Clam-thing ID - bought as live rock, turned out to be alive

[xyra]

Hi,

 

I'm new to posting on the forum, but have been reading all the information here for ages, and have just been setting up my first saltwater tank (24x12x15) after 12 or so years of keeping freshwater.

 

A couple of days ago I purchased some live rock from a LFS (the third batch to go in the tank). One piece looked like a dead clam of some sort nicely covered in algae etc.

 

However I've just looked into the tank and the clam thing is open and alive.

 

Any ideas on what it is and how I care for it?

 

This is a new tank so the brown algae on the substrate is because of that - it is beginning to recede now. Parameters are pH 8.0, nitrIte 0, ammonia 0, nitrAte 20ppm. 110 watts of Power compact lighting.

 

 

Thanks for any help!

 

Graham

[Auryn]

hi

wel I actually had the same thing happen. Bought a piece of lr and it turned out it had a live clam in it.I have had mine of 9 months now and it still alive and seemingly happy.

I have learned to read its behavior as a signal of my water quality or parameters.

I dont feed it anything directly but I have a feeling that when I feed the gsp microvert it gets some of it too.

 

sorry I can't hep you ID it- i havent even figured out an ID for mine.

But I can say that its a good thing for the tank.

keep your water quality at optimum levels.

I noticed that mine will open less and be cranky if my Kh levels fo too high (learned this when I switched ph buffers and when I used instant ocean for 2 weeks)

it will take you a while but you will learn to read its behavior if you pay attention.

Nice buy

 

and btw- it was probably an accident but I love the lighting effects that happened in the first 2 pics- very kool

[forrestp38829]

i have the same thing in my 10g. i was just thinking about posting an id thread when i saw this. i would really like to know also.

[Caesar777]

Some kind of "misc clam"? Honestly, I think a proper ID would be near-impossible; certainly without the specimen in the hands of an expert, there'd be no way to know for sure.

[jenniebutterfly]

i bought a mushroom rock that turned out to be an oyster.. the thing was huge. it lived for over a year and suddenly while i was away, it died

[Caesar777]

They always die when you're away. I had a couple of common shore clams for an octopus I had. She never ate them, so they just lived in the tank. Nice filters. But one randomly died while I was gone. What a mess for a walnut-sized clam! Ick!

[kinetic]

dude, clams are taking over all our tanks!