Tear Drops

[Lazyreefer]

Are they worth buying? Is there still a problem with them living?

[hwynboy]

I have one and it is the centerpiece of my tank at 7 inches. The only bad thing I have heard about teardrops are the ones collected out of Vietnam as they were ripped from the rocks tearing their foot. Those TD clams had a poor survival rate. The other ones collected from Solomon Islands have no problems from what I have read/seen.

And to answer your first question YES they are worth getting. They are magnificent.

[johnrags1234]

They are worth getting only if thjey are comibng out of areas other than Vietnam.

They are really common now, so you can find them for around $85 each for a gold five incher. I have not seen any colored ones at all as of late, and that is sort of sad becasue the gold ones, though very nice, look pretty much the same IMO.

Good luck if you get one!

John

[fish_dave]

There should be a few more Solomon tear drops show up around the usuall sources this coming week. We just got in 26 new ones, about half colored and half gold. They range in size from 5 inch to 9 inch. They will go out tomorrow (Friday) and you should see them available from Saturday on.

Fish_dave

[hwynboy]

who is we? Where will we be able to find them?

[Vili_Shark]

Exactly!
Who is we?
and where can I buy a Colored one?

[fish_dave]

Sorry about the vague "we" reference, I did not want a bunch of replys from people wanting to buy clams from me. These clams are in the country today and are available to the same sources that have had them in the past. Check with the online sources that have had them in the past and they should have some new ones available. The Tong's stores around the L.A. area usually stock some also. A few should trickle out to local fish stores also through the "cherry pickers" who ship out of L.A.

[AgentSPS]

Almost all the teardrops in recent shipments are coming from Vietnam. I just purchased a green teardrop and am crossing my fingers. I think someone had a talk with the Vietnamese collectors and they now know not to rip them off the rocks. Then again it has been decades since someone talked to Philippine fish collectors and they still use cyanide and blast methods.

[AgentSPS]

Originally posted by AgentSPS
Almost all the teardrops in recent shipments are coming from Vietnam. I just purchased a green teardrop and am crossing my fingers. I think someone had a talk with the Vietnamese collectors and they now know not to rip them off the rocks. Then again it has been decades since someone talked to Philippine fish collectors and they still use cyanide and blast methods.

To follow up...I spoke to my vendor and he confirmed that those idiots are still ripping the clams off the rocks. He had 5 die from damaged feet in the last shipment. Hopefully someone will step in and put an end to this collecting method.

[Vili_Shark]

It's really sad.

But is it true that most of the croceas in America comes from VieNam?

[fishforlife]

yes it's true...many vendors in the US did not speak of it because of the bad reputation in the past

[fish_dave]

The reason that most of the crocea in America are coming from Vietnam is strictly price. Crocea are available regularly from the Solomons but the price is almost twice that of the Vietnam clams. Many vendors give lip service to wanting to carry Solomon clams but when it comes down to the price and their ability to compete in the market they choose Vietnam clams. There are several hundred Solomon clams in L.A. right now but it is very difficult to sell them with the price difference from Vietnam. Some dealers understand the difference and pay the extra price for the Solomon clams but then they have to deal with other dealers who are buying Vietnam clams and selling them cheaper as Solomon clams. I have seen several clams sold as Solomon Island clams that did not come from the Solomons.

[AgentSPS]

Originally posted by fish_dave
The reason that most of the crocea in America are coming from Vietnam is strictly price. Crocea are available regularly from the Solomons but the price is almost twice that of the Vietnam clams. Many vendors give lip service to wanting to carry Solomon clams but when it comes down to the price and their ability to compete in the market they choose Vietnam clams. There are several hundred Solomon clams in L.A. right now but it is very difficult to sell them with the price difference from Vietnam. Some dealers understand the difference and pay the extra price for the Solomon clams but then they have to deal with other dealers who are buying Vietnam clams and selling them cheaper as Solomon clams. I have seen several clams sold as Solomon Island clams that did not come from the Solomons.

LOL IRONIC. People will spend $100-150 on a teardrop which has a good chance of having a torn foot (death) but will not fork over an extra $50-100 to get a clam that is much more likely to live.

[Vili_Shark]

Are ya guys serious?

I mean a guy is buying a clam in like 150 bucks, and he dont check the the foot of the clam?

I mean ya buy a clam, ya have to inspect it carefully before taking it back, I mean that's why ya pay so much money for, ya have to get the right stuff for your buck.

[hwynboy]

I just spent a boatload of money on 2 teardrops...the new ones Im assuming fish dave is referring to...both are green/blue and orange. I cant wait to get them... I will post pictures once they come in.

[Vili_Shark]

Ohhhhh, mail order, now I get it.

OK, hwynboy, show us some pix, are they from Barry?

[hwynboy]

Yes they are from Barry and should be here on thursday morning.

[Vili_Shark]

These were just super tear drops.

Seems like the quality is gettin higher and higher.

Barry's last TD shipment was sold in minutes!

[hwynboy]

I kept refreshing my browser every couple minutes for the longest time on Sunday. When I finally got in there were 2 already sold and checked out and 2 others that were pending. I quickly snatched up 2 and there was one or two left. So within about 5-10 minutes of the site going live they were all but 1 or 2 sold. the hype is crazy on these guys and I must say you have to see them in person to appreciate their beauty. I should probably sell them to make a quick buck....nah. I love em. =)

[Rothie]

hwynboy-So your the one!!That was me pending,but you were quicker.This dial up connection is saving me a lot of money.

[hwynboy]

nope...when it's pending you have it locked up and no one else can buy it. So unless you disconnected there was no way I took it from you. =) Once you put it in your basket you have first dibs on the server.

[Rothie]

That's interesting.I didn't mean to imply that I was mad about it.I really don't need another clam.I bought a Nilson reactor instead.The clam was #400-great colors.

[NIXONNOXIN]

Originally posted by hwynboy
nope...when it's pending you have it locked up and no one else can buy it. So unless you disconnected there was no way I took it from you. =) Once you put it in your basket you have first dibs on the server.

Not to pick on you hwynboy, but this method of quickly locking up the selection (by placing it in your shopping cart), to accommodate someone's greed and fickle selection seems to be the norm on Barry's site. If you keep refreshing your browser, some time later you'll see a number of the clams that were previously "Sold" reappear on the website as available.

Barry should really institute a limit on the number of clams placed in one's shopping cart, and in doing so, aggregate separate purchases into one shipment for those that are truly in the market to buy multiple clams.

[hwynboy]

Oh, I don't feel picked on at all...but you are correct and not so correct. When you place an item in your cart the item on the site does not show as sold. It will show as pending. Once the transaction has cleared (paid for) the item then shows up as sold. Therefore as a clarification an item is nver shown as sold unless it is paid for. IME when I have done this the items that are pending (in someones shopping cart) are usually sold very soon afterwards. I myself placed 3 clams in my cart...and after some deliberation I purchased all 3. Hope that clears it up a bit more.

And for those of us who sat there clicking refresh every 2 minutes or so for about an hour we deserve first pick anyhow =) My girlfriend thought I was nuts...

[NIXONNOXIN]

Umm... that wouldn't appear to be correct. When you change your status to "Check out" (not paid) they show up as Sold. You can remain in "Check out" state as long as you want

I even confirmed it by placing a clam in my shopping cart, check out, grabbed another browser which showed my clam as SOLD. Further confirmed it by then releasing the clam from my shopping cart, which then appeared as available.

[Rothie]

This was my experience-Clam 400 was available;I put it in my shopping cart;I then added a shipping container to my cart;I had to build a new account when I checked out because my info had changed;When I went to finalize the check out,all I had was a shipping container and shipping charges.I didn't disconnect at any time or change my cart.

[rxx2]

I had the same experience as Rothie, only it was TD-500.
Dang, hopefully we see more and more of these awesome clams.

[johnrags1234]

**** I wanted the baby teardrop for my nano. Even though he nano isnt even set up yet, I would have had someone hold it for me until I was ready, Arghh.

Im sure their will be more :MAD:

John

[hwynboy]

oh my I stand corrected. good information thank you.

[lebowski]

John, If you ever need anyone to hold you a teardrop.. you can count on me:)

[Rebels23]

Is this Barry from clamsdirect.com ?

[Vili_Shark]

Yes he is.

[weefishman]

So is it every Saturday that the new stuff is posted, or is it only specific saturdays of the month? Hoping to grab one of those tiny ones, $85 is a much easier price to swallow.

-Jonny

[hwynboy]

They are only on certain times...it is not every saturday.

[NIXONNOXIN]

Join his mailing list and you'll be notified of when new stock comes in.

[fish_dave]

The Solomon teardrops come in on Thursday night and Barry is able to purchase them on Friday. They usually start showing up on the online sites by Friday afternoon or Saturday morning. The two small ones that came in last week were pretty unusual. We almost never get small ones, certainly not in any kind of numbers. Barry probably should have charged more for it being small as they are harder to get. Who ever got it for 85.00 got a deal, it was a very nice looking clam.
The Solomons has closed down for the Holidays so there will not be any more Solomon teardrops until the 8th of January at the earliest and I expect that it will be a few weeks after that before any show up. They are pretty slow to get started up after the holidays, stocks take a few weeks to get built up again. There are still a few hundred Solomon crocea available in L.A. at present.

[weefishman]

Thanks for all the great info guys, I'd never seen any small TD's until those two showed up on Barry's site. Great looking clams. Guess I'll have to start saving and keep my figures crossed:).

-Jonny