Clam question and answer

I meant find one in china town. They eat those as well....

eddie: those clams BETTER be for the tank and not food
paul: wild wild wild!!! thanks for sharing! does it bother anything?

they are very nocturnal and peaceful. mine doesn't bulldoze either

awwww....good to hear Paul!

anyone else have clam questions?

Q on clams. how is a clam "measured"? somebody showed white scutes on his clam and figured that was the new growth and measured that way. is that accurate, or is measurement taken along the shell's widest point?

Yes can measure it any way you want. If you're trying to track growth then the only thing that matters is to make sure you measure it the same way every time. If i were worried about measuring a clam (which im not)for growth then i would do length from longest point's

Can you look at a clam and give an accurate guess of its age?

Originally Posted by chris&barb

Im going to say they can do just as well not embeded in rock as they can do if they are. Im not sure if you meant to say acros or just embeded in rock? In the wild they are almost always found embeded in hard substrate. A lot of people think they do this as protection from predators and that may be part of it however where they are found in the wild also has strong currents and since they dont weigh very much being dug into the rocks has other advantages.

No, I meant acro, or a branching stony coral of some sort. I've seen them referred to as parasitic because of this, but maybe it is more rare than just embedding in rock. I've also seen a couple aquariums with little croceas sitting in a coral colony, I thought it was a neat look.

Originally Posted by Variko

Can you look at a clam and give an accurate guess of its age?

that's a great question. my guess is no, but if that's right, is there a way to estimate age?

Originally Posted by Variko

Can you look at a clam and give an accurate guess of its age?

You can measure it and get a good guess as to its age just by using minimum, maximum and average reported growth rates for each species but as they get larger and sexually mature those growth rates can go out the window as the clam puts more energy into reproduction than into growth.

Originally Posted by spinycheek

No, I meant acro, or a branching stony coral of some sort. I've seen them referred to as parasitic because of this, but maybe it is more rare than just embedding in rock. I've also seen a couple aquariums with little croceas sitting in a coral colony, I thought it was a neat look.

Ok, i see what your saying. I think depending on what type of coral the clam may be on the clam may benefit from being on it as opposed to bare rock. Bare rock would be more likely to grow algae which could over grow the clam and block light then if it was on a coral head like this.



As for them being parasitic i dont see it. The clam would have to take something from the coral (nutrient, energy ect..) for it to be parasitic. Commencal maybe.

Originally Posted by shmoliken

that's a great question. my guess is no, but if that's right, is there a way to estimate age?

Yes, you can get an estimate but there are a lot of factors that make that estimate not worth that much. Educated guess at best.

Originally Posted by chris&barb

Ok, i see what your saying. I think depending on what type of coral the clam may be on the clam may benefit from being on it as opposed to bare rock. Bare rock would be more likely to grow algae which could over grow the clam and block light then if it was on a coral head like this.



As for them being parasitic i dont see it. The clam would have to take something from the coral (nutrient, energy ect..) for it to be parasitic. Commencal maybe.

amazing things growing on the shell, sponges, maybe barnacles?? we love fatherree!

They look like tunicates, cool pic!

Using size, to estimate age, would be very difficult, IMO. 2 of my T. crocea clams were purchased, the same week, and at the same size, about 2 years ago. One of those clams is now much larger than the other. They were in different tanks, until about 2 months ago, when they were both put in the same tank. In 2 years, their growth rate has been extremely different. Thus, if I were using size, to estimate age, I'd estimate them at widely different ages, even though they were identical in size, when I purchased them.