotknee]

That is a very nice Gigas Minh. I have an opportunity to get one but I am a little cautious because I am not sure how well it will survive overnight shipping. I've heard they don't ship well. What do you know about shipping these guys?

[OrionN]

I think the larger the harder to ship. If it is anywhere near 12 inches, the shipper really got to know what he is doing. It is not that they are delicate, but it is hard to ship a living thing that heavy and big. Many thing can go wrong. Just the shell can cut open a bag for one.

[Gary Majchrzak]

how do you supplement calcium and alkalinity, Minh?

[OrionN]

I just hook up a Ca reactor last night. I added a lot of the two parts additive and Mg from BRS up until now. I think I will continue to add the additive. Once I set up my system, I will add kalk also with a dosing pump at a fix rate. My last tank crash involved Kalk as top-off. From experiences it is hard to keep up with a large clams in a system. I got large Derasa and Squamosa in addition to this Gigas

[Gary Majchrzak]

yeah. Big clams suck. Calcium and alkalinity that is... :)

[OrionN]

New pictures today

My blue spotted Squamosa and my Derasa
http://www.reefcentral.com/forums/picture.php?albumid=6831&pictureid=52590

Top down picture of my Gigas. The Gigas is still adapting to my tank, not open fully yet I think. Too much light? It is under 400W MH, right under it. 30 inches high tank with sand bed of about 4 inches
http://www.reefcentral.com/forums/picture.php?albumid=6831&pictureid=52589

[Gary Majchrzak]

how big is it's aquarium?

[OrionN]

Right now all the animals are in holding aquariums several system but the clams pictured above are in a 30X30X30 cube. I just keep them alive in there lighting and water quality are great but FTS is not anything to brag about.

All the animals are going into my 340 g aquarium that is being put together. Just start on the fish room today.

http://www.reefcentral.com/forums/attachment.php?attachmentid=230162&stc=1&d=1367696225

[Gary Majchrzak]

nice!

[trueblackpercula]

Any updates?

[OrionN]

Nothing is new. The frame s coming up. Computer cable is in but electrical and plumping is not. I am not able to work on the tank yet. It will arrive in 2 weeks I hope.

[mayjong]

you have a hippo, too?
got any pics? thanks

[OrionN]

No hippo. Just the 5 Tridacna species

[OrionN]

I got this clam since 4/2013. It is just now start to put on new shell. It was not doing too well in it's last tank. Here are two picture from this AM as my Radion start to turn on. One picture of the shell edge that clearly show new shell :)
I am so happy that it is growing again.

http://reefcentral.com/forums/picture.php?albumid=6831&pictureid=54889

http://reefcentral.com/forums/picture.php?albumid=6831&pictureid=54890

[SNAKEMANVET]

Great looking gigas Minh.

[Giovanni]

Yes I am jealous! I would drive 700-1000 miles for a gigas! I like that blue ribbon bubble algae also! LOL

[OrionN]

More growth shots. This guy was not doing well in his old tank. Once I got him, it took a while for him to start growing. He is doing well now. Here is a shot of his shell today. :)

http://www.reefcentral.com/forums/attachment.php?attachmentid=243208&stc=1&d=1377122440

[Breadman03]

That is truly a testament to your skill in this hobby.

[trueblackpercula]

I only hope it doesn't outgrow your tank in three years.

[OrionN]

Thanks guys.

That is about 1/4 inch over 6 weeks or so. I got my Ca reactor going full blast to keep Ca up. The tank it is going into is 36X72 so I hope it will not stick out of the water or crack the glass anytime soon. If it is close, then I donate it to Sea World or The Texas State Aquarium, or build a 4X8 tank. :)

[trueblackpercula]

5 X 8 is better ;)

[Breadman03]

1/4 inch in six weeks! That comes out to almost 1.5 inches per year.

How many calcium reactors are you going to be running?

[Psionicdragon]

Minh, stop making me jealous!

[Giovanni]

Oh Yea, That is IT, Rub it in!

[moliken]

1/4 inch in six weeks! That comes out to almost 1.5 inches per year.

How many calcium reactors are you going to be running?
yo, bread, do the math again. it's over 2 inches a year. don't wanna be geeky, but derasas sometimnes do 1 1/4 a year.

[OrionN]

I just notice 1/4 inch growth since I notice the shell start to grow 6 weeks ago.

[OrionN]

When my gigas was about 5-6 inches or so it put out about 1/4 inches a month.
My previous Gigas died at about this size so I am not really sure how fast they can grow at this age. This clam is 9 years old and is bout 14 inches. From the shell, there are several periord of unclear duration when he is not growing.
Looking at the shell of these large clam, we can see periord of fast growth (smooth shell) and slow growth (ridges rough shell). I still have my old gigas shell. I will see if I can take some pictures of it to provide example. When my clam was with PMD and stop growing back in the early 2000, and fast grow when it recovered. You can sorta read grow history from the shell, like tree rings.

[OrionN]

http://www.reefcentral.com/forums/attachment.php?attachmentid=243314&stc=1&d=1377209014

Notice the pld shell receeded because my clam is doing poorly and actually shink in size, and then new shell growth. There is actually a gap that is almost 1/4 inch wide and deep.

The older shell also show several periord where he was not doing well.

[AquaTDV]

http://www.reefcentral.com/forums/attachment.php?attachmentid=243314&stc=1&d=1377209014

Notice the pld shell receeded because my clam is doing poorly and actually shink in size, and then new shell growth. There is actually a gap that is almost 1/4 inch wide and deep.

The older shell also show several periord where he was not doing well.

This can also be due to Phosphate levels. I've had my Gigas for almost 6 years now as well as several other large clams, and I've found them to make great "phosphate level" testers. Whenever my phosphate levels creep above .07 I can see a noticeable difference in growth even suspending growth when levels get above .12-.13 (ULR Hanna Kit). These PO4 levels seem to have a more immediate impact on Tridacna growth than other stoney corals.

[OrionN]

The clam was just not doing well and getting smaller. I did not think it can happen, but it does (clam loosing tissue and get smaller).

[OrionN]

http://www.reefcentral.com/forums/picture.php?albumid=6831&pictureid=55673

[OrionN]

On many occasions, I have clams in contact with various anemones including Haddoni without problem. So much so that I consider clams impervious to stings of anemones. I find out today that this is definitely not the case. I am coming home today from work, getting ready to get out of town to war of the Giants. Gigantea versus Gigas. We have to postpone out trip to AM tomorrow instead of tonight. The Gigantea anemone sting the heck out of my Gigas.
Both of my rare large animals that I cannot loose. I have to juggle around to separate the two. Hope this change will not cause the Gigantea to wander.

http://www.reefcentral.com/forums/attachment.php?attachmentid=244119&stc=1&d=1377911894

http://www.reefcentral.com/forums/attachment.php?attachmentid=244120&d=1377911915

[ingtar_shinowa]

Great clam, i've wanted one so bad. Hope you can contain the nem!

[OrionN]

Picture today. That yellow tang is pushing 4 inches.

http://reefcentral.com/forums/attachment.php?attachmentid=245951&stc=1&d=1379373554

[trueblackpercula]

Looks amazing and it looks like the LEDs are doing a lot of good.

[OrionN]

Looks amazing and it looks like the LEDs are doing a lot of good.
I only recently change from MH to LED. He was under 400 W MH before. There are areas on the shell that have 3/4 inch growth.
He really does not start to grow until about July.
I will try to document the amount of grow at the same place I took picture of at the begin of August, and a picture of the shell where there is the most growth this weekend.

[OrionN]

Picture of my T. gigas growth. 1.25 inches since I put him in my tank in April. He really did not start growing until sometime in July. I guess we can say that this is 6 month grow but really it is only 3-4 months growth. He have to get healthy again before growing. I guess at 18 inches or so they can grow 2 inches or more per year as clearly seen in my tank.
This is near the top of the shell. At the end it is less but there are two ends. The total shell length increase was at least 1.5 inches for the last 6 months.

http://www.reefcentral.com/forums/attachment.php?attachmentid=249891&stc=1&d=1382219417

[ingtar_shinowa]

sweet

[Psionicdragon]

Picture of my T. gigas growth. 1.25 inches since I put him in my tank in April. He really did not start growing until sometime in July. I guess we can say that this is 6 month grow but really it is only 3-4 months growth. He have to get healthy again before growing. I guess at 18 inches or so they can grow 2 inches or more per year as clearly seen in my tank.
This is near the top of the shell. At the end it is less but there are two ends. The total shell length increase was at least 1.5 inches for the last 6 months.

http://www.reefcentral.com/forums/attachment.php?attachmentid=249891&stc=1&d=1382219417

so when are u inviting D-nak and me over for clam dinner?

[OrionN]

That clam can make clam chowder for quite a few people. How about tomorrow?


This is a picture taken on 7/31/2013. Quite a bit of growth isn't it? 2 months and 20 days. As accurate as I can , I estimate that the clam is at 17 inches. I estimate by see where the ends of the shell line up with the aquarium wall and measure it. 17 inches and the growth is about over 1 inch since I put him into the tank. He did not start to growth until July 2013.


http://www.reefcentral.com/forums/picture.php?albumid=6831&pictureid=54890

[trueblackpercula]

Get ready to fall out your chair my freind.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GC0aXnKQY-E

[OrionN]

That is a nice tank and nice Gigas. She certainly can feed a few people.
Here is mine today

http://www.reefcentral.com/forums/attachment.php?attachmentid=253727&stc=1&d=1385303588

[akindbro4u]

Nice gigs. I wish I still had my 29 incher.

[OrionN]

Nice gigs. I wish I still had my 29 incher.
Any old pictures? or even current picture in a public tank?

[akindbro4u]

I can did through my photobucket, but sadly I list her in a tank crash. Keep the shell on my mantle (no pun intended) next to my dogs ashes.