First off I highly recommend quarantining all new clams no matter what the circumstance. Even if you get a clam from your buddy who has had it for years and it looks healthy quarantine it!
I use a 12 gallon tank that is bare bottom with 2 Koralia Nano's for circulation and a 50 watt heater. I have a 24" Nova Extreme 4 bulb T5 light on top. I Quarantine all my clams for at least 10 days minimum. If they look good after 10 days I scrub them off with a toothbrush just to clean any unwanteds off and then I acclimate them into the display tank.
This QT setup I have is fairly cheap in the long run and I use it for my corals and most fish as well as my clams.
Clam Acclimation
First start off by turning off all of your lighting. Float it in the bag for 15-20 min. Then I take the clam in the bag if the bag is big enough hold at least 1 liter of water and if it isn't I dump the clam and all the water into a big plastic cup. I then place it and bag/cup in a 5 gallon bucket. Then I have a 1/4" airline hose that is about 3-4 feet long. On one end of the hose I have tied a knot in it to restrict flow to a very slow drip. Place the hose into your tank and start a slow siphon into the bag or cup the clam is in. I then forget about the operation for about an hour letting the container overflow into the 5 gallon bucket. When the bag or cup is starting to float in the bucket I check the water temp and compare it to my tank temp. I also take a toothbrush and gently scrub the clams shell to knock off any unwanted hitchhikers. Sometimes re floating is necessary because the container water cools off again. Once I am sure the clam has been very slowly acclimated to the tank water temp and parameters I add it to the tank on the sand bottom.
After the clam has been in the tank for about an hour I slowly start to turn my lights on again. Leave the clam on the sand for a few days and when you place it there put something small and flat buried in the sand under it. The clam will attach to it. This step makes it easy to move the clam from spot to spot on your rock work later. After the clam has been there for a few days and it is one of the more light loving clams IE Crocea or Maxima. I slowly start moving it up on to the rock work.
If it is a Squamosa Giga's or Derasa and I like it to be on the sand, if the clam hasn't moved from where I placed it to begin with I just leave it alone. If it does move IE from side to side or turns I know it wants to be elsewhere and I move it to another spot until it sits in one space. The same go's for clams up on the rocks, if they move themselves I don't put them back to the same spot. They are moving for a reason.
HTH,
Chris
I use a 12 gallon tank that is bare bottom with 2 Koralia Nano's for circulation and a 50 watt heater. I have a 24" Nova Extreme 4 bulb T5 light on top. I Quarantine all my clams for at least 10 days minimum. If they look good after 10 days I scrub them off with a toothbrush just to clean any unwanteds off and then I acclimate them into the display tank.
This QT setup I have is fairly cheap in the long run and I use it for my corals and most fish as well as my clams.
Clam Acclimation
First start off by turning off all of your lighting. Float it in the bag for 15-20 min. Then I take the clam in the bag if the bag is big enough hold at least 1 liter of water and if it isn't I dump the clam and all the water into a big plastic cup. I then place it and bag/cup in a 5 gallon bucket. Then I have a 1/4" airline hose that is about 3-4 feet long. On one end of the hose I have tied a knot in it to restrict flow to a very slow drip. Place the hose into your tank and start a slow siphon into the bag or cup the clam is in. I then forget about the operation for about an hour letting the container overflow into the 5 gallon bucket. When the bag or cup is starting to float in the bucket I check the water temp and compare it to my tank temp. I also take a toothbrush and gently scrub the clams shell to knock off any unwanted hitchhikers. Sometimes re floating is necessary because the container water cools off again. Once I am sure the clam has been very slowly acclimated to the tank water temp and parameters I add it to the tank on the sand bottom.
After the clam has been in the tank for about an hour I slowly start to turn my lights on again. Leave the clam on the sand for a few days and when you place it there put something small and flat buried in the sand under it. The clam will attach to it. This step makes it easy to move the clam from spot to spot on your rock work later. After the clam has been there for a few days and it is one of the more light loving clams IE Crocea or Maxima. I slowly start moving it up on to the rock work.
If it is a Squamosa Giga's or Derasa and I like it to be on the sand, if the clam hasn't moved from where I placed it to begin with I just leave it alone. If it does move IE from side to side or turns I know it wants to be elsewhere and I move it to another spot until it sits in one space. The same go's for clams up on the rocks, if they move themselves I don't put them back to the same spot. They are moving for a reason.
HTH,
Chris
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