Clam food: what do you feed?

[ejmeier]

Okay, after spending like $10 on a thimble full of DT's which only lasted me about a week and a half, and was wondering if there are any other suitable products out there that could be used to feed clams.

Has anyone had success with any other of the coral/clam foods that are out there? Would like your input/advice for feeding my little Maxima.

Thanks

[Triterium]

I grow my own phytoplankton. I have so much left over, that I give it away

[ejmeier]

Originally posted by Triterium
I grow my own phytoplankton.
Yeah, that must be cool, but it's just not my thing. Some people like to culture rotifers and brine shrimp and stuff, but I'm just not into that kind of stuff. Too much work IMO.:)

Or maybe, too much of the wrong kind of work for me. I'll work for months on end doing reef DIY projects, but I won't spend one ounce of effort on things like food...:confused: I guess it's just what you like.;)

[dennis_said]

I feed DT Phyto, it lasts me a LONG time... I get it from marinedepot...

[dennis_said]

Hehe, I just put in DT and let it disperse... the clam will get enouhg food this way won't it?

[Project Reef]

Strong lighting is the best food.

[ejmeier]

Originally posted by Project Reef
Strong lighting is the best food.
Yeah, but I've heard that BABY clams are more dependant on getting food from the water than lighting. I think it has to do with the size of their mantle when they are small; it can't pick up as much light, so they can't recieve all of their food from just light alone.

[miniv]

DTs - 2 T every other day in a 65 gallon tank. I have had my clams for 1.5 years and I have seen several cycles (including the pinched mantle issue, unexplained gaping, what looked like ejected clam foot, etc) and my clams have never looked as good as they do when they are being fed on a regular basis.

I know that's not what you wanted to hear.

This may interest you...

When I fed my clams, I turn off my sump return pump and let the clams filter out the DTs. I also have several breeding trochus snails that release sperm and eggs about once a month (have been doing so now for 8 months - I now have 45 trochus snails instead of 5). After the 3 spawning event, I unplugged the sump return pump to see if the clams would filter out the water - within 2 hours the water was clearing up (the snails release a ton of material). I don't know what size the released material is, but you have to figure they are single cells and should be in the same range as phytoplankton.

I am not short on light (2 400W 10K MHs), but I still fed the clams - it can't hurt and it certainly helps.

[ejmeier]

Originally posted by miniv
I know that's not what you wanted to hear.
Quite the opposite.
I am pretty well convinced that I should feed my clams, and such food benefits the overall health of a reef tank in general anyways.

But, my main question is, has anyone used anything ELSE besides DT's with success? I am talking about products like Kent's Micro Vert or Kent's Phytoplankton.

Oh well, I may just end up buying more DT's anyway. I think I just got a bad batch or something. I bought a bottle at the LFS and it had an expiration date that was like 5 days away! The tiny bottle only lasted me like a week and cost about $10. Hence I was looking for alternatives....:)

[Ninong]

Eric,

The expiration date is 5 months after the week of production for DT's live phytoplankton. They set that based on studies by Dr. Rob Toonen that showed that it retained most of its nutritional value for 6 months when properly stored. Unfortunately it can lose its nutritional value in less than a week when left unrefrigerated. Which reminds me of the O.J. Simpson trial: Chain of custody of the evidence.

IF the DT's phytoplankton that you purchased was properly refrigerated from the time it was produced until the day you purchased it, it was still good for another five weeks or more, but if it had been unrefrigerated for any length of time during that period, it's value would have been reduced significantly.

I ordered mine from Premium Aquatics and paid a fortune in overnight shipping just to be sure I got it as fresh as possible. Premium Aquatics is only 250 miles from DT's and the 30-oz bottles they had it stock had been produced the week before. I'm sure there are other reliable sources for DT's, it's all a matter of where you live and what's available. Unfortunately Dennis Tagrin told me he has no distributors in my state at all. I did locate an LFS 120 miles away that had some in stock but the expiration date had already been exceeded. I asked them to read me the date on the bottle over the phone before I made a trip there for nothing. Good thing I did. They were shocked :rolleyes: to find out that there was such a thing as an expiration date on the bottle. It seems no one had ever asked them that question before. They get theirs from their livestock wholesaler in Los Angeles. So even if their bottles had a good expiration date, I would have no way of knowing how it had been "refrigerated" during its journey from DT's to L.A. and then from L.A. to Louisiana. I ordered two 30-oz bottles from P.A. and had them packed with dry ice and shipped overnight.

I agree that juvenile clams require regular feedings of phytoplankton and the new version of DT's with three different species of varying sizes seems ideal. The original DT's seemed to me to be a bit on the small size for clams. It was just Nannochloropsis oculata, which is only 2-3 microns. The new stuff has three different species: N. oculata 2-3 microns, N. salina 4-8 microns, and Chlorella sp. 5-12 microns. It takes time for their symbiotic algae channel systems to develop and time for them to build up zooxanthellae population densities. When small, they get at least 40% of their energy from filtering compared to only 5-10% from filtering once they are mature.

[rtrice1]

Ejmeier,

If you want to use Phyto but don't want to pay DT's prices. You can check out these guys. I have not used their stuff but I have heard good reviews about their clams.

http://www.tridacnareef.com/LIVEFOODS.html

[dennis_said]

Sorry to sidetrack, but...

When feeding DT Phyto... is it completely neccessary to turn off my PICOLLO SKIMMER?

MY buddy says he does it for his, but I was just wondering if the piccolo will When I really suck it all up?

Or should I be fine just leaving it on?

THanks!

[ejmeier]

dennis_said - I am not 100% sure, but I do know that on the bottle of DT's it says that very little is lost due to protein skimming. I guess you can believe what you want to, I would just take a look at the skimmer output and see if its going crazy when you feed DT's.

Returning to the subject at hand....

Has anybody ever tried yeast?

It is mentioned in "Giant Clams" but I am too scared to dump something like that into my tank.

It sounds like it would work though...

[ClamLover]

I feed my clams phyto and notice their mantles open up wider as if asking for more.

Have you read the Knop book? He mentioned of using some form of yeast. I can't recall the details now. There was also on one occassion (if I recall correctly) that he used blood... I don't think you want to try that though ...

[ejmeier]

Just bought some of the "new" DT's. A 7.5 oz bottle cost me like $18 at my LFS. I'm dosing according to the bottle, and using three capfuls every other day. I believe this equates to about .75 ounces every other day. So, this $18 bottle will only last me about 20 days?!?:(

I found a product listed on Barry's clamsdirect site, wonder if its any good. Here's the link:
http://www.clamsdirect.com/cart/customer/product.php?productid=52&cat=&page=

I just did the math, and that stuff wouldn't even be all that much cheaper. A 250ml bottle is like $13, and 250ml is barely much more than my 7.5oz bottle of DT's!:mad:

I'm becoming really interested in any experiements done with yeast.... Anybody?

[dragon_slayer]

i feed the esv spraydried phyto with great success, some people claim it doesnt mix to a small enough partical size for clams but when i put a bottle over my baby maxima's they clear it up in no time and are growing nicely. i just mix with ro/di water in a 4oz bottle and shake by hand for about 5 min and let stand for 10 min then shake agian prior to feeding. i target feed my baby (less then 3") clams and dose the entire tank as well.

its cheap IMO 500g (1.1 lbs) is about 80 bucks and will last me a year and i feed more then the recommended "scoops/20 gallon of tank water"

i feed a 180 w/ 100 sump, a 75 w/ 30 sump and a 29 w/ 30 sump daily. and i feed for total water volume not just tank volume.


as for your skimmer pulling out the dt's or any phyto it won't. phyto has a high fatty acid content that collapses the foam in your skimmer for a few hours and makes your skimmer useless in this time other then for circulation of water. watch the skimmer prior to adding the phyto and keep watching after adding. my urchin pro makes a drastic difference in sound when i add phyto and my euro-reef drops the foam from mid riser tube to 3" below the botom of the neck when i add to my 180.

hth
kc

[smy168]

I use:
Knop KORALvitF (from clamsdirect) and DTs

I switch up every other day and I feed once only in the morning so mt water param don't get too screwy.

My Clams are all 2.5 inches so I try to feed a little more than needed.

[Uel]

I use this :http://www.instant-algae.com/aquarium/microalgae/index.htm

[Rook]

The Knop KoralVitF is similar to DT's except a different strain of phytoplankton which is especially beneficial to clams. I use a mix food source for the tank. DT's, KoralVitF, ESV freeze dried, Cyclop-Eeze.

[eight2178]

do you guys spot feed or just put it in a high flow area?

[ejmeier]

I just dump it in and let my closed loop do the rest.

Clams (and most coral for that matter) can't handle a sudden rush of food, they like to slowly filter the phytoplankton from the water.

From what I have heard, if you take a pipette and squirt a bunch of food into the clam, it will, at best, cough the food up in chunks and, at worst, choke on the food and die. I have heard of this happening to at least one reefer.

[dragon_slayer]

depends on the size of the clam if it needs "spot" feeding or not.

any clam less then 3" needs target feeding IMO.

you dont take and squirt food into their "mouth". you place a container over them and add the phyto inside the container. the clam will filter it out quite quickly.

for my 2" +/- maxima's i use a "Dixie" cup with a single small hole in the bottom. i place it over the clam and work it down into the DSB to hold it in place, then i inject 10ml of very concentrated phyto into the hole in the cup. the inside of the cup becomes so clouded that you can hardly see the clam. the clam never "sneezes" and within 3 min the cup is clear so i remove it and the clams just smile and grow.

hth
kc

[ADS]

If you're looking for low maintenance foods for clams look at ESV spray dried phytoplankton. I used this several years ago with overall good results( notable growth of all filter feeders)
The ESV really should be blended to avoid clumping but it isn't essential.
The other phyto foods, such as Kent's, are not live and really can clump if not mixed thoroughly(clams need small particles ~10microns or less).
Live culturing is not for everybody but if you have a large ,heavily fed system it may be the next transition to make. It does take some patience however.
Hope this helps-
Adam