Crocea Clams!!! Help!!!!

[jonnywater]

So I have had this crocea clam for about a month now. I set it up so that it is at an angle on some LR up higher in my tank. Here is what I dont get and cant seem to figure out what it is doing.

I have seen the foot and know that it is about 1/4 inch wide. It uses it to grab hold whenever my wavemaker kicks on at the middle powerhead. Outside of grabbing on when it is not hit by water, it only uses this thread thin string to keep itself positioned. What is that and why wont it burry its foot permanently?

It is only a small little guy about 2 inches. I cant suggest that it is unhappy, because it love to eat for one - and for two, I rescued it from the LFS. A couple of the "half circle" sections of its mantle were badly damaged if not ripped off because it was in the wrong tank at the LFS at the wrong time. So I only got it for twenty bucks. Since about a month ago it has regrown ALL of these sections of its mantle and is just beginning to form the neon blue lines around the outers edges and turn back to black.

What's with the holding onto the rock though? the thread thin stuff and then the foot thing?

[concept3]

the thread stuff is actually its byssal threads. they use this to hold on to the rock structures, you are 100% correct in placing the tank in the rocks. Croceas and maximas are both rock dwelling clams, hence their higher light requirements. if they shed their byssal glands, they may not be too happy with that location, try moving the power head away, or maybe position the clam another way. These types of clams DO NOT bury their "feet" rather, they shoot out the byssal threads to grab a foothold.

I have a crocea that from time to time sheds it byssal gland, likewise, i have a maxima that took it 3 months to find a spot that he liked, and now he ain't moving nowheres...

try making a wedge for it by using two pieces of Live rock. That seems to work best for me.

Great job in bringing that clam back! Hope he fully recovers!

[jonnywater]

I did some "rock work" for it earlier on before I even put it in the tank. I have some pretty heavy tweezers and started scrapping away at the rock until a "craddle" was formed. That is where I stuck him in. He will release a strand or two within, well overnight, then he tries to tilt himself to the side. I can only assume the attaching overnight means that he is happy where he is and I just need to give him some more time to drop some more strands?

It just gets irritating when the snails try to climb his shell to get the algae off of it. Sometimes this may cause him to crock to the side because of the weight of the snail. I am doing what I can with him to keep him healthy though. The best part is the regrowing of his mantle. One of the "curves" was nearly completely gone. Within 2-3 weeks it has completely regrown. It was brown for about a week and within the last week it has been darkening and forming the neon blue lines.