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View Full Version : Found new clam being eaten by shrimp!!



wakbrdfr
08-30-2007, 10:44 AM
Need some help here!

Came home and was playing some Metriod Prime 3 and saw my Cleaner Shrimp nipping at my clam:madmad:. Never thought that would happen... Anyone heard of this? The clam is brand new and I was able to save it and move it to the other end of the tank. My Cleaner Shrimp is territorial and won't come to the other end of the tank.

Any help here would be great! Thanks

tim
08-30-2007, 09:36 PM
a few questions. how is the clam doing now that you moved him? I seen and heard of shrimp nipping at clams when they were dying, but not a healthily clam. was he nipping at the mantle or the shell?

Phurst
08-30-2007, 09:38 PM
That IS a bit odd, especialy for a cleaner. How was the clam reacting?

Larry Copperband
08-30-2007, 10:04 PM
Are we talkin about a Scarlet Skunk Cleaner Shrimp(Lysmata amboinensis)?

KyleO
08-31-2007, 05:09 AM
I had the same thing happen with my cleaner shrimp and a clam and a few days later it became obvious that the clam was dying...........and the shrimp obviously knew it.

wakbrdfr
08-31-2007, 09:39 AM
The clam looks to be doing good now. It was doing a bit of both as far as nipping, the mantle and the shell. The shrimp nipped off the spout of the clam, now their is just a hole there. Thanks for all your responses, I am going to monitor the clam and let you know how it is doing and let everyone know.

Let me know if there is something I am missing?

Larry Copperband
08-31-2007, 12:43 PM
Hmmmm....... :confused:

wwest
08-31-2007, 04:02 PM
What type of clam and what color is it right now? also how big is the clam and what type of lighting?

lReef lKeeper
08-31-2007, 05:03 PM
What type of clam and what color is it right now? also how big is the clam and what type of lighting?

i see where this is going !! great questions Wes.

saxman
09-04-2007, 12:27 PM
are you sure it nipped off the excurrent siphon? the incurrent siphon just looks like a flat hole...kinda like a slit.

i've had no trouble with even a large CBS and my clams...in fact, the CBS could walk on the clams and clean the shell margins without so much as a flinch from my clams.

as mentioned, when a clam is in mortal distress, cleaner shrimp, Nassarius snails, and a host of other critters will indeed make short work of it. if a shrimp was picking at a healthy clam it would be at the margin of its mantle as NO healthy specimen would stay open long enuf for the shrimp to attack its center.

Larry Copperband
09-04-2007, 05:40 PM
Let me just say that a Skunk Cleaner Shrimp is,without a doubt,the most reef safe Invert I have ever come across.
To do harm to Marine life is frankly out of the question.
I suspect a cleaning was mistaken for something else.

saxman
09-04-2007, 05:46 PM
Let me just say that a Skunk Cleaner Shrimp is,without a doubt,the most reef safe Invert I have ever come across.
To do harm to Marine life is frankly out of the question.
I suspect a cleaning was mistaken for something else.

actually, while not being malicious, skunks have been known to pester SH by constantly trying to clean them, thus, stressing them out. we actually recommend adding them to a SH setup "with caution".

however, in general, i tend to agree. :)

Larry Copperband
09-04-2007, 05:55 PM
Point taken Greg. :up:

saxman
09-04-2007, 05:58 PM
Point taken Greg. :up:

blame the SH for letting algae grow on their bodies...:D

wakbrdfr
09-07-2007, 01:17 PM
Well it happened and it died and to answer past posts the clam was a crocea and it was about 3 to 3-1/2 inches. I believe that the clam was not healthy and the shrimp took care of its dying off process. Thanks for everyones help here. My wife and I have decided to stop getting clams as this is our second loss, but on a high note I have a forest of Xenia that will never quit! :showoff:

KyleO
09-07-2007, 01:55 PM
Sorry to hear about your loss.........I know exactly how you feel. It took me a while to buy another Clam after 2 losses.

On the brighter side, I was able to get a number of Clams that were and are healthy and surviving. Everybody knows that adequate lighting is required for Clams but a lot of people don't know that Phytoplankton is a must to keep healthy Clams thriving.

wakbrdfr
09-07-2007, 02:05 PM
What kind of clams did you get and what kind of lighting do you have?

KyleO
09-07-2007, 05:22 PM
What kind of clams did you get and what kind of lighting do you have?

I have Croceas: 5 total

4 healthy, thriving clams in the 210ga under the 400W Solaris LED Array unit (which is too expensive to recommend although I like this unit very much)

and 1 in the 24ga Nano under a 150W 20K MH which is doing very well.

My daughter has a 65ga with CF lighting that I am not going to subject the clams to unless I can figure out a way to vent the heat for a MH supplemental light.

Like I mentioned before, a lot of reefers do not realize the importance of phytoplankton in the reef. It is literally the base of the food chain for a reef and a lot of filter feeders (clams, feathers, coral, naupali, etc) feed on phytoplankton exclusively.

The down side is that (live) phytoplankton is expensive unless you culture and grow it yourself which is easy and comparably inexpensive. Check out Melevsreef.com - Phytoplankton (http://www.melevsreef.com/phytoplankton.html) for the straight scoop if you are interested.

Happy reefing!!!

CarmieJo
09-07-2007, 09:12 PM
Here is a link to a podcast on culturing phyto. http://www.talkingreef.com/forums/podcast-episodes/557-culturing-phyto-video-podcast-episode-39-a.html

KyleO
09-08-2007, 12:07 PM
Here is a link to a podcast on culturing phyto. http://www.talkingreef.com/forums/podcast-episodes/557-culturing-phyto-video-podcast-episode-39-a.html

Ah yes..........sorry about that (I have even watched this podcast before). Very informative.

Carmie, do you culture Phyto? If so, do you add more nutrients (Micro algae grow or miracle grow) when you split cultures? Can't seem to find out whether others do or not.

Logic dictates that I should but...........

wwest
09-08-2007, 12:30 PM
The formula medium contains the Formula or MG, When i had cultures you mix up as much medium as you want and then just save it for when you split cultures again. I split my cultures in half and then added the medium to fill it back up and there you go. Let it go until next split and repeat the process until the medium went empty and then i just made more.

KyleO
09-08-2007, 01:13 PM
Thanks WWest..........it did not even occur to me to add the MG to the culture medium even though I do keep a supply of 1.019 RO/DI for splitting my Phyto cultures. I was re-adding MG to my splits but knew there was an easier way to do it.

"The trees got in my way"!

clownfish4me
10-03-2007, 06:16 AM
very informative tread! i never would have thought a "cleaner shrimp"
would nip at clams like that.....

saxman
10-03-2007, 03:44 PM
just to chime in here, i agree that phyo is important in order for clams to thrive. yes, their mantles contain zooxanthellae, and they do benefit from this, however, it can be likened to eating fast food every day. you may be able to live on it, but you certainly won't be as healthy as if you eat a good diet.

clams have a completely formed and functional digestive tract, and this is no accident...clams need to eat. the real key to offering clams phyto and other suspended planktonic foods is size. the food items must be within the 2-80 micron range in order for the clams to actually eat it, thus benefitting from it.

just my .02...

3mm3
10-03-2007, 09:31 PM
I have seen my cleaner shrimp eat all sorts of things in the tank. The craziest of which is that it absolutely loved bristle worms. No kidding! I also have seen on many occasions the cleaner attacking stomatellas. Those could normally escape though.

saxman
10-05-2007, 11:40 AM
caught in the act!

CarmieJo
10-06-2007, 12:25 PM
caught in the act!
Great photo!

lReef lKeeper
10-06-2007, 12:40 PM
just to chime in here, i agree that phyo is important in order for clams to thrive. yes, their mantles contain zooxanthellae, and they do benefit from this, however, it can be likened to eating fast food every day. you may be able to live on it, but you certainly won't be as healthy as if you eat a good diet.

clams have a completely formed and functional digestive tract, and this is no accident...clams need to eat. the real key to offering clams phyto and other suspended planktonic foods is size. the food items must be within the 2-80 micron range in order for the clams to actually eat it, thus benefitting from it.

just my .02...

Greg, what do YOU feed YOUR clams and how often ??

saxman
10-08-2007, 05:44 PM
Great photo!

awww....c'mon Carmie...you KNOW who snapped the pic... ;)


Greg, what do YOU feed YOUR clams and how often ??

Bobby,

if there's fresh DT's around, that's a good food. barring that, i like the LiquidLife phyto. two or three times a week is a good regimine.

lots of peeps on the CD forum use Koral-Vit, but i've never used it.

lReef lKeeper
10-08-2007, 06:29 PM
i have some Koral-Vit sitting in my closet ... guess it is time to start feeding the clams !! they are big enough not to feed but feeding could not hurt, right ??

saxman
10-09-2007, 12:10 PM
feeding them will only help. it makes a big difference IME.

Guille
12-11-2008, 02:13 AM
I would like some opinions on "Marine Snow" as a chice for filter feeders.

Thanks

sweetpea
11-05-2009, 10:47 PM
I don't know what happened my new clam seemed fine when I put him in the tank n in the morning he was a dead crocea

rayme07
11-06-2009, 08:33 PM
I'm sorry to hear about your Clam. :(


I don't know what happened my new clam seemed fine when I put him in the tank n in the morning he was a dead crocea

Tell us a little about your tanks status right now. What type of lights do you have? What are your parameters? How did you acclimate him? Where was his placement in the tank? Sorry for all the questions.