Psychology of a rebel clam

[2poor2reef]

I have a 2" t.max in a small reef tank lit by a 250w 10K mh pendant. The tank turns 20 times per hour. This little t.max is as happy as a you-know-what as long as the lights are on, but once the lights go out, it leaps from wherever it currently is and goes a'wandering. It does so within an hour after lights out. It does this whether it is originally placed on the rocks or on the sand.

The halides are on for 12 hours per day and the actinics for 45 minutes either side of that. The clam appears very healthy and I've had it for two months. I feed a capfull of DTs daily and the tank has an attached refugium with a dsb. It has never made a visible effort to attach anywhere, though it does right/orient itself when the lights come back on. Its bysal gland is intact and healthy. I have never seen any parasitic snails in the tank or on the clam and there are no fish in the system to pester it. My sg is 1.026, ph is 8.3, alk is 3.0 meq/l. I have no detectable ammonia/nitrites/nitrates. I thought it might be currents but I have found no spot to its night-time liking.

I have tried two other boards which shall remain nameless, including one forum that was tridacnid specifiic, and I received no responses. I have tried reasoning with the little bugger, but during every attempt the jeuvenile just clams up. I am no expert with these bivalves and I appeal to anyone that's experienced similar behavior to provide me with a little insight into photosynthetic clam mentality. I don't know what to do for it. TIA.

 

[dvb]

I don't have that problem with my derasa clam. It settled into a spot after a few days. Can you put a couple of rocks around it so that it can't get away? After it settles in you could move them back to where you want them.

 

[Chucker]

Quite simply, it will move where it is happiest. Let it do its own thang.

 

[BCReefer]

I agree with Chucker. I had one that took of as soon as I put it in the tank. It hid under some rocks, so I moved it back to a special little rock that I made. It never stayed there so I left it alone and it has settled in, well at least I think it has??

It did some peculiar things like attach to the glass upside down?? So I had to move it again but as I said it seems to be happy now.

Patrick

 

[jamesw]

I have seen T. maxima clams growing on the SIDE of rocks in Fiji. They do some strange things sometimes.

Remember, juvenile clams are a lot like snails. They have a very strong crawling foot and they use it! I once saw a crocea clam that had climbed UP a filter pipe a good 6 inches straight up!

Like Chucker said, the clam will move to where it feels comfortable, then it will lay down byssal threads. It won't lay down threads if it is not happy in a location.

HTH
James

 

[toptank]

Sorry no one answered your question on the clam forum.

Most of the time like Chucker states that they will move when not happy where they are. In you case I think something is moving them or knocking them around. The reason I say that I had the samething you are talking about and when the lights went out I saw a goby moving the clam around. It could be anything.

 

[EmilyB]

I lost a couple of clams because they jumped off the rock, into corals. My derasa I've had for about a year is on the sand bed. He has been cruising around, trying to get past the brain coral. Tonite he was sort of smooshed up against the glass. There were occasions I moved him back beside the rock, but he won't stay there. So tonight I moved the brain coral, so the clam can roam a bit more. He has never gone anywhere near the anemones, I wonder if they sense them ?

BTW, I have tons of bristleworms (the regular pink variety). They do not harm clams. I just threw that it because it keeps coming up.

 

[Mouse]

Oh Rich, troubles satisfying your Clam :wink:

 

[2poor2reef]

Thanks everybody. Based on your posts I won't get so paranoid about this clam's wanderings. I lost the first tridacnid I tried to keep a couple of years ago and I think that made me hyper about the health of this clam.

BTW that clam forum I was speaking about was not on this board. I have always found this board to be extremely helpful. I'm not somebody who guages a board by the number of replies to my threads. I'm definitely looking for quality over quantity. And that's what I've always received from reefs.org. I just thought it was funny on another board when I posted a question on the clam forum and no one wanted to talk about clams!

 

[EmilyB]

Oh Rich, troubles satisfying your Clam :wink:

Really, Mouse.. :roll: