To Clam or Not To clam

HI there looking at the price of these clams blue lightning clam for $250 AUD are they easy to keep. I hear that they actually contribute to cleaning the water in the tank they are very buetiful but i asume that that means there not easy lol hmm n e thoughts or opinions on which clam to get or succes stories would be great.

 

Depends on the lighting you have. Clams do contribute to lowering the waste level in your water, however, they require intense lighting. Metal Halides or very powerful T5s. Depending on the lighting situation, a clam may be awesome for you! They are gorgeous, fun to watch, interesting creatures. I have 2, a Derasa and a Maxima. I've heard that with some species you can get away with less lightning. I don't know what you mean by blue lightning clam though. I would guess that's a Maxima? They're most common...

 

i have halides and 6 tubes so i think hte lighting should be sufficient how much halide light do you give your tank a day

 

Here's a decent thread about clams. I'm not very knowledgable regarding these, but some well respected members here contributed to this thread. Enjoy!

 

By blue lightening clam, do you mean an electric flame scallop? If so, skip it. They don't fare well in aquariums as they require a lot of planktonic feeding.

 

Ah, and there goes one of the respected members above^^of whom I spoke.

I live in Fl, and do some SCUBA diving every now and then. Flame scallops are on the reef by the thousands, there's almost one in every crevice. Years ago when I had a FOWLR tank, I took one every now and then. Not a single one lived more than a month. Although I'm a bit more knowledgable now than I was then, I wouldn't own one again. They sell for so much when they're plentiful where I live, and they're not worth the price, IMO.

 

http://www.3reef.com/forums/clams/intro-giant-clams-37258.html

and by way of proving the 1st point made above by Reef Sparky
here is another interesting article on Clams

Steve

 

ive had good luck with my crocea. its on the bottom under 6x54 t5's.

 

here is a photo of the clam that im talking about the discription of it is Blue Lightning clam :S who know i live in aus everything seems to have a dif name here

 

Ah, well that helps. That's either a crocea or a maxima clam. Without a picture of the shell, however, it's not going to be easy to make a positive i.d.