Joe,
I have to agree with Andrew on this. Almost every species of T. clam lives
on top of the reef, in extremely high light zones. When the clams are
introduced to an environment that does not have enough light, they slowly
die over a period of weeks, or even months. The reason this happens is that
when you first bring the clam home, it has billions of xooanthelle in it,
which are producing food for the clam. They are multiplying and producing
more and more food as the clam grows, this is due to the high amounts of
light they receive.
Without the proper amount of light, over time, the xooanthelle begin to die.
Sooner or later, there is not enough xooanthelle to produce enough food for
the clam, and it dies. Even if you introduce food into the water for the
clams, they still need high amounts of light to live. Is what will happen,
is the clam will seem fine for months, then one day you wake up and it is
dead, and there are crabs and worms eating it.
You will note, most SPS corals can only take so much light before they begin
to show signs of distress. They quit opening, loose color, bleach out and
eventually die. Clams on the other hand are different. They can take dang
near as much light as you can give them, and they love it. It is not
uncommon for aquarists to keep these animals directly under 400 watt MHs,
and the clams open up and think it is great. An SPS under this type of light
may suffer, and quickly die. It is just more evidence that the clams are
light loving animals, and thus, we should try to keep them in high light set
ups. I would increase your lighting to the PCS or VHO as Andrew suggested if
you want to help guarantee long term survival of the clams.
Andrew also had a good point regarding calcium and alkalinity usage. These
animals, when growing correctly, use a lot of calcium from the water. If you
added the right amount of light to the tank, you would be hard pressed to
keep up with the calcium usage the clam would demand (especially 2).
The tank is yours, and you can keep whatever you want in there, but please
consider the opinions and advice you get from others on the list. One huge
advantage to belonging to a list is that you dont have to learn from your
own mistakes, you can learn from others mistakes (and experience).
> -----Original Message-----
> From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] [SMTP:[EMAIL PROTECTED]]
> Sent: Wednesday, October 03, 2001 10:50 AM
> To: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
> Subject: Re: MY TANK!
>
> Hey Everyone, and thanks for your help! BUT TO ANDREW, I APPRECIATE YOUR
> HONEST ANSWER, BUT LIKE YOU SAID, I SHOULD HAVE ASKED THE QUESTION IF I
> DIDN'T WANT AN HONEST ANSWER, WELL, I KNOW MY LIGHTING IS GREAT FOR
> CORALS,
> BECAUSE I HAVE HAD IT UP AND THE ONLY CORLY THAT DIED ON ME WAS A OPEN
> BRAIN
> CORAL....BUT LIKE THE OTHERS SAID I WHAT LOOKING FOR HELP ON WHAT DO GIVE
> THE
> CLAM OR WHERE TO PLACE HIM, NOT WHETHER OR NOT TO RETURN HIM OF IF MY
> LIGHT
> IF EFFICIENT ENOUGH....I WOULD LIKE TO PASTE A COPY OF MY FIRST EMAIL WITH
>
> THE T. MAXIMA QUESTION.....
>
> "Well, I just purchased another Maxima clam, I already had one, but I just
>
> wanted to know if anyone had advice on, like where to place them, or what
> to
> give, things like that...Just let me know, thanks, Joe"
> ________________________________________
>
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