is there anything wrong with my clam

A fellow reefer just said this about my clam..Do you agree, "I hate to rain on your parade but I think your's is too low in the tank. There really shouldn't be brown in the mantle. The brown is symbiotic algae...the clam trying to adapt to the lower light situation. It's protective pigmentation and the clam is opened well to take on as much light as possible, not because of good health. These are factual notes taken from Daniel Knop's Giant clams. Good reading ."


i have over 350w of lighting in my 3o gallon..clam is 16" from lights..i have around 700 par at the bottom of my tank..

i have seen tons of clams with this gold pattern and it has had this pattern since i every had it and had it the whole time my friend said that sells corals..

here is a pic of another clam that i have on hold..it too is way more gold, pics dont show the gold but its there..these clams are 8" from boostleds that are supposed to be just like 250w halides..
http://www.corals2go.com/servlet/the-425/Crocea-Clam-(Tridacna-crocea)/Detail

 

That is fine with the lights you have. That is a normal coloration. As long as it is reactive to light change or shadows you are good to go. I would move it to the rocks though because crocea clams spend their entire life on the rocks in the wild. They attach through byssal filaments and also bore into the rock some.

 

Looks like a perfectly healthy Crocea to me, one of mine had a very similar pattern.

And Daniel Knop's book is one of the best on the subject.

 

i have read parts of his book and yes it is a great book and i recommend to everyone..i thought it was fine but when the person commented about that in my tank thread i felt like i should ask the 3reef community..

2in10, looking at my tank thread where do you think would be a good place, i placed it one time on a rock and it never would attach and it was in the same flow and lighting, just never would attach and turned itself on its side..i have low flow and high flow spots, its in a mediumish to strong flow area since they are found in more flow area..

 

You will need to get a piece of flat rock to put it on and try to get the rock as level as possible.

 

ok thanks how far up..my par around the middle of my tank is around 1000 and 1500 at the top..

 

pretty sure crocea's are found on tidal crests and are quite happy in high random flow...

it doesnt necessarily need a rock under it, just something to hold onto, something hard and fairly flat, i used to sit mine on a oyster shell, and put a couple pieces of rubble around him...

your lights are more then fine for it (provided those PAR numbers are right) what kind of lights do you have that are putting out that PAR at 16" depth?, the clam in the picture doesnt look stressed or stretched out to me...as for mantle pigments there are never ending variety of colours the mantle can take on...was it this colour when you bought it??

 

yeah he is in somewhat strong flow, it doesnt look like its trying to fly but the edges of the mantle move very gently frequently..

 

That reefer comment would be from me.

I'm no expert and I haven't had clams long but I try to emulate my croceas natural habitat as best I can. Mine doesn't have enough light currently and it's apparent by it's color. True croceas can have a variety of coloration but there's a difference between golden and brown. Daniel Knop's book clearly Shows and describes clams with lack of light. The brown coloration is caused by congregations of algae in order to provide as much nutrition as possible with the light provided. Unfortunately they won't live there forever and the clam will ultimately perish.

 

yeah no harm done man, i just wanted to get an opinion from some other people..