Jaded
February 9th, 2005, 03:36 PM
I recently ordered a clam (maxima) from a disreputable dealer that sells cheap. The basic theory for anyone that shops with this dealer is… don't let it touch their water and you've got a 50/50 shot.
I got a green Maxima about 4.5 inches long for $40 minus a 25% discount because it was Thursday which is order/discount day. Hey for $30 bucks why not right... wrong!!! Being a newb at clams I was totally ill equipped to be messing with it at all. Although it could have been worse I still think I've learned my lesson.
Without knowing what to expect I didn't see the clear signs that this clam was doomed. I was told by the afore mentioned slum lord dealer that with a clam there was no need to acclimate at all... “Clams will seal themselves off and acclimate themselves at their own speed”. I didn’t believe this so I did a standard acclimation over about 45 minutes.
He didn't respond much in the bag and didn't seem to be able close tightly, but at the time I didn't know what that meant. He opened up immediately in the tank and the mantel looked wonderful & fully extended. After may hours he began gapping to the point I thought he was ripped. It was the next day that I noticed the gapping and I thought I just missed it at first, that maybe it was his natural look? I checked the forums and found a couple of threads that talked about gapping. I actually felt better after reading the posts there, all clams pulled though. It was in these posts that I learned that dripping a clam into a new tank is extremely important.
The next day after work (roughly 48 hours in the tank) he looked much the same. My wife and I went out of town for a night on Saturday coming home on Sunday around 4pm. When I looked into the tank I found my yellow coral goby eating from the mushy pile of snot that used to be my clam. I removed all of the debris that I could but the tank looked like I just chummed for shark.
After a day my Yellow coral goby couldn’t be found a large patch of polyps were obviously feeling bad. It was strange because the polyps that reacted were a wedge shaped section of a larger colony. About half the polyps didn’t react at all!
Everything is returning to normal except that my wife lost “Little Bit” her favorite little yellow goby.
The moral to this long story is that a few extra bucks for a good specimen is well worth, I could have very easily lost the whole tank!
I’m now working on lighting and other considerations to make sure I’m ready for clams before jumping in again.
I got a green Maxima about 4.5 inches long for $40 minus a 25% discount because it was Thursday which is order/discount day. Hey for $30 bucks why not right... wrong!!! Being a newb at clams I was totally ill equipped to be messing with it at all. Although it could have been worse I still think I've learned my lesson.
Without knowing what to expect I didn't see the clear signs that this clam was doomed. I was told by the afore mentioned slum lord dealer that with a clam there was no need to acclimate at all... “Clams will seal themselves off and acclimate themselves at their own speed”. I didn’t believe this so I did a standard acclimation over about 45 minutes.
He didn't respond much in the bag and didn't seem to be able close tightly, but at the time I didn't know what that meant. He opened up immediately in the tank and the mantel looked wonderful & fully extended. After may hours he began gapping to the point I thought he was ripped. It was the next day that I noticed the gapping and I thought I just missed it at first, that maybe it was his natural look? I checked the forums and found a couple of threads that talked about gapping. I actually felt better after reading the posts there, all clams pulled though. It was in these posts that I learned that dripping a clam into a new tank is extremely important.
The next day after work (roughly 48 hours in the tank) he looked much the same. My wife and I went out of town for a night on Saturday coming home on Sunday around 4pm. When I looked into the tank I found my yellow coral goby eating from the mushy pile of snot that used to be my clam. I removed all of the debris that I could but the tank looked like I just chummed for shark.
After a day my Yellow coral goby couldn’t be found a large patch of polyps were obviously feeling bad. It was strange because the polyps that reacted were a wedge shaped section of a larger colony. About half the polyps didn’t react at all!
Everything is returning to normal except that my wife lost “Little Bit” her favorite little yellow goby.
The moral to this long story is that a few extra bucks for a good specimen is well worth, I could have very easily lost the whole tank!
I’m now working on lighting and other considerations to make sure I’m ready for clams before jumping in again.