When a Clam Gets Too Big for the Aquarium

4

People go to great lengths for their pets. We’ve all seen the crazy cat ladies and overly ecstatic dog lovers, but aquarists can also take their love for a pet to the extreme. Case in point, the aquarist who shared the video above is in the process of building a much larger new setup all for one tank inhabitant, a massive Tridacna derasa clam. It doesn’t matter that the corals in the aquarium of Leslie Douglas, who goes by lesd on the Marine Aquarium and Reef Society of Houston, have grown to epic sizes and have started to crowd his 120-gallon tank. Instead, the only priority is getting that monstrous clam some more wiggle room.

So, Les will be tearing down his long established reef tank, which he is extensively documenting and sharing with us (stay tuned for that), only to set up a tank with a far larger footprint. The new tank is just over 300-gallons, with dimensions of 66″L x 36″D x 30″H. Of course, the new space will also let his massive coral colonies stretch their legs a bit as well.

To further demonstrate Les’ dedication to this one particular clam, he gave a very brief history of his time with the derasa. He originally housed the clam in a 58-gallon reef. It quickly outgrew that space, so he grew with it, jumping the tank size up to 120-gallons back in 2002. After 11 years, the clam’s immense size became too much, despite being moved around a little and Les redoing the rockwork. So, he pulled the trigger on a Reef Savvy system with all of the bells and whistles.

To view the pictures of his new tank during the build process, be sure to hit up the Reef Savvy Facebook photo gallery.

Share.

About Author