FishProfiles.com Message Forums

Umm....
It seems i may have made a bad impulse purchase
Picked up this lovely flame scallop after a brief research on the internet...the sites i looked at say with the correct feeding (phytoplankton and zooplankton) they can live longer than a year (bare in mind they live 3 max) in captivity, others say they fade away and die within three or six months...
What are peoples thoughts on these beauties? I have the kind with the "electric current" that runs over the mouth, really impressive to see...
Thanks
James

They might live a year if you do everything right. When they go they can foul a small tank, like yours or mine. I never recommend these to people, they will usually be disappointed with them in the end (which may be only a few weeks, 3-6 months would be pretty long for the average IMO).

---

Critical Fertilator: The Micromanager of Macronutrients

Unfortunate Mez, but I must agree that this is one critter that is even a no no for the experts. I have attempted to keep these guys on several occassions. My max time is just under a year. Even with target feeding, they just don't get enough to eat I believe. I have kept both some bought at lfs, as well as a couple I caught myself while SCUBA diving. They are an awesome creature to behold, but just too demanding.

I feel that one of the more demanding things with these guys is the water quality. They did best in my 265 gal reef and fish tank. As the water quality and parameters remained more constant in this larger environment. I kept up to three at a time. And it seemed that when the time came that one would die, the other one or two in the same tank would die off within a very short time period of just days apart. Even though the water quality and parameters did not change to any measure that I could record, they just died off. But in smaller tanks the parameters change/fluctuate much more so than larger tanks, with us adding things to the water. Such as calcium, kalk, micro foods, etc. (I had a drip system on my big tank)

Keeping them singularly in a tank or multiple ones at a time had little/no effect on their life timelines. However, when one died off the other went within a few days of each other. And the timeline of their life had no effect on this either, as one group died off about 6 months, while an other group lasted almost a year. Singularly was about the same, but did have small difference of just weeks difference in timeline. (single specimens were kept in a 75 and a 90 gal, with no drip system but manual added stuff).

But, I feel that the number one reason they died off was probably related to the feeding of them. I don't think they were getting all the requirements they needed. I attempted several types of micro foods, both live and dead. No real acknowledgable measurement differences were seen.

I must say though, that catching these guys was a fun time. As if you miss them the first time, they can actually swim a fair distance before stopping, lol. And miss them again, and they will swim off again, lol.

For those of you that do not know the critters I have kept, I am one that enjoys the challenge of keeping the odd balls that are hard to keep. I have kept a Sea Apple for 7 1/2 years (still alive in a good friend of mines tank now for 2 more years), and feather stars for several years.

To me, if I cannot keep a critter alive for more than a couple few years, I do not want to attempt to continue trying.

_____________________________________________________________

There is always a bigger fish...

So..basically, even if i return this to the LFS it will still die? What should i do with it?
Hmph..I am currently wondering why these are sold at the lfs if even the most knowledgable people cannot keep them.
You pay for postage ACID and you can have it to release in the ocean

So..basically, even if i return this to the LFS it will still die?

Yeppers, most likely.

What should i do with it?

Might as well keep it since you got it. Give it a try, who knows, maybe you will have some great luck with it. They are a really cool critter. Your water temps are way to cool for it up there, so it would do no good to release it around you.

Hmph..I am currently wondering why these are sold at the lfs if even the most knowledgable people cannot keep them.

LOL, why do any lfs sell any of the fish they sell? For the money, lol. Many of them don't understand or even know what they are getting into. They just look at the availability list, and order whatever sounds good. Maybe they look them up in the picture books, and again, order what looks good. lol.

You pay for postage ACID and you can have it to release in the ocean

It would be frozen before getting to me right now, lol. Besides, it will be about 4 months before I will be near the ocean again for diving and such.

_____________________________________________________________

There is always a bigger fish...

Yes these are inverts that are better left in the ocean. They do not have a good captivity lifespan. Best thing is to just try to do the best you can. But when it starts to deterioate get him out quick.