Hammer
03/20/2002, 05:25 PM
I am starting to see some trends here with lighting and younger clams. I personally do not agree with some of these trends, or at least what they lead to.
There are a lot of stores and retailers keeping clams under PC/VHO lighting. And this makes sense on many different levels. It is cheaper. It puts less stress on clams trying to possibly adjust to too bright of light on too shallow of water. Did I mention it was cheaper?
This is easily done for the short term. Especially with feeding of the clams.
But my concern is at what point are we conditioning the clam to a certain light source that is not beneficial to the best health of the animal. This is especially true with very small clams. Sure, they do just fine under a much less intense light source, but at what point in the development are we adversely effecting how this clam will adjust to lighting?
Yes, small clams need more food then larger clams. And yes, small clams do not YET need the higher intensity lighting. But are we not conditioning the clam to limit it's light intake based on a limited amount of light?
While I do believe that growing small clams under it's future lighting is a great thing to try and make sure it's development it geared better towards what we as aquarists can provide. I think that lower lighting for small clams could be easily limiting future growth of the clam to be able to fully process a higher light source.
A few months ago I got a couple 1.5" gold maxs. I had them about 5" below water surface, with 250 watt Iwasakis about 4" over the water. Almost directly under the lights.
Over the next couple of months, they were showing excellent growth. And had very nice mantle extension. They were not hiding from the light at all. But one of the max's went so far as to 'gap' at all times the halide is on because the 'daughter' colonies of xoo are completely covering the inside bottom of the clam. If you look into the incurrent syphon, and straight down, you would be amazed at the colors and patterns. This clam obviously uses the light that it gets, and developed itself to obtain and use even more light.
And I would venture to state that this clam would not have had the same response to it's current environment if it was previously kept under weaker lighting. It adapted to a high intensity level of light. And I would venture it could adjust to higher or lower light levels from here, but it would seem that it would it would be most prosperous to keep the clam in it's current environment that it has obviously adapted to.
Would a clam kept under lower lighting levels be able to adapt later in life to higher lighting. I would say yes. But I would say that one grown under these conditions would be more able to adapt and prosper under higher lighting levels, and maybe do much better then the previous clam.
This is obviously oriented towards clams that require higher levels of light. But it would still seem to have an effect on clams that are usually seen in much lower lighting conditions if they are introduced to these lighting conditions when the clam is still developing it's tolerance and dependencies on light intensity and spectrum.
I have a small hippopus that has been kept under PC, VHO, and 6.5K MH and 14K (ish) MH. I will say that it actually responded better to being under the 6.5K MH lighting. It moved towards the light, and had good expansion without reaching. When put under 14K MH lighting, it was over expanding, trying to get more light. I at first found this odd because this clam should be more geared towards that spectrum and intensity. (A new Iwasaki Aqua 50K bulb).
So, what is my point in all these ramblings? It is that a clam should be introduced appropriately to both the light intensity and spectrum at the earliest possible stage in it's development. What better way do we have to try and insure that we are providing the best possible environment for there future?
So what are your thoughts, comments, criticisms to my opinions?
There are a lot of stores and retailers keeping clams under PC/VHO lighting. And this makes sense on many different levels. It is cheaper. It puts less stress on clams trying to possibly adjust to too bright of light on too shallow of water. Did I mention it was cheaper?
This is easily done for the short term. Especially with feeding of the clams.
But my concern is at what point are we conditioning the clam to a certain light source that is not beneficial to the best health of the animal. This is especially true with very small clams. Sure, they do just fine under a much less intense light source, but at what point in the development are we adversely effecting how this clam will adjust to lighting?
Yes, small clams need more food then larger clams. And yes, small clams do not YET need the higher intensity lighting. But are we not conditioning the clam to limit it's light intake based on a limited amount of light?
While I do believe that growing small clams under it's future lighting is a great thing to try and make sure it's development it geared better towards what we as aquarists can provide. I think that lower lighting for small clams could be easily limiting future growth of the clam to be able to fully process a higher light source.
A few months ago I got a couple 1.5" gold maxs. I had them about 5" below water surface, with 250 watt Iwasakis about 4" over the water. Almost directly under the lights.
Over the next couple of months, they were showing excellent growth. And had very nice mantle extension. They were not hiding from the light at all. But one of the max's went so far as to 'gap' at all times the halide is on because the 'daughter' colonies of xoo are completely covering the inside bottom of the clam. If you look into the incurrent syphon, and straight down, you would be amazed at the colors and patterns. This clam obviously uses the light that it gets, and developed itself to obtain and use even more light.
And I would venture to state that this clam would not have had the same response to it's current environment if it was previously kept under weaker lighting. It adapted to a high intensity level of light. And I would venture it could adjust to higher or lower light levels from here, but it would seem that it would it would be most prosperous to keep the clam in it's current environment that it has obviously adapted to.
Would a clam kept under lower lighting levels be able to adapt later in life to higher lighting. I would say yes. But I would say that one grown under these conditions would be more able to adapt and prosper under higher lighting levels, and maybe do much better then the previous clam.
This is obviously oriented towards clams that require higher levels of light. But it would still seem to have an effect on clams that are usually seen in much lower lighting conditions if they are introduced to these lighting conditions when the clam is still developing it's tolerance and dependencies on light intensity and spectrum.
I have a small hippopus that has been kept under PC, VHO, and 6.5K MH and 14K (ish) MH. I will say that it actually responded better to being under the 6.5K MH lighting. It moved towards the light, and had good expansion without reaching. When put under 14K MH lighting, it was over expanding, trying to get more light. I at first found this odd because this clam should be more geared towards that spectrum and intensity. (A new Iwasaki Aqua 50K bulb).
So, what is my point in all these ramblings? It is that a clam should be introduced appropriately to both the light intensity and spectrum at the earliest possible stage in it's development. What better way do we have to try and insure that we are providing the best possible environment for there future?
So what are your thoughts, comments, criticisms to my opinions?