Neptune Aquatics

Would this coral skeleton work as a clam cradle?

tribbitt

tribbitt

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The maxima clam is tiny, 1.5 inches long. Would either of these work as a suitable clam cradle? How big does the cradle need to be (do i need to account for growth, will the clam bore into the cradle, etc)? Since maxima is a rock-boring clam i’m not sure if the cradle needs to be of a different material or needs to be thick.
 

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The clams I saw the best long term in the wild were wedged into a big rock crevasse with only the mantle showing. I never had any luck with any of the cradles personally, but my only thought why it might not be good is the threads might have a hard time sticking to the sharp parts of the skeleton.
 
H2OPlayar said:
The clams I saw the best long term in the wild were wedged into a big rock crevasse with only the mantle showing. I never had any luck with any of the cradles personally, but my only thought why it might not be good is the threads might have a hard time sticking to the sharp parts of the skeleton.
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All the ones I saw in Japan were embedded all the way. Clam holders just seem to be the way to go in my tank, I havent got enough rockwork to put the clam somewhere it’ll be happy.
 
tribbitt said:
All the ones I saw in Japan were embedded all the way. Clam holders just seem to be the way to go in my tank, I havent got enough rockwork to put the clam somewhere it’ll be happy.
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Sounds like a good excuse to make some new rockwork that can hold a clam.

For the record, the one I have just fell out of its spot last night.
 
H2OPlayar said:
Sounds like a good excuse to make some new rockwork that can hold a clam.

For the record, the one I have just fell out of its spot last night.
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My tank is 20 gallons. At a certain point i can’t cram more stuff in there lol

I hope your clam is doing okay, I plan to put mine in the sandbed - there’s a weird hot spot that gets more par than up on the rocks - it gets 220 par. Should be enough for a small maxima?
 
Another suggestion if you get a container of nyos reef cement (Neptune sells them under $20 Amazon has it as well)

"3 parts cement mix to 1 part water very easy to use and very much idiot proof."

With the cement you can make any shape you want, should fully dry in under 2 days if you don't go crazy and try to use the entire container and make a huge brick.

I use this to fuse rocks together instead of epoxy so it’s very strong once dried and cured.
 
MichaelB said:
Another suggestion if you get a container of nyos reef cement (Neptune sells them under $20 Amazon has it as well)

"3 parts cement mix to 1 part water very easy to use and very much idiot proof."

With the cement you can make any shape you want, should fully dry in under 2 days if you don't go crazy and try to use the entire container and make a huge brick.

I use this to fuse rocks together instead of epoxy so it’s very strong once dried and cured.
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I just got the clam. Was very stupid and didn’t have the foresight to get a clam cup, so I made my own with a coral and it looks fine for now. Will look into this in the future to make aquascape. Seems quality enough, and i might use it when I upgrade tanks.
 
Yeah the thing with cradles is that the clam will move left and right to angle towards the light and move its inhalant siphon away from flow, but having it on one of these is great because it will let you move the clam later without tearing the foot.

Highly recommend this book: https://www.saltwateraquarium.com/giant-clams-in-the-sea-and-the-aquarium-book-by-james-w-fatherree/

I never kept a clam successfully before it. Now I'm up to about 2 years. Artificial cradles won't degrade (Maximas and Croceas secrete a mild acid that dissolve calcium carbonate and allow themselves to burrow.

Basically keep that thing under 250+ PPFD of PAR, stable alk, no predators, and you'll be in the clear.
 
Darkxerox said:
Yeah the thing with cradles is that the clam will move left and right to angle towards the light and move its inhalant siphon away from flow, but having it on one of these is great because it will let you move the clam later without tearing the foot.

Highly recommend this book: https://www.saltwateraquarium.com/giant-clams-in-the-sea-and-the-aquarium-book-by-james-w-fatherree/

I never kept a clam successfully before it. Now I'm up to about 2 years. Artificial cradles won't degrade (Maximas and Croceas secrete a mild acid that dissolve calcium carbonate and allow themselves to burrow.

Basically keep that thing under 250+ PPFD of PAR, stable alk, no predators, and you'll be in the clear.
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I've got 200-220 par there with my kessil at 100%, and there's nowhere else I can put it that doesn't look ridiculous (I could toss it on the frag rack and bring it up to the top lol)

I'm hoping there's no pyramid snails, and alk... Alk I try to keep at 10, but each time I add a coral / improve the flow / otherwise make corals happy, alk dips to ~9 and I have to tweak the dosing to get it back up. I hope those kinds of swings don't harm the clam, but I'm sure it's not great.

I'm aware that my clam is a rock-boring clam, and yeah, they go through aragonite and not ceramic stoneware. I guess if it melts through the coral I can always toss it on a new rock? I'd hope by that point I'll have upgraded lol
 
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