The bigger they are the more they can rely on the zooathanthelle in their mantles for growth. Smaller ones need to filter feed more. I have kept 4-6 inch clams and found them more resilient than some sps, but not sure if that is normal. I am starting phytofeast for the clam and corals.
Nice. I love bi-color blennies because of their cute personalities. The clownfish look nice.
I have been wanting another clam too but ever since last year when I lost the ORA clam I got from LA, I have been gun shy. It was doing great and then in 2 days it died. I am wondering if it had vermin snails? Yours is a pretty clam, where did you get it?
Clams are definitely not the easiest and as I said, the smaller they are the more they need to filter feed but that can mess with nitrate.
I ordered a cheap dosing setup on Amazon today. I will be able to automate the dosing to the tank which should make it easier to keep my levels consistent. I get a pretty decent pH swing (.2ish) when I dose alk, so spreading that out will be very helpful.
I mostly wanted the Blenny to eat some of the algae. Using chemipure as well to try to absorb the extra phosphates.
Also, clams tend to die slowly at first. Good signs (not guarantees) of a healthy clam are high responsiveness to light change (they should flinch at your shadow) and a clean white growth plate on the lip of the shells. If it doesn’t look crisp white, the clam isn’t growing and that is always a bad sign. Gaping too far open is also bad.