Buying a Clam Reccomendation

[RichConley]

FWIW:

Regardless of formalities, many farms including ORA use a grading system to rate coloration of clams.

Here is ORA's grading scheme.

according to the grading scheme, all blue croceas are ultra. Its a silly marketing term.


Blue squammies arent rare, just in the hobby. Give it 2 or 3 years, and all the ones sitting in farms will be big, and they'll be cheap.

 

[scavdog]

Andy, do some research. As I mentioned before, Knop's Giant Clams book is a great reference that discusses the ins and outs of clam husbandry.

To ask what the difference is between 2 clams is a very broad question.

Bottom line: The easier of the Tridacnid clams are Derasa and Squamosa. They can be left on the substrate and are happy there. However they get big. Trust me. My Derasa's mantle is 14"+.

The harder are maxima's and crocea. They require more light. Also, the are known as "boring" clams because they can and will eventually fix themselves to the rockwork and "bore" in. Should you try to remove them, you may damage the clams foot. Once that happens you are in trouble...let alone the clam.

If you want a smaller clam, stay with crocea. They are colorful to boot. More importantly research all you can. The mollusk forum on RC is probably a good bet, although I'm not 100% sure.

HTH,

Joe