Maxea clams get the full mantle treatment

By Jake Adams on Feb 28, 2009

Alright all you naysayers, just simmer down for a second and let us get some words out before you get all riled up in the comments. First of all, please raise your hand if you’ve ever seen a ghostly white clam of any kind. Yeah we didnt think so. Secondly, is it more likely that a fish would have a transparent viewing dome in it’s head or is it more likely that two similar species of Tridacna clams could hybridize? Finally, for those of you who keep saying that these hybrid clams are just croceas, clearly you haven’t seen enough Crocea clams. Reef Builders reader Brett from Pacific Island Imports is the importer of these unusual clams and he was kind enough to tell us a little about them. Hit the read link for more details and new pictures of this exciting new giant clam variety.

In Brett’s own words:

i am the importer of these clams, they come from a privately owned clam farm in vanuatu. the breeder of the clams was hired froma nother clam farm to spawn these clams for us. he chose only colored teardrop maxima clams to spawn but left a few wild croceas in the spawing tank. (too lazy to remove them i guess. these clams are definitely hybrids, they require no cites permits to ship( they are recognized by the vanuatu government, which is watched over by the australian government, and by the us fish and wildlife service here in california as hybrids.) if you see an empty shell that have a shape not like any other maxima or crocea. if you do believe that they are hybrids then fine, dont buy any. your loss. any by the way 65% of the babies are black with blue stripes, 30% are gold, and 5% are green, multicolor, or the hybrid.

Now for those of you calling for genetic testing to verify the origin of these clams, please try to be realistic. A full genetic analysis of the Hybrid Tridacna maxima x T. crocea would amount to a $10,000 lie detector test. The results of which wouldn’t change how unusual these clams look nor would it fully explain the odd range of colors expressed by the Maxea clams. Check out the Picassa gallery that Brett kindly shared with us this morning with some of the more notable specimens featured in the gallery below. We should be seeing some more Maxeas in the Denver area next week and we’ll get some more pics to show you how the mantle may look most like a Crocea but the shells share attributes of both crocea and maxima clams.

Posted in Reef News |
Search More: hybrid • maxea • tridacna

http://coralidea.com jake adams

Hey Brett, if you could ship out the first and third clam in the gallery above to Aquamart I would much appreciate it. I’ll be getting those.
http://coralidea.com jake adams

Hey Brett, if you could ship out the first and third clam in the gallery above to Aquamart I would much appreciate it. I’ll be getting those.
Rich Ross

They hit the SF area yesterday.
Rich Ross

They hit the SF area yesterday.
Centerwood

Can’t wait to get my hands on a few of those. Where in SF Rich?
Centerwood

Can’t wait to get my hands on a few of those. Where in SF Rich?
http://www.reefaquariumforum.com Chris&Barb

Brett is a lier. These are Bretts words from the other blog.

“these clams are definitely hybrids, they require no cites permits to ship( they are recognized by the vanuatu government, which is watched over by the australian government, and by the us fish and wildlife service here in california as hybrids.) ”

then he says

“they are imported as cultured maximas and are perfectly legal. ”

So if they dont require permits because they are recognized as “hybrids” why were the imported as maximas? -1

Heres another

“i never gave them a name, the retailers did”

then he says

“i have called them hybrids because the fisheries biologist that spawned them told me what was in the tank when he spawned them.”

So which is it Brett, did the retailers give them the name or you? -2

Take a look through here http://www.picsbase.com/james/default.asp?catID=303

There’s some clams (croceas) that look a lot like some of these clams.

Oh and yes ive seen white clams, clams direct had about 6 all white maximas for sale last week.

And Jake it made me laugh when you said whoever is doubting it must not have seen a lot of clams Its the fact that i have seen a lot of clams that makes it so easy to tell that these are croceas. Add that to Brett contradicting himself every time he says something and he gets a big 0 for credibility. He’s fooling you all not me
http://www.reefaquariumforum.com Chris&Barb

Brett is a lier. These are Bretts words from the other blog.

“these clams are definitely hybrids, they require no cites permits to ship( they are recognized by the vanuatu government, which is watched over by the australian government, and by the us fish and wildlife service here in california as hybrids.) ”

then he says

“they are imported as cultured maximas and are perfectly legal. ”

So if they dont require permits because they are recognized as “hybrids” why were the imported as maximas? -1

Heres another

“i never gave them a name, the retailers did”

then he says

“i have called them hybrids because the fisheries biologist that spawned them told me what was in the tank when he spawned them.”

So which is it Brett, did the retailers give them the name or you? -2

Take a look through here http://www.picsbase.com/james/default.asp?catID=303

There’s some clams (croceas) that look a lot like some of these clams.

Oh and yes ive seen white clams, clams direct had about 6 all white maximas for sale last week.

And Jake it made me laugh when you said whoever is doubting it must not have seen a lot of clams Its the fact that i have seen a lot of clams that makes it so easy to tell that these are croceas. Add that to Brett contradicting himself every time he says something and he gets a big 0 for credibility. He’s fooling you all not me
http://coralidea.com jake adams

Chris you need to take your tone down a notch. Everyone here is going on the best available information and FWIW, I made up the name Maxea, not Brett. Whether or not you see something in these clams, I was flipping out over the new color patterns BEFORE I even saw that the clams were labeled as hybrids. Stop taking this subject so seriously, gosh!
http://coralidea.com jake adams

Chris you need to take your tone down a notch. Everyone here is going on the best available information and FWIW, I made up the name Maxea, not Brett. Whether or not you see something in these clams, I was flipping out over the new color patterns BEFORE I even saw that the clams were labeled as hybrids. Stop taking this subject so seriously, gosh!
http://www.reefaquariumforum.com Chris&Barb

No doubt they are nice, Ive already said that. My “tone” is because Brett is either being purposely deceitful or he (or you) is not very experienced with clams. Call them what they are, dont pimp them as something they are not.

Claiming to have hybrids is something to be taken seriously. Its been tried before in a laboratory setting and failed and no hybrids have ever been found in the wild.

Ive corresponded with many people about this and the feelings are the same. You’ve corresponded with some of the same people and they have expressed the same to you as me.

Heres some of the feed back ive received

“We raised tens of thousands of these clams while I was living in the Solomons Islands. They are crocea. The mantle colors are very typical for wild and cultured crocea clams from the Solomon area which is very close to Vanuatu. The shells look like a typical cultured crocea that has not been allowed to bore into rock. From the wild they will not look like this as they always bore into rock which keeps the shell sides smooth and the clam looking more slim. Cultured crocea will have shell scutes and have a a more oval shape than the wild collected clams. Sorry for anyone that wants them to be a hybrid but they are very typical cultured crocea. The hybrid label is a marketing ploy to try and move the light colored and gold crocea. When we were raising them we had to lower the price by almost half to sell the clams with these mantel colors, everyone wanted the blue and green ones, brown and white ones were hard to move and we had to lower the price. Brilliant move to call them rare hybrids, raise the price, and make a market for the common ones. When our new crocea are big enough for market I will keep this brilliant marketing in mind.

Dave”

“Hey Chris – I’ve already been through this with Jake (see below). I asked him for the supplier’s info in my last message to him – but never heard back.

You’ve seen the literature, so you know as well as I do that these aren’t likely to be hybrids. I also think you’re spot-on to think that a cro/max hybridization would be far less likely to work than hip/porc (which didn’t work). Kind of funny to see that someone posted that max/squa hybrids are well-known or common ir something like that! NEVER HEARD OF IT!

Anyway, for what it’s worth, if someone asks – tell them that both I and Daniel Knop agree that there’s no such thing as hybrids – just difficult to ID clams.

Of course – what if we’re wrong??? That would be pretty cool wouldn’t it. I won’t lose any sleep over it though…

Take it easy amigo,

James”
http://www.reefaquariumforum.com Chris&Barb

No doubt they are nice, Ive already said that. My “tone” is because Brett is either being purposely deceitful or he (or you) is not very experienced with clams. Call them what they are, dont pimp them as something they are not.

Claiming to have hybrids is something to be taken seriously. Its been tried before in a laboratory setting and failed and no hybrids have ever been found in the wild.

Ive corresponded with many people about this and the feelings are the same. You’ve corresponded with some of the same people and they have expressed the same to you as me.

Heres some of the feed back ive received

“We raised tens of thousands of these clams while I was living in the Solomons Islands. They are crocea. The mantle colors are very typical for wild and cultured crocea clams from the Solomon area which is very close to Vanuatu. The shells look like a typical cultured crocea that has not been allowed to bore into rock. From the wild they will not look like this as they always bore into rock which keeps the shell sides smooth and the clam looking more slim. Cultured crocea will have shell scutes and have a a more oval shape than the wild collected clams. Sorry for anyone that wants them to be a hybrid but they are very typical cultured crocea. The hybrid label is a marketing ploy to try and move the light colored and gold crocea. When we were raising them we had to lower the price by almost half to sell the clams with these mantel colors, everyone wanted the blue and green ones, brown and white ones were hard to move and we had to lower the price. Brilliant move to call them rare hybrids, raise the price, and make a market for the common ones. When our new crocea are big enough for market I will keep this brilliant marketing in mind.

Dave”

“Hey Chris – I’ve already been through this with Jake (see below). I asked him for the supplier’s info in my last message to him – but never heard back.

You’ve seen the literature, so you know as well as I do that these aren’t likely to be hybrids. I also think you’re spot-on to think that a cro/max hybridization would be far less likely to work than hip/porc (which didn’t work). Kind of funny to see that someone posted that max/squa hybrids are well-known or common ir something like that! NEVER HEARD OF IT!

Anyway, for what it’s worth, if someone asks – tell them that both I and Daniel Knop agree that there’s no such thing as hybrids – just difficult to ID clams.

Of course – what if we’re wrong??? That would be pretty cool wouldn’t it. I won’t lose any sleep over it though…

Take it easy amigo,

James”
http://www.reefaquariumforum.com Chris&Barb

Blog keeps cutting me off. Sorry for the repost.

Hey Chris – I’ve already been through this with Jake (see below). I asked him for the supplier’s info in my last message to him – but never heard back.

You’ve seen the literature, so you know as well as I do that these aren’t likely to be hybrids. I also think you’re spot-on to think that a cro/max hybridization would be far less likely to work than hip/porc (which didn’t work). Kind of funny to see that someone posted that max/squa hybrids are well-known or common ir something like that! NEVER HEARD OF IT!

Anyway, for what it’s worth, if someone asks – tell them that both I and Daniel Knop agree that there’s no such thing as hybrids – just difficult to ID clams.

Of course – what if we’re wrong??? That would be pretty cool wouldn’t it. I won’t lose any sleep over it though…

Take it easy amigo,

James

We raised tens of thousands of these clams while I was living in the Solomons Islands. They are crocea. The mantle colors are very typical for wild and cultured crocea clams from the Solomon area which is very close to Vanuatu. The shells look like a typical cultured crocea that has not been allowed to bore into rock. From the wild they will not look like this as they always bore into rock which keeps the shell sides smooth and the clam looking more slim. Cultured crocea will have shell scutes and have a a more oval shape than the wild collected clams. Sorry for anyone that wants them to be a hybrid but they are very typical cultured crocea. The hybrid label is a marketing ploy to try and move the light colored and gold crocea. When we were raising them we had to lower the price by almost half to sell the clams with these mantel colors, everyone wanted the blue and green ones, brown and white ones were hard to move and we had to lower the price. Brilliant move to call them rare hybrids, raise the price, and make a market for the common ones. When our new crocea are big enough for market I will keep this brilliant marketing in mind.

Dave
http://www.reefaquariumforum.com Chris&Barb

Blog keeps cutting me off. Sorry for the repost.

Hey Chris – I’ve already been through this with Jake (see below). I asked him for the supplier’s info in my last message to him – but never heard back.

You’ve seen the literature, so you know as well as I do that these aren’t likely to be hybrids. I also think you’re spot-on to think that a cro/max hybridization would be far less likely to work than hip/porc (which didn’t work). Kind of funny to see that someone posted that max/squa hybrids are well-known or common ir something like that! NEVER HEARD OF IT!

Anyway, for what it’s worth, if someone asks – tell them that both I and Daniel Knop agree that there’s no such thing as hybrids – just difficult to ID clams.

Of course – what if we’re wrong??? That would be pretty cool wouldn’t it. I won’t lose any sleep over it though…

Take it easy amigo,

James

We raised tens of thousands of these clams while I was living in the Solomons Islands. They are crocea. The mantle colors are very typical for wild and cultured crocea clams from the Solomon area which is very close to Vanuatu. The shells look like a typical cultured crocea that has not been allowed to bore into rock. From the wild they will not look like this as they always bore into rock which keeps the shell sides smooth and the clam looking more slim. Cultured crocea will have shell scutes and have a a more oval shape than the wild collected clams. Sorry for anyone that wants them to be a hybrid but they are very typical cultured crocea. The hybrid label is a marketing ploy to try and move the light colored and gold crocea. When we were raising them we had to lower the price by almost half to sell the clams with these mantel colors, everyone wanted the blue and green ones, brown and white ones were hard to move and we had to lower the price. Brilliant move to call them rare hybrids, raise the price, and make a market for the common ones. When our new crocea are big enough for market I will keep this brilliant marketing in mind.

Dave
Rob

I would like to know why Brett charges more for a a cultured “hybrid” which does not require a CITES permit compared to a cultured clam that does.
Rob

I would like to know why Brett charges more for a a cultured “hybrid” which does not require a CITES permit compared to a cultured clam that does.
rudy

Anyone that knows Brett and his dad Joe Stebel will know the type of poeple they are!! Ask anyone in LA and they will tell you the story on these guys and you will know that they will say ANYTHING to make a sale. That is about the most gentle way I can tell you that their clam story is BS. I’ve dealt with them firsthand and know what they are all about and my personal experience and opinion is that you stay away from them and anything they sell.
rudy

Anyone that knows Brett and his dad Joe Stebel will know the type of poeple they are!! Ask anyone in LA and they will tell you the story on these guys and you will know that they will say ANYTHING to make a sale. That is about the most gentle way I can tell you that their clam story is BS. I’ve dealt with them firsthand and know what they are all about and my personal experience and opinion is that you stay away from them and anything they sell.
http://www.reefaquariumforum.com Chris B

LOL NUFF SAID!
http://www.reefaquariumforum.com Chris B

LOL NUFF SAID!
brett

you people need to get a life, chill out and forget about this. chris and barb, you need to go back to school, lier is spelled liar, you moron. i have more experience with clams than you can even comprehend.
brett

you people need to get a life, chill out and forget about this. chris and barb, you need to go back to school, lier is spelled liar, you moron. i have more experience with clams than you can even comprehend.
brett

rudy who, i dont know any rudy, the last rude i dealt with was back in 1994
brett

rudy who, i dont know any rudy, the last rude i dealt with was back in 1994
rudy

Hey Brett, I see by your marketing of these clams that you have not changed your ways, you and your dad are the biggest BS artists in the business. I dealt with you guys a number of years ago and had lots of DOAs and all kinds of junk sent and was continually told it was just me, over the years I came to find out the same story was told to many others. Bottomline is that your products are crap and you will say anything to make the sale and then leave the customer holding the bag. Again, anyone that doubts this just ask around in LA and you will get the real low down on these guys–they have burned everyone in town and everyone knows about them.
rudy

Hey Brett, I see by your marketing of these clams that you have not changed your ways, you and your dad are the biggest BS artists in the business. I dealt with you guys a number of years ago and had lots of DOAs and all kinds of junk sent and was continually told it was just me, over the years I came to find out the same story was told to many others. Bottomline is that your products are crap and you will say anything to make the sale and then leave the customer holding the bag. Again, anyone that doubts this just ask around in LA and you will get the real low down on these guys–they have burned everyone in town and everyone knows about them.
brett

like i said, rudy who?. i dont know who you are. also we dont sell to the public, only reputable stores, and only a handful in L.A.
brett

like i said, rudy who?. i dont know who you are. also we dont sell to the public, only reputable stores, and only a handful in L.A.
Ali A.

Woah, ease down there a bit Rudy. I’ve dealt with Joe & Brett many times and each time I was given quality product at a good price with great customer service. They’ve gone out of their way to accomodate me several times. Regarding the clams, true hybrids or not, they are extremely pretty and they sell well. Customers always comment on the ones in my display tanks. I’ve been into clams for years, these are much different then the typical “brown or grey” drab croceas that used to come in several years ago. They have bright splashes of intense colors which mixes and constrasts really well with the subtle background colors (or vice versa). They’re definitely sexy ass clams.
Ali A.

Woah, ease down there a bit Rudy. I’ve dealt with Joe & Brett many times and each time I was given quality product at a good price with great customer service. They’ve gone out of their way to accomodate me several times. Regarding the clams, true hybrids or not, they are extremely pretty and they sell well. Customers always comment on the ones in my display tanks. I’ve been into clams for years, these are much different then the typical “brown or grey” drab croceas that used to come in several years ago. They have bright splashes of intense colors which mixes and constrasts really well with the subtle background colors (or vice versa). They’re definitely sexy ass clams.
adam

if you all have ever heard of mr coral…… one of the biggest retail dealers in the usa… he had some hybribs and they sold out in one day he had i think 5 and they went for 250$……. he got them direct from a farmer and said he could not get anymore for over a year cause the farmer or farmers are keeping the rest for broadstock…………. check out the thread on reefbuzz.com or go to his website and get his number and give him a call…………… they are real!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
adam

if you all have ever heard of mr coral…… one of the biggest retail dealers in the usa… he had some hybribs and they sold out in one day he had i think 5 and they went for 250$……. he got them direct from a farmer and said he could not get anymore for over a year cause the farmer or farmers are keeping the rest for broadstock…………. check out the thread on reefbuzz.com or go to his website and get his number and give him a call…………… they are real!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Sonie

I suppose I am a biologist who has spawned clams at the Vanuatu government hatchery. There’s a misunderstanding about Vanuatu farmed giant clams. I had a trial spawning aiming to produce Super-color-teardrop Maxima (Tridacna noae) in December 2007. In that moment, Teardrop Maxima was believed as a variety of T. maxima. As a result, I got a hybrid batch of T.maxima(eggs)x T.noae(sperm). This batch is still kept in captivity at the hatchery. It will never be released into the aquarium market due to its ugry dull colors. I did not conduct any spawning using T.crocea x T.maxima at the same time. The clams appeared here seem to be T.crocea from my experience. However, the Ghostly white clam is also not rare among true T.maxima.
Sonie

I suppose I am a biologist who has spawned clams at the Vanuatu government hatchery. There’s a misunderstanding about Vanuatu farmed giant clams. I had a trial spawning aiming to produce Super-color-teardrop Maxima (Tridacna noae) in December 2007. In that moment, Teardrop Maxima was believed as a variety of T. maxima. As a result, I got a hybrid batch of T.maxima(eggs)x T.noae(sperm). This batch is still kept in captivity at the hatchery. It will never be released into the aquarium market due to its ugry dull colors. I did not conduct any spawning using T.crocea x T.maxima at the same time. The clams appeared here seem to be T.crocea from my experience. However, the Ghostly white clam is also not rare among true T.maxima.
http://Nano-reef.com Rob

I hold a marine bio degree and I own 2 of these clams and I must say that the patterns, shell shape, foot size and even the mantle size and shape is like nothing i’ve ever seen

you really have to see one in person to know why ppl are hopping on the hybrid bandwagon

they really are quite amazing. However being the skeptic that i am and being a marine biologist i’m very cautious to make assumptions…could these be very highly colored croceas?? sure. But if you guys could just hold on of these clams in front of you the differences would become apparent IMMEDIATELY!!

having two of these in front of me every day and comparing them to my croceas and maximas are really making me believe that this “hybrid” is what they say it is
http://Nano-reef.com Rob

I hold a marine bio degree and I own 2 of these clams and I must say that the patterns, shell shape, foot size and even the mantle size and shape is like nothing i’ve ever seen

you really have to see one in person to know why ppl are hopping on the hybrid bandwagon

they really are quite amazing. However being the skeptic that i am and being a marine biologist i’m very cautious to make assumptions…could these be very highly colored croceas?? sure. But if you guys could just hold on of these clams in front of you the differences would become apparent IMMEDIATELY!!

having two of these in front of me every day and comparing them to my croceas and maximas are really making me believe that this “hybrid” is what they say it is

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