Living in Wisconsin, I have known Drs. Foster and Smith’s company for a long time. I attended their first ever frag swap in their homebase in Rhinelander, WI and toured the warehouse facility as well as their aquaculture lab. I have placed dry shipment orders such as marine salt, filter replacements, gravel, food, etc from them; but I have never ordered any livestock from LiveAquaria.com as I am a bit weary of the capture, quarantene, and the shipping process.
But that doesn’t mean I don’t check out their livestock availability in a weekly basis! This time I saw an ORA Derasa Clam available in the Diver’s Den. The photo looks amazing! I conducted some research. Asked a few reefkeeping friends about their personal experience with LiveAquaria and decided to gamble on this clam.
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| ORA 6″ Derasa Clam |
Since I work a 9-5 job my only option is Saturday delivery. The Clam itself costs $150, plut $35 shipping (free shipping if your order is $225 or more), and an additional $15 for Saturday delivery plus state tax if applicable. So basically I paid over $210ish. This is the box it came with 20X18X14, quite large for what I have ordered- only one giant clam.
When I opened the box, I was really impressed with the packing process. The delivered date was one of the coldest days this winter in Wisconsin (-8F outside)! But the box is filled with peanut and a newspaper wrap. Within the newspaper wrap were two heatpacks that you see NFL QBs use to warm up their hands in the winter. I must mention, even two days after I have opened the box, those heat packs are still emitting heat! leading me to believe that they have really put some thoughts into this delivery process that even if the shipment was delayed there is still a good chance of survival for the enclosed animal.
I am acclimating the clam. As you can see, there are several layers of plastic bags (total of seven!) to keep the clam tightly sealed since some clam shells can be razor sharp and puncture the bag. This is extra security to ensure that the water remains with the clam upon delivery. When I was opening the bags, I felt like a surgeon performing a C-section, cutting through layers and layers of bags to retrieve the baby!
The Derasa was labeled 6″ in the Diver’s Den description. I must say you do get EXACTLY what they posted as this gorgeous clam was exactly what I was looking forward to. The only thing is I think the clam actually measure up more like 7 inches than 6 inches. Here is the clam being shy.
Clam’s mantle fully expanded after a while of acclimation. I am 100% impressed and would order with Liveaquaria again anytime!
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| ORA 6″ Derasa Clam |