Clam question

[martin_jones]

I have a clam which has been in my tank for about 2-3 months.

I have had it positioned at the top of the tank to be near the lighting (4xtek) and it has been happy there.

Recently (over the past weekend) I have woken to find the clam on the sand at the bottom of the tank. Initially I thought that maybe a snail had bothered it in the night and it had 'reacted' by moving. It has subsequently relocated twice since.

Should I leave it on the sand at the bottom of the tank, or will this be bad for it (I understand they need high lighting), or just keep moving it back near the top of my tank?

If I were to leave him on the sand, and it didn't like it, what indication would I get (other thank it dying, which is a bit of a drastic way of letting me know).

It is a 90G perfecto-style tank, so I believe it's about 22" high. I have rockwork nearly to the top of the tank, so the clam is probably about 6" from the lights.

Any thoughts?

Martin

[Cheebs]

Hi Martin. I had a similar problem with one of my clams, it just decided it didn't like where it was all of a sudden, and even though it had been in the same spot for months, from that point on every time I put it back it would "hop" off the rocks. I finally just put the clam on the sand bed and it's been fine since then, although I think it may JUST be getting enough light. I also have the 4 lamp teklight, but my tank is a 75g, and I'm worried that there may not be enough light reaching your clam if you put it on the bottom.

You could try what I did with one of my clams, and sort of cradle it between some rocks closer to the top, gently of course.  It's a good Idea to have the fleshy foot resting on some rock, so it can use it to sort of attach to the to it.  Otherwise you could try the sand bed, as some people might suggest, but beware, I'm thinking some bleaching might occur...  A couple signs that it doesn't like being down there would be frequent contractions as it tries to move around, and the mantle might try to extend weirdly to get more light.

Hope that helps,
Phil.

[Funkmotor]

What kind of clam is it?

[RossW]

If I were to leave him on the sand, and it didn't like it, what indication would I get (other thank it dying, which is a bit of a drastic way of letting me know).

I seem to recall being told that clam's tend to go quickly and suddenly without any warning signs.

[Cheebs]

What kind of clam is it?

Ah yes, good point. Mine was a crocea clam, so I assumed yours was too for some reason. Different types have different preferences!

[martin_jones]

What kind of clam is it?

Sorry - forgot to mention. It's a crocea clam.

I'll try it on the sand if it decides to move again.

Martin

[OttawaReefer]

Try putting a small piece of rock underneath the clam when you put it into the sand.  I read that if you put them on your rock they will eventually attach themselves to it, so it's best to put it on a smaller piece of rock, let it attach itself to that, and then you can move it about.

[veron]

CROCEAS, really do like alot of light, and they love to nestly between liverock and have there '' foot'' [bysal glands] attached. that being said they can be on the sand bed if you have alot of light but put a half clam shell or flat rock underneath for it to attach.
sometime they move not because there unhappy but just because they rapidly close there shell to expell waste/sand particles and this action can move them.
but in the rocks is best IMO.