I'm not sure why so many people feel that because Greg has a large tank he has a lot of plankton, but the rest of you have small tanks and therefore feel you need to add phytoplankton? If Greg has plankton in his tank it is most likely ZOOplankton of a size that probably is too large for any clam to ingest anyway. You people are talking about adding PHYTOplankton .. which is a maganitude smaller and which I doubt ANYONE has occurring in large quantities, if at all, in any aquarium.
As for some of the quotes that have been tossed out I suggest you read the nutrition section (pp87-91) in the The Reef Aquarium volume one which offers several other references that argue the opposite as well as pages 366-367.
Finally, at the time that our book was researched and published, juvenile clams were only beginning to appear on the market, and therefore experience with them was limited. It may very well be that feeding may be required to get these smaller animals to survive. It may also simply be that only a small percentage of juveniles will grow to maturity, just as they do in the wild, and you are simply working against the law of averages when purchasing the very smallest ones.
Aloha!
JCD
As for some of the quotes that have been tossed out I suggest you read the nutrition section (pp87-91) in the The Reef Aquarium volume one which offers several other references that argue the opposite as well as pages 366-367.
Finally, at the time that our book was researched and published, juvenile clams were only beginning to appear on the market, and therefore experience with them was limited. It may very well be that feeding may be required to get these smaller animals to survive. It may also simply be that only a small percentage of juveniles will grow to maturity, just as they do in the wild, and you are simply working against the law of averages when purchasing the very smallest ones.
Aloha!
JCD
