Is It Normal?

[Lovesfish]

is it normal for a clam to be slow opening up when you bring it home from the store? the fish swim by it so I don't know if maybe they are scaring it so it will just take time to open up or is it still trying to get used to the new enviroment. dave

 

[SkiFletch]

What kind of clam, how big, and how did you acclimate it?

 

[Mr Miagi]

How did you acclimatise it? What are your water parameters and what is your set-up like? IE Lighting and Flow.

All new additions come reasonably quick in my tanks, Apart from the ususal stressed leathers that take a few days.

 

[Lovesfish]

I temperature acclimated it for 20 min then I acclimated the water in small cup fulls till the salinties were the same. its a 4" clam. pc's for lights and all the paramaters such as nitrates ect are at zero with phosphates slightly above zero. I beleive it is a corcea. I was thinking maybe it was adjusting from the metal halide to PC change but idk. Its also close to the top of the water to compensate for the Halide to PC change. dave I can take a picture if you need me 2 as well.

 

[ostrow]

I have never heard of anyone keeping a crocea clam under pc lighting in a tank that size. I am extremely skeptical that it could work. I could be wrong, but I am very skeptical.

 

[SkiFletch]

A pic would be great. Clams are TOUGH to keep. It might be angry at lighting, flowrate, livestock (see anybody nipping at its mantle?), phosphate, alkalinity, or calcium. Do you know what your alk/calc is, and do you know your sg?

 

[Lovesfish]

the only thing I can't figure out is simply that one of my damsels (I hate them) keeps swimming like right over the clam and won't leave it alone. dave would a clam not open as much if it doesn't have enough flow or 2 much flow? its opened more than yesterday

 

[ostrow]

Flow is not going to be an issue.

Water quality, lighting, and predators are the three things that would cause not opening.

Well, and poor health generally.

I'm 90% sure the issue is your lighting.

 

[Lovesfish]

I was told that it would be fine as long as it was high enough in the tank. which I beleive it is and it is slowly opening more and more so idk I hope it will be alright. dave

 

[Mr Miagi]

It "could be done" if you have more than a few T8's PC's, not just your standard one or two. You havnt told us your water chemistry, so I think its safe to say a conclusive answer will never be reached from the info. given.

You should aim to drip acclimatise for over 40 Mins, using a stretch of air line. Tie a not in the air line so you can regulate flow, and place the bag in a bucket underneath the level of your tank, and start a syphon using the airline. Dripped into the bag slowly over a period of over 30 minutes, until the bag is atleast doubled in volume.

A fish could be the issue, but they generally open not long after harrassment, as most fish dont harrass a clam constantly to not alow it to re-open.

IMO its your water params, because even though your lighting might be classed as low, it would open further to try and catch more light if something else wasnt bothering it.

 

[SkiFletch]

got any pics of it? Be interesting to see just how little it does open

 

[Lovesfish]

well the PC's I have are 4 bulbs 96 w's each and I'll get a picture later of the clam so maybe you can make a determination from that. dave

 

[SkiFletch]

Thats a pretty hefty amount of light. But isnt a 120g tank 4' long and a 96watt PC is 3' long...? If the clam is not directly under a tube, its probably not gonna be happy. Also, whats your tank temp during the dog days of summer?

 

[Lovesfish]

its like 4 inches from the surface right under tubes I think I found the problem I had him on a rock that might have prevented him from fully opening so I moved him up alittle bit and he opened more. Also the room is very well lite by teh sunlight during the day. dave

 

[Lovesfish]

thanks for all your help I've found from moving the clam and making it more level but keeping it as close to the surface as possible the clam has opened more which means I had it in 2 tight a spot to open I'll take some pictures and post them later. dave