Limaria fragilis

Gmelin, 1791

Fragile File Clam

Range: Indo-West Pacific Ocean: Red Sea, Madagascar, Philippines, Marshall and Cook Islands, and Western Australia.

Natural Environment: Inhabits shallow reef environments and found embedded among stones/rocks and coral rubble.

General Husbandry: Mentioned here because it persists to be available in the trade. Has the ability to swim by opening and closing its shells and expelling water from its internal cavity like a jet engine expels air. Also has a row of tiny eye spots around the edge of the mantle similar to the Tridacna clam, which helps them escape predators by jetting away.

Flame scallops are pretty, yet do not usually last much longer than six months in captivity. They also like to flit here-and-there, sometimes knocking things over.

As for its nutritional needs, it's a filter feeder, where in the wild it strains plankton from the waters using its gas exchanging gills to also filter out plankton. The hair (cilia) covered gills create water currents within the gill structure to enable good gas exchange across the gill structure and also move food particles collected on their surfaces through the gills into channels that lead to the clam's mouth.

Since it does not contain symbiotic algae, as do tridacnids (giant clams), it requires it be fed a supply of preserved and/or live phytoplankton 'at least' once daily as they are complex creatures containing hearts, stomachs, gills, gonads, intestines, etc., therefore burn a lot of calories to remain healthy!

Taxonomy:

Kingdom: Animalia

Phylum: Mollusca

Class: Bivalvia

Subclass: Pteriomorphia

Superfamily: Limoidea

Order: Limida

Family: Lepadidae

Genus: Limaria

FYI:

Experience Level: Beginner

Diet: Filter Feeder

Temperament: Peaceful

Aquarium Environment: Reef or fish-only aquarium

Coral Safe: Yes

Fish Safe: Yes

Invertebrate Safe: Yes

Acclimation Time: 30 minutes+

Aquarium Hardiness: Reasonable

Temperature Range: 72 - 83°F (22 - 28°C)

Minimum Tank Size: 10 gallons

Lighting: PAR 50 - 100

Water Movement: WM 2

Specific Gravity: 1.023 - 1.025

pH: 8.0 - 8.4