Newbie clam help

[mstr.limpet]

So my 90 gallon tank is 4 years old and doing well. I want to try a clam. I found one at my lfs. $49. I don't know if it's a good deal, or better yet does it look health. I have 2 Kessel a150w sky blue. I read that smaller clams need light, and bigger ones don't. The store has had him for about 2 weeks. Any help would be appreciated. The clam in question is the one that's open.

[Ramracer32]

nice addition. You got it backwards small clams typically need spot feeding because they dont have a large enough mantle for the light alone to keep them alive. may places say feed until around 3"

[NYCBOB]

looks like a maxima. make sure it reacts to ur hand blocking the light. anything over 3 inches is easy to keep as long as u have proper lighting and water parameters.

[mstr.limpet]

Thanks for the reply. And you are correct, I meant smaller needs feeding. I ended up getting one from a different lfs. It's quite larger, which I read was "easier" to keep. It was a bit more $ (85) but I think its doing well. Although it's not opening as far as the ones I see on the internet. Also it has yet to attach to anything other than the piece of coral it came with. Sorry to overload with questions. But I want to do all I can for it.

[mstr.limpet]

I'm kinda new to forums and the proper etiquette. I couldn't find how to attach a picture to my reply so, I'll do it this way. He's about 20" directly below a Kessel a150w sky blue. Sitting on a piece of live rock. I tested my calcium and it's at 480 ppm a day after dosing Kent calcium ( as recommend by lfs). No3 is at 5.0-10 ppm. There is one aptasia on his shell. I don't want to mess with hi too much so I'm waiting for my peppermint shrimp to get it. The clam has been in the tank for 1 week today. He's about 5" across the top. Thanks for any assistance.

[aznflyfisherman]

You need to get rid if that aptisia, if it spreads it will be tough to deal with. Pull the clam out n scrub the aptisia off.

[NYCBOB]

agreed. brush off the aptasia. make sure to burp the clam when u put it back in the water.

[IPT]

agreed. brush off the aptasia. make sure to burp the clam when u put it back in the water.

How do you "burp" a clam and is it necessary? I never did that with any of my clams and I have had them out of the water many times.

[Fylerb]

interested in burping a clam

[mstr.limpet]

Not really interested in burping the clam. Since I've posted this my shrimp has taken care of it. I was mainly curious as to the health of the clam.

[Tripod1404]

nice addition. You got it backwards small clams typically need spot feeding because they dont have a large enough mantle for the light alone to keep them alive. may places say feed until around 3"

Nope, both are wrong. Small or large, clams dont need to be fed. That is a urban legend.

Even when you want to feed, you dont target feed them. Target feeding can cause a clam to suffocate.

https://www.advancedaquarist.com/2010/7/inverts

The "Three Inch" Myth
I have read and been told at some time or another that all tridacnids must be fed phytoplankton for long-term survival. Obviously, this is utter nonsense. However, much more frequently, hobbyists bring up the "three inch" rule, which sounds much more reasonable, but is also nonsense. So, let me kill this one off, too.

For several years I've heard that any tridacnids under about 3" in length must be fed regularly or they'll starve to death. The supposed twist here is that mature tridacnids can get all the C/E they need from their zooxanthellae, but immature clams cannot do so because they don't yet harbor enough zooxanthellae in their mantles. The story goes that when young it takes them several years to build up a full complement of zooxanthellae, and that they must get the rest of what they need by filter-feeding until this happens.

I could go into great detail as to why this false, but I'll keep it short since I already did that in my book. The fact is, small tridacnids, just a few weeks old, have all the zooxanthellae they need in order to thrive, and this population keeps up just fine as a clam grows, too. One study above all others bore this out. In a controlled experiment,

Fitt & Trench (1981) produced several larval specimens of Tridacna squamosa from sperm and egg, and then reared them for 10 months. These juvenile clams were kept in a flow-through system and provided with filtered seawater for the entire time, having no access to planktonic/particulate matter with the exception of being given some zooxanthellae early on in order to get their population started. For the duration of the experiment the clams not only stayed alive, but grew. Of course, the filtered water did contain dissolved nutrients, which the specimens could readily absorb, and that should be plenty enough to quell any arguments about juveniles requiring additions of plankton for survival.