It's finally here

[Miltonic]

After waiting a couple of weeks for a member in my local reef club forum to get enough orders to make a huge ORA order together. I finally received my Ultra maxima clam yesterday, its about three inches right now and can't believe that, this little thing will be grow into a huge giant clam. I haven't found its permanent spot yet but here are some pics

here's the top view, taken from above the water
http://i135.photobucket.com/albums/q134/miltonic/ultraclam-1.jpg

here's the front view taken through the glass, it's crazy to see the color difference.
http://i135.photobucket.com/albums/q134/miltonic/ultramaxclam.jpg

[Sarkazmo]

I would just like to say "WOW"....

How big will it get??? and how long do they live?

Sark

[Oscar_freak12321]

That is one awesome looking clam!!

[Miltonic]

I would just like to say "WOW"....

How big will it get??? and how long do they live?

Sark

They range from 8 to 14 inches in size and I can't seem to find anything of life expectancy and I starting to wonder how long they live aswell.

[rich311k]

Congrats, it is a great looking clam.

[Miltonic]

Thanks Rich :)

[Northernguy]

That was an awesome score!
What a real beauty.The colors are amazing.thumbs2:

[Rue]

They live forever...but in a tank they're iffy.

I've had two clams now...both died. :scry: One did quite well until I had my tank issues. They other never thrived at all...

Good luck with yours! Make sure he's close enough to the lights...

[Miltonic]

Thanks guys, clams are really becoming another one of my favorite inverts.

Sorry to hear about your clams Rue, hopefully you got your reef under control now and can enjoy it again! I placed the clam in my Acropora area high in the tank so im sure its getting enough light,

[ILuvMyGoldBarb]

The key to keeing the Tridacnids is the same as any other animal, you need to understand it's needs. T. maxima will do much better on a hard substrate. That said, it is one of the more difficult of the Tridacnids but one of the most beautiful and highly sought after. If you clam is under 4" then you need to be prepared to feed it copious amounts of food. While they do contain zooxanthalae, they must be fed for proper growth, and this is especially true of clams under 4". If not fed, they will likely struggle and die.

Nice looking clam though milt, good luck with it.

[Miltonic]

Thanks Sw addict and I have done my research and found a very interesting article about clam feeding and you may be surprised to find out that clams this size don't need much feeding at all.

here it is (http://www.reefaquariumforum.com/tridacnid-clam-feeding-and-the-truth-t3482.html) if you'd like to read more about it

[MCHRKiller]

Congrats Milt! clam is in good hands :22:

[ILuvMyGoldBarb]

Definitely good information there, I just hope that all that holds true for T. gigas holds true for T. maxima. There is one thing I have found in this hobby though, and that is that scientific data is extremely helpful and will always give clues to problems we experience, however it does require some application by the hobbyist because the science alone does not answer all the questions. Take careful note of the following:

Zooxanthellae have nutrient salt requirements which might be gratified by means of uptake from the adjacent seawater by the epidermal cells of the hypertrophied siphons. Yonge ( 1936) has found phosphorus metabolism in Tridacna crocea strikingly different from that of the tropical bivalve Spondylus in that, not only does T. crocea remove significant amounts of phosphorus from its environment, but, unlike Spondylus, it also retains the phosphorus excretion products of its own protein catabolism. Yonge attributes these metabolic differences to the demanding nutrient salt requirements of the tridacnids zooxanthellae. This idea of a strong physiological dependence on phosphorus by zooxanthellae gains additional support from the more contemporary findings of McLaughlin and Zahl( 1966) who observe that the population structure of axenically cultured zooxanthellae suffers deleterious effects when grown in culture medium which is phosphate depleted.
In the wonderfully pristine environment of our reef tanks, there is precious little nitrate or phosphorous. The poster in that link doesn't directly acknowledge the pristine conditions of our tanks concerning these 2 things, however he does acknowledge the following:

Clams will filter phyto (and bacteria and zooplankton) but when they do this all they are doing is extracting the same N & P and passing it to the zoox. Since the zooxanthalae present in the Tridacnids has the additional requirement for phosphorous, they need to get it from somewhere, so if they are not getting it from their environment then they will have to extract it from particulate foods. Thus the requirement for feeding still stands, just not for reasons that many will site. Now if your tank is less that pristine then obviously this issue doesn't exist.

[labnjab]

Very nice clam Milt. I hope we can find a dersa half as colorful as your maxima

[Miltonic]

Definitely good information there, I just hope that all that holds true for T. gigas holds true for T. maxima. There is one thing I have found in this hobby though, and that is that scientific data is extremely helpful and will always give clues to problems we experience, however it does require some application by the hobbyist because the science alone does not answer all the questions. Take careful note of the following:

In the wonderfully pristine environment of our reef tanks, there is precious little nitrate or phosphorous. The poster in that link doesn't directly acknowledge the pristine conditions of our tanks concerning these 2 things, however he does acknowledge the following:
Since the zooxanthalae present in the Tridacnids has the additional requirement for phosphorous, they need to get it from somewhere, so if they are not getting it from their environment then they will have to extract it from particulate foods. Thus the requirement for feeding still stands, just not for reasons that many will site. Now if your tank is less that pristine then obviously this issue doesn't exist.

If my tank was less the than pristine obviously my Acros wouldn't be doing as good as they are now even then the clam will only help improve water conditions, another thing is that we are constantly adding phosphate to our tanks when we feed our fish and the fish are doing their business in the tank so i would believe the clams take advantage of this and use this nutrients up but I guess only time will tell how this clam does in my system.

Thanks lab and Mchr :)

[ILuvMyGoldBarb]

If my tank was less the than pristine obviously my Acros wouldn't be doing as good as they are now even then the clam will only help improve water conditions, another thing is that we are constantly adding phosphate to our tanks when we feed our fish and the fish are doing their business in the tank so i would believe the clams take advantage of this and use this nutrients up but I guess only time will tell how this clam does in my system.

I think you are missing something here though. If your tank is pristine and your Acros are thriving, then obviously there is enough phosphate uptake to keep your tank in that pristine condition. The addition of the clam will upset that balance you have achieved and now there may very well not be enough to go around. You are discovering why keeping the Tridacnids long term is somewhat of a challenge.

[Miltonic]

yes I know this will be a new challenge for me but im willing to take it. I should also add that this maybe an excuse to get another fish to help fertilize the clam :p

[ILuvMyGoldBarb]

lol, that's always a good excuse. :) What are you thinking of adding?

[Miltonic]

Im thinking another wrasse or another picasso clown to go with the one I have now.

[ILuvMyGoldBarb]

You already have a wrasse?

[Miltonic]

I have a yellow wrasse right now but there are so many other colorful ones available that its hard to resist getting another.

[ILuvMyGoldBarb]

Well, just be careful, a second wrasse in the tank isn't always successful unless it's from a different genus or unless it's a larger tank.

[Miltonic]

Thanks for the ip I will keep that in mind but I'll most likely add another picasso clown so my lone one has a mate.

[bluebluecow]

great looking clam, I love them, but don't think I'd ever be brave enough to have one, so will admire yours. Keep us updated

Liz

[Miltonic]

I finally found a good spot for clammy high in the rock work and looks like it finally settled in.

http://i135.photobucket.com/albums/q134/miltonic/maximaclam.jpg

[MCHRKiller]

Amazing color on that clam....it does certainly look happy :22:

[Miltonic]

I broke down after a thinking about it, I got myself a Crocea clam for Christmas. This clam is a lot bigger than my baby maxima, it's about 5in and looking amazing. I still need to find the perfect spot for it but for now here's a nice picture i took of it.

http://i135.photobucket.com/albums/q134/miltonic/croseaclam.jpg


The Maxima is doing amazing and is now well attached to the rock I placed it on.

http://i135.photobucket.com/albums/q134/miltonic/19.jpg

[annageckos]

Wow, they are both very beautiful clams. I really like the maxima from the 'above' shot. Stunning

[labnjab]

Nice clams Miltthumbs2: Makes us really anxious for our tank to be running a few months so we can get one

[Miltonic]

Thanks guys :22:

and Lab they are very addicting and add that cool factor since not many people think of clams looking like this.

[bocrayfish]

cool good luck