clam troubles

[Fishnewb1]

I have a derasa clam in a 55g. I had it in one place and it was doing fine untill my engineer goby decided to cover it up with sand... So i moved it to another part of the tank. It had almost no water flow there and it started to turn around in circles... now i have it where there is a lot of water flow. now i dont think it is very happy there. how much water flow is "moderate"

I noticed that when i brought it home it had 2 holes. now one of the holes has gotten bigger and looks almost like a rip.

I have 1 maxi-jet 600 on it.
my hermit crabs have gotten very large (1/2in) and they like to crawl on it...

[Reefneck]

Hermit crabs can harass a Clam to death. Yopu say it is in a place with "a lot of flow". That is not good. The Mantle should barely move in the current. Derasa should stay on or near the bottom on rock or on sand. low flow is best barely moving the mantle. Crabs are Evil!

[Fishnewb1]

and exactly how do i keep these crabs from harrassing the clam??
do you think they caused the cut or larger opening in the hole?

what do you mean by rock. It can be placed on a rock? I just have it in the sand like the lfs had it.

[Reefneck]

Originally Posted by Fishnewb1

and exactly how do i keep these crabs from harrassing the clam??
do you think they caused the cut or larger opening in the hole?

what do you mean by rock. It can be placed on a rock? I just have it in the sand like the lfs had it.

It is very possible the crabs caused the tear.

As I said, Hermit crabs are E V I L. I got rid of all of mine before they caused too much trouble. Picking them out as you see them and getting rid of them is the only way. Get more snails to make up for the crabs.

Yes, It can be placed on rock. On the sand is fine too though with a Derasa so the way you have it is ok as well.

[Fishnewb1]

Alright I put most of the crabs in the refugium... Now all I need are some snails because i only have 2 3" turbos... What kind of snails do you reccomend? I found out another reason my clam was always turning, there is a window to the right of it and the shades were always open so sunlight was coming from there and i think the clam turned towards it.

Oh yea and how many snails, i started out with 60 hermit crabs...

[Reefneck]

I Like Margarita Snails, Nassarius Obsoleta & Cerith. I like to keep at least 1-1 1/2 snails per gallon of tank volume.

Yes, The light from the window may have been the reason the clam was turning. Hope it get's better now that the crabs are where they should be.

[gdwb10101]

What do you mean that it is turning?

[Fishnewb1]

its using its foot to rotate around in the sand and face towards the window. not like fall over but just face.

[leveldrummer]

the hole your talking about is the mouth, or the syphon, one should look like a long funnel sticking out, and the other (the mouth) should look like a slit, barely open, if its gaping, or opening wide, its stressed, the flow is the issue probably.

[Fishnewb1]

ahh so it is supposed to be there yea it was getting big with the strong flow and the crabs abuse but now it is barely noticeable.

[Reefneck]

OMG, I didn't realize you were not familier with the mouth. Still a good idea to keep the hermits away but yea, All clams have an intake and an exhaust.

[Fishnewb1]

I thought it only had one mouth like an anemone....