Diver's Den Tour- Invertebrate Section

To continue the previous thread, this post will feature the invertebrate section of the facility.
First I want to show you the massive protein skimmer and reactor combo at this LiveAquaria, there are several of them:

This protein skimmer is taller than me... enough said.

Asked my wife to model for scale, humongous carpet anemones

More carpet anemones

Each of the anemones in this section, including carpet and a bunch of bubble tip are all hosting a pair of clownfish. it's really cool to see they make them all happy, even though as a retailer it's completely unnecessary to pair clownfish with anemone since one or the other would be sold soon anyways. But they did what they can to make each feel happy.

A bundle of long tentacle anemone

 a cluster of derasa clams (not yet offered on diver's den, they were exclusive for the tour), and a bunch of cultured maxima clam. very sweet deals! I managed to snatch two of these handsome derasa clams

Lighting may be one of the biggest questions any hobbyist buying from LiveAquaria wishes to ask. In the photo below you will see a broader view of the facility with lights running on a track. The lights run in a lateral movement so that it can cover all angles of the photosynthetic animals beneath rather than creating a "hot spot". When I toured this place a few years ago all lights were 400W 20K Metal Halide. Today this facility has a mix of high end LED (such as AI hydra + a few other varieties). All holding raceway are no more than 12" deep. All the animals look healthy and for clams I can observe significant growth indicating excellent health condition.

The livestock raceway

Here is a picture of the holding section for shrimp, small crabs (such as acropora crabs) and small shrimp (pistol shrimp or squat lobster, which by the way are size of a pinky nail!) They are held in individual transparent containers approx. the size of a film box (if you are born after the mid 90's you might not know what that is lol).

squat lobster, I can't believe how tiny they actually are compare to the online photos.

maxima clams in the diver's den section

And lastly, the diver's den clam section. I must say, almost all the clams in this section appears much larger than what is seems on the photo (contrary to the squat lobster), and honestly, the photos don't do justice on how beautiful they are. One of these clams I purchased looks like a mustard, brown color online but turns out to be a shiny gold in person! All of them are kept under 400W metal halide, 20K bulbs hence the very blue photo here. And one thing they offer that no one else do is live arrival ad 14 day guarantee.
Here is a couple videos:

2014-05-16 Species Spotlight- Derasa

This is the third Derasa clam I've kept in my personal aquarium.
My first clam came as a birthday present, a 5" derasa, had the tiger spotted marking.
Second one is similar to the one below, also a 5" derasa, with a slightly lighter color. That one unfortunately died due to disease introduced by another clam.

The current clam I have is between 8-9" and has beautiful stripes down its mantle.

In many people's opinion, Derasa clam is one of the hardiest, and easiest clams to keep.

In my opinion, squamosa is the hardiest and easiest, but Derasa clam is a close second.

Like all clams, it does require full reef water condition with extra care in calcium level for proper growth. It will also need slightly nutrient rich water (i.e. plenty of fish waste) to thrive as it absorbs phosphorous from water to build its body parts. Hence it's nearly impossible to keep clams in an aquarium with no fish in it.

Although Derasa doesn't require as much intensity in light as Maxima and Crocea do, it still need a decent light source. I've been able to keep it healthy under power compact at at least 5W/gallon with slower growth. Currently I have it under my AI sol blue LED fixture at around 70% at peak time and it's growing rapidly. Many others keep it under Metal Halide, which is more than enough light but can really suck up your energy bill.

Unlike Maxima and Crocea, you should place this clam on a sand bed. And give it plenty of room to "rotate" as it has a mind of its own in choosing what direction it wants to face. Lastly, keep the tank free of potential clam eaters. I had a flame angel who would nip at my Squamosa before. That flame took its own life one day, and my flame angel II has been very well fed and has not touched the clam.

One other conscience complier is that most of these clams you find in the trade are now aquacultures with minimum to none impact to the reef. And the bonus of aquacultured livestock is they are far hardier than those wild collected.

2014-05-03 Livestock Spotlight- Clam again!

Disclaimer- I do not recommend anyone purchase this clam, unless you are an expert:
http://www.pacificeastaquaculture.com/

I am sharing this image truly in honor of God's great creation on how beautiful these creatures are.

Look at the turquoise and gold trim with the blue green center mantle.

The reason why I do not recommend any ordinary reefer to purchase this claim is because of its size- a mere 2 incher.

I am not saying it is impossible to keep. But from my observation and forum reading- very few have successfully been able to kept and grown small clams, especially nutrient and light craving maximas. 

But, if you have a tank with adequate amount of nutrient, lighting that rivals that of the sun, and a constant source of phytoplankton- the key food for juvenile clams.

So, if you have the stomach for it, please go for it and let us know the progress of this little guy's growth.

Amazing tahitian maxima

When it comes to clams, none exceeds the beauty of maxima, and Tahitian Maxima is the crown jewel of all clams! Check out these 5" neon-metallic-turqoise maximas

Death of a clam

I have not posted for a while because I am really depressed for what you can read in the title. My beautiful five inch Tahitian Maxima clam died four days after I performed the fresh water dip. The clam first showed signs of revival the first day, and then things just went downhill really fast after the second day.

I soaked what was left of the clam in chlorine to bleach out all and any microscopic lives on the shell to investigate the cause of death. As you can see, there is significant boring algae infection in the core of this clam.

In this photo, you can see the little holes in the bottom of the clam shell, caused by boring sponge while the clam was young, the boring sponge left holes for boring algae to invade and take over. The shell infected is significantly thinner than the other half.

The Inside view of the infected area. It looks like death is only a matter of time for this clam.

So the lesson learned here is that before you purchase any clam in the future, You MUST lift up the clam and observe the entire surface of the clam's shell (including the bottom) to detect any infections that may be otherwise be hidden while you view it from the top and its side. To me, that was a $230 lesson. Actually, make that $430 as three days following the Maxima's death, the raised nitrate level in the water also killed my 6" Derasa clam. 

Maxima clam pinched mantle

Very Sad Story, My Tahitian Maxima clam suffered what many hobbyists refer to as "Pinched Mantle" syndrom. The "pinched mantle" is caused by a protozoa infection, similar to that of the malaria type for human infection. This type of infection is widely spread amongst Maxima and Crocea clams, and has recently spread towards other Tridacna clams such as Derasa and Squamosa.

After doing lots of research, I decided to perform the freshwater dip (FD) treatment. The principle of freshwater dip is to kill invertebrates and bacteria cells by osmosis while the water finds equilibrium between brime and fresh. The Tridacna clam is actually surprisingly hardy when completely submerged under the freshwater. The key is the water must be of the same temperature and of the same pH level as the home aquarium. The photo above is my clam being soaked in freshwater for 30 minutes.

The photo above shows the pinch of the clam prior to the dip. You can see the second scute of the left mantle is slightly shrank. It is better to detect the distress and treat it while the clam is still strong and relatively healthy versus making the very invasive freshwater dip during its latter stage.

This photo shows the clam an hour after the dip. The clam is obviously distressed and is gasping for both the "right water" and fresh oxygen. The clam remained in this stage for the remainder of the day without much change. I will post follow up article if the clam's condition worsen or improves.