Clam Questions

I recently (3 weeks ago) purchased a t.crocea clam. It is about 4 inches long and a peacock blue colour. I am running 2 x 96 w actinics and 2 x 150 w m/h lights on a 75 g. I placed the clam on a flat piece of rock on the substrate. He opens up but not like I have seen them in the store. The attached pic was taken the other night. I wonder if he should be open more....I feed coral plankton and bioplankton twice a week as I only have the one clam and a couple of corals. My water params are great 0 ammonian/trites/trates. calcium is about 400 and ph 8.2 alk is 4.5mm/l? not sure if this is the right measurement of hardness....

 

Beautiful Clam

 

What kind of lighting do the stores have their clams under?

 

IMO, if that pic is your clam, it looks terrific. Not quite sure if your measurments of the alk are correct(4.5mm/l or is it 4.5meq/l?). Either way, it seems a bit high for a balance at 400 calcium. If you're dosing a 2 part, you may want to slowly ease back on the alk dose. What is the stable temp and are there lots of swings in any of the parameters???

 

yes that is a picture of my clam, after I have had him 3 weeks. The stores had them under really high mh lighting on a tank about 5 x 8 feet with 6 250 w mh lights about 4 feet above the water. The clams were on an egg crate about 6 inches deep in the water. The temp in my tank ranges from 79.0 to about 80.5 during the day. Yes that was the alkalinity measure meq/l. I am not supplementing at all. Just doing about 10-15% water changes weekly, I have no real swings in any params, they have been very very steady. The clam is very responsive to anyone walking by and I have seen a hermit fall from the rock into the clam, who promptly spit him out.....Maybe it needs to be higher on the rock that the water is only inches deep in the highest part of the tank?

 

If it needed to be higher up, it would expand its mantle further than where it already is in order to "catch" more light. I think the clam is fine so no need to do anything at the moment.

 

thanks, that is what I thought. The ones in the lfs just came in and it could be they were still adjusting to new environment. The colour of this one is very vibrant without any bleached spots. The brown in the pic is due to the angle that the pic was taken. If you look directly down from above there isn't any area of discolouration.....It seems happy enough and readily opens and closes with light.....There are a few spots higher up closer to the top that I could move it to, but I am worried about it falling from up there and damaging itself.