Tridacna Crocea

[Samw]

Originally Posted by smokinreefer

how so? are you telling me, that if i set up a clam tank, stock it full of nice clams, feed the clams DT all the time, and whenever someone asks me about keeping clams i tell them it is important to feed DTs. then i start offering nice clams to the public, you don't think people will follow my example and purchase some Dts from me as well? if you promote a product, whether it works or not, or even if it is a placebo, if it sells, bottom line is, you make money. that is marketing, you make money from it period.

My argument assumed that those clam vendors didn't sell DT's. At the time I posted, I didn't see DT's on Barry's website. Maybe it was there and I missed it. I see that he sells DT's now.

The benefits of phytoplankton are widely published. Clam vendors aren't the only people pushing DT's. Many researchers are too and they don't have any financial stake in it that I know of. They might not be essential for raising adult clams in tanks with super MH lighting. But it could be very beneficial for those with questionable lighting and nutrients in the water.

Rob Toonen http://www.reefs.org/library/talklog...en_102500.html


"Despite the fact that phytoplankton form the basis of marine food webs in general, and are an essential component of the diet for many reef creatures (such as fan worms, sea apples, giant clams, gorgonians and tunicates, to name a few), they are probably the least common element included in feeding an aquarium."

"Everyone realizes that to keep fish healthy in an aquarium, they need to be fed something, but many people are misled into thinking that feeding their corals, clams or other animals with photosynthetic symbionts (such as zooxanthellae) is somehow going to be bad for them. It is true that animals with photosynthetic symbionts have forged a relationship that makes it easier for them to survive in the nutrient-poor tropical waters that support most coral reefs, but it is untrue that these animals do not require any nutrition other than that provided by their symbionts. The fact that no organism on a coral reef can obtain 100% of their nutritional requirements from the release of photosynthate by algal symbionts is viewed as support for the importance of additional feeding by many, "

"Live phytoplankton is obviously the best option in terms of nutritional value and low risk of over-feeding. Live cultures are the standard by which all other products are judged, and the others can be "as good as live" but no one has ever discovered a phytoplankton supplement that performs better than live. "

Dr. Ron http://reefcentral.com/forums/showth...nkton+AND+clam

Q. you say clams will not live on zanthellae alone. other then phytoplankton, could you tell me what else to use.

"A. First, the references about clam nutrition follow, should you care to examine them. The information about clam nutrition is not mine, rather it comes from researchers in the field.

Phytoplankton is really the only source. Live phytoplankton is best. Cryogenically preserved phytoplankton is next best. Liquid invert "foods" are unlikely to feed any clam directly they simply will not eat the stuff. Such foods may stimulate the growth of bacteria which the clams will eat. Personally, I wouldn't waste my time or money on any of the liquid "foods." "


If the clam vendors who sell phytoplankton were the only ones pushing it while all the research shows that phytoplankton was useless, then yes, I would agree that it is nothing but a marketing scheme designed to increase phytoplankton sales. But there is too much literature out there for me to believe that it is just marketing.


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