Clam Spawning

[richardong]

My clams have decided to spawn tonight. The female clam started by spewing something a milky white substance into the water and about 10 min later it changed to tiny eggs. The other clams (3) started to release sperm into the water and the tank clouded over shortly there after. They have been spawning for a little over 30 mins now but the pace has slowed down.

The tank is now completely clouded over with clams' eggs/sperms. Should I be worried this will cause any problem to the tank?

Female laying eggs

 

[richardong]

Males fertalizing

 

[richardong]

Clam eggs free to good home

 

[~Flighty~]

I think the eggs can foul the water pretty fast. I would do a very heavy wet skim for a while and maybe some water changes. Watch out that your skimmer doesn't overflow.

 

[Aquadiva]

Now that is pretty cool... nice pics of the event, too.

Hope the tank doesn't get fouled, though.

 

[richardong]

Skimmer is skimming wet right now. Do you think this will be part of the foods to the corals?

 

[~Flighty~]

I think lots of stuff will eat it, but probably too much in the water for them to eat it all.

 

[dz6t]

you must done something right in order to let them have...well...

 

[Gina McReeferson]

Wow, that's amazing Richard.

 

[pillowfish]

I love clams-and soon hopefully assing to the tank sometime this year(after I finish paying for all the other "essential" live stock ). I have a basic knowledge on clams, but that's as far as my experience goes. With that, I will proceed to ask some pretty pathetic questions.

-Is the clam laying eggs a common occurence in SW tanks? If so, how often do they repeat this behavior(guesstimates if there is no solid answer).

- Is it necessary to have both a male and female clam to encourage the spawning in captivity?

-Are there ways to prevent this?

- Is it limited to a certian species?(kindergarten questions I know...but I am aware that certian species-(not just SW) are difficult to breed or mate in captivity.

Thanks! Oh, and congratulations Richard...when are they do?

 

[JohnK]

Very cool Richard.

I agree with the concerns mentioned about fouling the water. I'd plan on a pretty serious water change or 3.

BTW, there are kids on this site, are you sure it's appropriate to post X rated clam pics ?

 

[~Flighty~]

...
-Is the clam laying eggs a common occurence in SW tanks? If so, how often do they repeat this behavior(guesstimates if there is no solid answer).

- Is it necessary to have both a male and female clam to encourage the spawning in captivity?

-Are there ways to prevent this?

- Is it limited to a certian species?(kindergarten questions I know...but I am aware that certian species-(not just SW) are difficult to breed or mate in captivity.
....

Clams spawning is not unheard of, but they have to reach maturity first.

I don't know of any way to prevent it other than not having large clams.

Like almost everything with saltwater, just having spawning activity doesn't mean that you can raise the eggs or babies. Clams can be captive breed in commercial facilities, but not in the home tank (so far). The eggs get double fertilised and aren't viable because of the huge concentration of the sperm compared to the ocean, infection or predators would get any that were viable. Commercial operations squirt a small amount of tank water from the males into water with the eggs and use antibiotics etc. That's just the fertilization part.

 

[richardong]

There were actually 4 clams particapating in this event. It looked like 3 male clams and 1 female. The female and one of the males are mature clams but the other two male clams are small (about 2-3 in long). It was a bit suprizing to see them participating in this.

 

[pillowfish]

Thanks Cindy-
I have no interest in trying to raise clams...I can barely raise myself! My first BRS meeting was when the topic was clams. I have a good bit of notes-but always like to get many answers/opinions on a person to person basis as each individual tank seems to play by it's own rules. I'm still learning about them, so until I feel confident(LOL) about my ability, I think it's best not to shell out any clams just yet for a clam! (pun intended...sad joke )

Sorry if I highjacked the thread..OOPS!

 

[this is me]

Cool!
I would do a waterchange though.

 

[dz6t]

Believe it or not, it happend to my tank just about a hour ago. There are three full grown corcea clams were doing that.

It is NOT FUNNY!. I just finished changing 1/4 of the water and the tank is still cloudy. I don't know what triggered it except there were temperature spikes in the past week.

 

[wayne123]

How can you tell the difference between male and female clams?

 

[richardong]

I love clams-and soon hopefully assing to the tank sometime this year(after I finish paying for all the other "essential" live stock ). I have a basic knowledge on clams, but that's as far as my experience goes. With that, I will proceed to ask some pretty pathetic questions.

-Is the clam laying eggs a common occurence in SW tanks? If so, how often do they repeat this behavior(guesstimates if there is no solid answer).

- Is it necessary to have both a male and female clam to encourage the spawning in captivity?

-Are there ways to prevent this?

- Is it limited to a certian species?(kindergarten questions I know...but I am aware that certian species-(not just SW) are difficult to breed or mate in captivity.

Thanks! Oh, and congratulations Richard...when are they do?

This is first time it happened at least of my knowledge.

I saw the female (which i didn't know its female before of course) released some milky stuff which i thougth she was pooping. Later on 3 others clams participate in the activity and its quite obvious by then when the other three released something definitely look different than the female.

I don't know if this will prevent the spawning if the tank has only one sex of clam either male or female only. I have 4 croceas and 1 maxima. The maxima didn't have any response to the event, assuming its because they are difference species.

Last, definitely don't think it will breed in my tank as i don't dose plankton etc to even enough to provide food sources to the larvae.

 

[richardong]

Very cool Richard.

I agree with the concerns mentioned about fouling the water. I'd plan on a pretty serious water change or 3.

BTW, there are kids on this site, are you sure it's appropriate to post X rated clam pics ?

Water is clear up slowly after few hours later from wet skimming and filter.

John, my bad. I should have put a R-rated sign on the headline. Btw, you are welcome to stop by to watch the video i recorded when the event was in progress.

 

[richardong]

Believe it or not, it happend to my tank just about a hour ago. There are three full grown corcea clams were doing that.

It is NOT FUNNY!. I just finished changing 1/4 of the water and the tank is still cloudy. I don't know what triggered it except there were temperature spikes in the past week.

Must be the season then. Was it full moon last night?