AndyH5512
Aquarium Advice FINatic
Hello everyone. I recently acquired a nice small maxima clam, a couple of acroporas and a few colonies of zoo's. What does everyone suggest for feeding, and how often? Thanks!
Watts/gal is only a very loose guideline and not a hard and fast rule. Intensity of the light is what is most important. Higher intensity will give you better penetration.How many total watts is the MH. Its not just the fact you have a Metal Halide. Its about how many watts per gallon.
I prefer to think of it from the oppisite direction...A tank with 6-7 wpg of CF lighting would not automatically qualitfy it to keep light-demanding animals. In this case, depth is what is important. While 150watts of MH lighting may not be enought to sustain a clam placed on the substrate. Moving the clam to a higher place on the rockwork is a better option.yes Higher intensity will give you better penetration but if he has low watts per gallon in a big tank that could be the problem couldnt it?
I agree with Phyllis in that small clams do need direct feedings. I would caution removing the clam from the tank to do so. Rock dwelling species such as the Crocea will actually attach to the rock and romoving them could cause damage to the foot...leading to infection etc. Even clams that prefer the sustrate should be provided with a flat rock burried in the substrate that they can attach to.Small clams neeeeeed to be fed. They need to be taken out of the tank (in a bowl of water) and the water needs to be saturated with phytoplankton (DTs).
Rotifers are generally too large for clams to injest (50-100 nm) while live phytoplanton is right in the range (4-40 nm) and will feed the clam just fine. Until it reach's the 2ish" size range, it will rely quite strongly on these feedings.AndyH5512 said:On a side note, I just got some Roti-Rich from the LFS to feed the clam. Has anyone ever tried using this stuff?
Too much too fast/often can cause the gills to clog, especially if the micron size is not appropriate. While still quite small they can be removed from the tank and "bowl fed". Many prefer placing them in a small 5-10 gallon tank and just add the foods there until they reach an appropraite size for a display tank. Basically your looking for enough surface area on the mantle for it to properly photosynthesize it's own food via zooxanthellae. Typically once the reach the 2"+ size, they will need much less in the way of direct feedings.StripesTheEel said:I have never kept clams but could a syringe or something similar with the food be injected close to its mouth also? :?