DT's Phytoplankton

DT's Live Phytoplankton

Phytoplankton are very important to marine organisms, because as primary producers in the oceans , phytoplankton are crucial to the development and survival of most , if not all marine animals at some level. But what are phytoplankton? Phytoplankton are tiny floating plants (such as diatoms and dinoflagellates) which serve the same role in the food chains of the oceans as grass and shrubs serve on land; namely small things eat them, which are in turn eaten by bigger things, and so on down the line. Many coral reef animals feed directly on phytoplankton, and even those that do not, rely ultimately on the nutrition gained from phytoplankton and other marine algae eaten by other organisms. Some essential nutrients provided by marine algae, phytoplankton in particular, cannot be synthesized by animals, and are therefore extremely important components of a healthy diet. The most important of these nutrients are the class of lipids known as long chain Omega-3 fatty acids. One of the major breakthroughs in the aquaculture of marine animals was the discovery that these fatty acids were an essential part of the diet, and without them, nutritional deficiencies or arrested development are common problems. 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, corals, clams, and tunicates), they are probably the least common element included in feeding an aquarium. Its easy to feed flake, freeze-dried or frozen prepared foods to the fishes and large invertebrates in the aquarium, and virtually every aquarist does so. It is a little more difficult to feed live zooplankton to the animals in the aquarium, although newly hatched or live adult artemia are becoming more widely used all the time. Unfortunately, brine shrimp are not nutritionally complete as food items without being enriched; after feeding on phytoplankton, however, they make an excellent source of nutrition for most reef animals, both fish and invertebrate. Phytoplankton are not important only as a nutritional supplement, of course. Many reef-dwelling animals for sale in pet shops are filter feeders which specialize in eating these floating algae, but until recently phytoplankton was not easily available to feed them. The poor record of survival in aquaria for many of these is most likely a direct consequence of their starvation without phytoplankton being introduced regularly to the aquarium. Even animals which contain symbiotic zooxanthellae, such as corals and giant clams cannot gain 100% of their nutritional requirements from light alone. For example, researchers on the Great Barrier Reef in Australia showed that 75% of the phytoplankton passing over the reef was captured and eaten by giant clams (T. gigas); furthermore, juvenile clams were found to obtain 65% of their energy from filtering phytoplankton rather that photosynthesis- obviously providing phytoplankton to an aquarium is likely to have a great benefit for such animals. The benefits of phytoplankton to most reef creatures is great. With the availability of DT's Live Marine Phytoplankton, you can now give your reef tank every opportunity to succeed by providing this important food source to your animals.
Description	Price
DT's Live Phytoplankton 3.5oz	$7.49
DT's Live Phytoplankton 7.5oz	$11.99
DT's Live Phytoplankton 15oz	$20.99
DT's Live Phytoplankton 30oz	$39.99
I recommend that this product be shipped at least two day to ensure it's being fresh on arrival. Our current stock of DT's is best used by 1Jun04.

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