Feeding your clam....

[AquaTDV]

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[AquaTDV]

How are you going to do it? You going to pour 64 ounces of phyto in there, watch it get watered down and filtered out to where the clam gets hardly anything? This is still all mostly academic and not all that feasible.

There are some other alternatives like feeding different pastes Nannochloropsis, T-Isochrysis, and Tetraselmis or you can just feed Tahitian blend which has Nannochloropsis sp., Isochrysis sp., Tetraselmis sp., Pavlova sp., Arthrospira platensis, Haematococcus sp.
these pastes are very concentrated and a 500ml bottle lasts for months. It only takes 5mls for my 500+ gallon system twice a week. Your pod population will explode from this as well.

Saying that they have gills and ABSOULTELY need to be fed is as unimporant as saying that they have symbiotic algae and they ABSOULTELY do NOT need to be fed. The answer lies somewhere in the middle.

If the answer lies somewhere in the middle then why the absolute. There is so much about these creatures we do not understand. Even scientists agree with this. I am just asking the question, based on things I've read in scientific studies.

I think that you are underestimating their ability to filter what is in the water already, which can be quite significant with larger clams where I have personally struggled to keep any amount of detectable N and P only to see them rise once I rehomed the clam. Just because you don't put stuff in the water for them to eat does not mean that they are not eating anything. BTW - I don't advocate a sterile reef tank and we certainly see many deaths of clams in new tanks.

"The giant clams feed daily or at least every second
day, food particles are selected according to clams needs
and the animal usually discriminate between the
planktonic and non planktonic parts which are then
expelled as clumps by contraction of the shell (Daniel
1996; Klumpp et al., 1992).

Maybe I do underestimate it, but my question is:
Is it getting the right food during different stages of its development to sustain it through its lifetime and all the stress we will put it through.

You aren't suggesting that people acidify their tanks for the benefit of their clams, are you? If not, then what does this study matter?

Remember our homes have much higher CO2 levels than the outside air. So many of us already have a low PH in there system Even much lower than current ocean ph. Mine is 7.9 to 8.1

Who was using air stone skimmers in 2010? That brought me back to the early 1990s. BTW - some of those were pretty good in small tanks.

You are right, but this study referenced older studies that were from that time. Also studies don't happen over night many take years to conduct for funding and research.

I think that using LED with their lack of spectrum over 600, or just lack of general power, to care for clams is far more dangerous than not feeding them.

I don't know, maybe. Maybe people with LEDs should feed as a supplement to inadequate lighting?

 

[MondoBongo]

awesome, thanks!