Tridacna Maxima Clam

[jeasko]

Just doing some research before heading off out and buying one of these things (Tridacna maxima clam)
Guys at LFS have said providing it is kept high up in the tank (under t5 lighting) and the water quality is ok and that the calcium level is maintained it should do fine.

Rather than just blindly accept what they are telling me I thought id see what response i get from here, although in the past they have been very good and pretty much spot on with the info they have given me, id hate to kill anything through stupidity.

Any advice would be welcome

 

[nanocubeking]

I think it would be ok if you have 5 or more watts per gallon.

 

[Musho3210]

they seem spot on, high light (im talking really high) high calcium, and.... luck i guess, i had a clam, lasted for about a month, perfectly fine one day, dead and half rotten/eaten the next.

 

[SkiFletch]

How many tubes? Individual reflectors?

When selecting a clam, make sure you go for one that is at LEAST 3" shell length, prefferably more like 4". The juvenile ones do not have fully developed vascualr systems to house zooxanthellae algae and thus need REALLY HIGH light to survive. As the clam grows/matures, the vascular system develops and they can hold more zooxanthellae and live on less light

 

[jeasko]

Have got 2 x t5 34inch 39w tubes and 2 x t8 blues, it would likely be kept less than 6 inches below surface both t5 have reflectors t8 only have a white reflector though.

Would this be sufficient?

 

[Adrinal]

Are they parablolic reflectors or just flat sheets of metal? If the former, you are likely to be fine as far as lighting needs.

Please encourage everyone to forget watts/per gallon, it is an old school rule of thumb that is far from useful and very miss-leading.

 

[andywg]

When selecting a clam, make sure you go for one that is at LEAST 3" shell length, prefferably more like 4". The juvenile ones do not have fully developed vascualr systems to house zooxanthellae algae and thus need REALLY HIGH light to survive. As the clam grows/matures, the vascular system develops and they can hold more zooxanthellae and live on less light

It is also believed that smaller clams will need extra filter food as even with all the lgiht, the zooxanthellae just can't support them.

Please encourage everyone to forget watts/per gallon, it is an old school rule of thumb that is far from useful and very miss-leading.

Amen.

 

[Colin_T]

how tall is the tank? If it is over 18inches high then you are probably better of with a halide so the light will get to the bottom. Shallow tanks up to 18inches should be ok with high output T5s.

 

[SkiFletch]

Are they parablolic reflectors or just flat sheets of metal? If the former, you are likely to be fine as far as lighting needs.

Please encourage everyone to forget watts/per gallon, it is an old school rule of thumb that is far from useful and very miss-leading.

Agreed. Just make SURE you place it high-up in your rock stack as maxximas are one of the higher-light requiring clams. IMO, Crocea or Derasa would be more-suited to your tank.

 

[jeasko]

cheers for the replies guys, one final concern is size?
the one im looking at is only 1.5 inches in size, so unsure if thats a problem also just to check if i remember right they dont like alot of flow?

the reflectors i have are curved arcadia t5 reflectors so should be sufficient in that area.

 

[andywg]

1.5" is small. You are almost certainly going to have to supplement their feeding with phyto- and zooplankton.

 

[SkiFletch]

Thats really small. This is just my personal oppinion, but I wouldn't put a 1.5" maxxima in my tank with dual 175watt halides today. I tried many moon ago and the little guy didnt make it. My 4" crocea on the other hand, no problems with whatsoever.

 

[jeasko]

thanks all once again loks like I may have to look around for a crocea instead, shame as the maxima is really nicely coloured, but glad i asked before heading off out and buying.

 

[Musho3210]

you could alternatively wait for another nice maxima to pop up, personal opinion, but i like maximas a lot more than croceas

 

[Adrinal]

Maxima over 3"

Crocea over 1.5"

Crocea have a much better track record.

You already heard it from these guys, I just want to echo it.

PS
I keep my maximas and crocea 16" under water, under T-5s ice cap reflectors, regular decent ballasts. Also under tek hoods... which arn't as powerful as retros...but not bad, about 30 less PAR if I recall.