Dissapointed in cquarium clam order -- HIT or MISS
- Thread starter vee
- Start date
It does sound stupid but you should measure the clams along the curves.
They have more blue light than in your tank. That account for the colore. The last clam was not one you ordered.
All the clams looks very good. I would be happy with these clams. like James said, wait a few days until they recover from shipping. They should look much better.
Minh
They have more blue light than in your tank. That account for the colore. The last clam was not one you ordered.
All the clams looks very good. I would be happy with these clams. like James said, wait a few days until they recover from shipping. They should look much better.
Minh
With all due respect, if you're worried about your clams gaping and not looking good maybe you shouldn't pull them out of your aquarium and leave them high and dry to measure them? :?
Just give them time to settle in - I think they are nice clams and will really show off for you after a few weeks.
Cheers
James
Just give them time to settle in - I think they are nice clams and will really show off for you after a few weeks.
Cheers
James
I think the colors of the clams look great.
The difference in color you are seeing is probably the effect of the 20K light.
However, they do not look healthy at all to me.
The first two especially look to be at least partially centrally bleached, and gaping somewhat.
Does nobody else think so?
The ones that I have gotten in that looked like this have not lived over a few weeks.
I hesitated to comment on this because I do not want my comments to be misconstrued, but I would not have purchased either of the ones that are faded looking in the middle even on their pics.
The difference in color you are seeing is probably the effect of the 20K light.
However, they do not look healthy at all to me.
The first two especially look to be at least partially centrally bleached, and gaping somewhat.
Does nobody else think so?
The ones that I have gotten in that looked like this have not lived over a few weeks.
I hesitated to comment on this because I do not want my comments to be misconstrued, but I would not have purchased either of the ones that are faded looking in the middle even on their pics.
I do not think that the clams are bleached at all. They seem to be stressed after shipping and tanking in and out of the tank. The paler center are just the color of the clams, not bleached.Palmetto":3rb5vm68 said:
They should recover in a stress free enviroment, especially if they are growing, thus healthy, before all of this.
Perhaps it was just my luck then, or some unrelated problem with the clams I had.
The ones I have gotten that were colored like this have died, and the ones that had a more solid coloration in the center lived.
It also looks like the pics from Knop's book discussing central bleaching, but perhaps it was more pronounced in those pics- I don't have the book with me and I am going on memory.
The ones I have gotten that were colored like this have died, and the ones that had a more solid coloration in the center lived.
It also looks like the pics from Knop's book discussing central bleaching, but perhaps it was more pronounced in those pics- I don't have the book with me and I am going on memory.
Well, Adam said they actually shipped clam #4 as this clam
this was actually my first choice and he thought it was sold already. But what makes it even more interesting was that this clam is listed as a bigger clam, 4.5". So measuring along the curve is supposed to give an additional 2.5"?? I measured all the clams last night after I took them along the curve also. At best, that adds a half inch which still makes each clam short by an inch and makes clam #4 short by two inches!
For the prices I paid for these clams, I'd at least expect the sizes to be accurate and honest. Color difference can be explained but not sizes.
this was actually my first choice and he thought it was sold already. But what makes it even more interesting was that this clam is listed as a bigger clam, 4.5". So measuring along the curve is supposed to give an additional 2.5"?? I measured all the clams last night after I took them along the curve also. At best, that adds a half inch which still makes each clam short by an inch and makes clam #4 short by two inches!
For the prices I paid for these clams, I'd at least expect the sizes to be accurate and honest. Color difference can be explained but not sizes.
One must understand that digital photography is easily manipulated. Permit me to expound: Adam may not have done much post-process editting, but a digital camera itself actually does a lot of interpretation in-camera. White balance is the most notable setting that will affect the resulting image colors. Intentional or not, what you see really isn't what you'll get in most cases. Use pictures as nothing more then a loose approximation. I've found no vendors show accurate photos in their WYSIWYG livestock sections, although I am in no way stating it is done intentionally to mislead (I'll leave that opinion up to you guys). Believe me: I've been dissapointed many times with WYSIWYG livestock. The fault can primarily be attributed to the nature of digital photograph.
As for the way clams are measured, I find measuing along the curve is misleading, and intentionally so. It is not industry standard (for aquarium or aquaculture for food), and definitely exaggerates clam sizes for buyers accustomed to the normal standard of measure. Color discrepencies is one thing, but I really suggest to cquarium that they rethink how they advertise their clams (and other livestock).
As for the way clams are measured, I find measuing along the curve is misleading, and intentionally so. It is not industry standard (for aquarium or aquaculture for food), and definitely exaggerates clam sizes for buyers accustomed to the normal standard of measure. Color discrepencies is one thing, but I really suggest to cquarium that they rethink how they advertise their clams (and other livestock).
Bubafat":555lvm3o said:
Buba,
You need to be very, very careful making this claim.
To my eyes, the first few clams are the exact same ones. Last one... I dunno.
Lighting plays the most important issue. JPEG compression and artifacts the second.
The two tanks have very different light. The CAquarium photos show signs of being lit by some extremely blue light. Color on the sand, some reflections, confirm this. 20K MH bulbs are likely, or a boatload of Actinic VHOs.
Customer's tank, what you see is what you got, and a reflection of the lighting therein. The CA photos show the blues as they would be under major blue supplementation. Customer's photos show blues as they would appear under less blue supplementation.
Cameras used, and the amount of JPEG compression artifacts therein, tell another story. Customer used better camera, with less compression. CA used one with more corner distortion, and much, much higher compression settings. The sand appears blocky square in the CA photos. Please always remember that JPEG also messes with colors! If you can see blocks in the photos, colors are seriously messed up. No way around it.
Anyhoo, you got the same clams as on the site for at least three of the four, and maybe the fourth as well. Coloration difference is due to lighting, more than anything else. Cameras may also have different color saturation settings too...
About the sizes... Appears a bit bogus to me. They measure in a way that is different than anyone else in the hobby would, IMHO. Cie la vie. You know for next time.
Regards.
Mike Kirda
And I know it's prolly only a light hearted comment, but clams are perfectly fine out of water. I can't recount the number of times clams arrived dry but perfectly healthy after 24+ hours of shipping. Of course, I don't recommend this, but just saying it's nothing to fret about.
In the process of taking the clams out to feed them with DT in a separate container, I got a chance to measure the clams along the curve.
I was very generous in measuring them (meaning, they are probably smaller than what I measured but this is it)
clam 1 which was supposed to be 5.75" was 4.5"
clam 2 which was supposed to be 5" was 4"
clam 3 which was supposed to be 5" was a little short than 4"
clam 4 which was supposed to be 4.5" was 3"
if anyone who's got a healthy clam, they can attest (by measuring them) that measuring along the curve only adds about .75"
I was very generous in measuring them (meaning, they are probably smaller than what I measured but this is it)
clam 1 which was supposed to be 5.75" was 4.5"
clam 2 which was supposed to be 5" was 4"
clam 3 which was supposed to be 5" was a little short than 4"
clam 4 which was supposed to be 4.5" was 3"
if anyone who's got a healthy clam, they can attest (by measuring them) that measuring along the curve only adds about .75"
Leonard":16fnnerm said:
Color is easily manipulated.
Take an image of the same object in the same light with the same camera and the same lens, but with KodaChrome 64, Fuji Astia, and Fuji Velvia.
The colors, on a light box, will look completely different.
Kodachrome with be accurate, but grayish.
Astia will be muted.
Velvia will be garish/cartoonish. Much greater saturation.
Imagine when you scan the three, how different they will look...
Regards.
Mike Kirda
IMO, the color of the clams is fine. They look better at Cquarium because of bluer light. I don't think the pictures being GARFed. Just different in lighting. The problem in this case is a wrong clam and highly inflated size. I have ordered online before and always getting smaller clams but not by much.
Cquarium sells a 3 inches clams (any resonable reefer would call it 3 or at the most 3.5 inches) as 5.75 is a little (make that a lot) too much. I would not order clams or otherwise from such dis-honest seller, even if I think the clams look wonderful.
Cquarium sells a 3 inches clams (any resonable reefer would call it 3 or at the most 3.5 inches) as 5.75 is a little (make that a lot) too much. I would not order clams or otherwise from such dis-honest seller, even if I think the clams look wonderful.
Can I just say that despite all the speculation, those are some pretty nice clams. And hey, if they're an inch short, well you're right, that's not what they said they would be, but that just means you'll have them longer. If you have a healthy tank with stable ph and alkalinity, and you keep a good Ca level, those clams will get huge fast.
They're beautiful, I'm jealous. I especially like the first one you took a picture of.
What was cquarium's response when you showed them the measurements? Most likely, and I'm not making excuses, but they get soooo many clams in, they probably just eyeballed the sizes and everything looks bigger under water. Hopefully they'll measure a little more carefully now.
The upside is that you got some really sweet clams. Good luck with them.
MC
They're beautiful, I'm jealous. I especially like the first one you took a picture of.
What was cquarium's response when you showed them the measurements? Most likely, and I'm not making excuses, but they get soooo many clams in, they probably just eyeballed the sizes and everything looks bigger under water. Hopefully they'll measure a little more carefully now.
The upside is that you got some really sweet clams. Good luck with them.
MC
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