Acclimation of a Large Clam

[jonboyb]

Getting ready to pickup a quite large specimen and really at a loss as to how and acclimate him adequately. No way to float him for temp, and with the amount of water he'll be in I'd like to drip for a good while. I fear the temp drop while he's acclimating. I've thought about having a large tub of water made up and matched to my tank temp to sit his container in during the acclimation. Any other ideas/advice.

 

[william1]

I big container with a heater and water. Just place the buckett with the specimen in the larger container and drip him for a few hrs. I have an extra 18 gallon container that should fit a 5 gallon buckett in it.

 

[jonboyb]

Got some big Rubbermaid tubs that should work. I'll just make sure my 5 gallon bucket is nice and clean and I'll mix up a PWC in the Rubbermaid. 2 birds with one stone

 

[mojo]

With clams (and most things), I don't drip acclimate. I add about 10% of the container water at a time (via a cup or something). Clams breathe like fish, so have a much higher metabolism than corals, and thus can adapt faster to a changing environment. Or so my thinking goes...

 

[jonboyb]

That's nice to know....I've always dripped them like inverts.....PAINFULLY long

 

[mojo]

I've acclimated probably 30-40 clams over the years with the above method without a single incident (a number of corals, too, since I'm lazy... ).

 

[jonboyb]

My coral acclimation involves a 10 minute float and pest dip in-bag, rinse in tank water (if I was using Interceptor) then chunk...LOL.