Fish Food venting

[darthodo]

I keep wondering if using all the foods that claim to produce "vibrant" colors are really that big of a deal. I guess I feed my fish so many different foods I can't tell which is working and which one isn't, but I haven't noticed any one food that really makes a big difference in fish coloration. Is there really a difference? What brings out the yellows and reds? Astaxanthin? What is canthaxanthin? What brings out greens and blues?

Also, I have seen fish food advertisers at certain conventions that say that all fish absolutely love their food. One company in particular was giving out samples and I took some. I told them my fish were somewhat finicky and wouldn't eat just anything. They showed me a video clip of a bunch of starved African Malawi cichlids in a feeding frenzy over some of their food. What the hell difference does that make to me when I'm feeding solitary CA cichlids? They were sure my fish would just go nuts over this new food. I tried some this weekend and my fish, even some of the less picky ones, spit it out. This is not unusual b/c most of the fish I've kept will not easily accept a new prepared food very well and you have to really work on them to eventually take it. To my knowledge there is no prepared food out there that fish are gonna just charge after and gulp down the first time they see it unless they are very young, starved, or both. My older fish have their favorites for sure.

All that being said, the ingredients in this new food and the size and density of it suit what I like good enough that I'll try to incorporate it into their diets. Each of my fish eats at least two different kinds of pellet and most eat three to four different kinds of pelleted food. I like the ingredients of some and very much dislike the ingredients of others (generally those with high percentages of wheat flour, gluten and the like are disliked). So I try to get mine to eat the ones I like based on ingredients, not necessarily palatibilty or color enhancing potential. I think the latter are greatly embellished while the ingredients can be plainly read on the label.

So, if you have experiences with foods that bring out color or are so good your fish devour it the first time you give it to them please share those experiences with me here.

 

[cichlid2006]

Astaxanthin brings out reds. they use it in salmon farms to get the colour of the flesh more appealing. its an additive to their pellets. they usually get the nice pink/red colouring from prawns and the like but in a farm this isnt possible so additives are used.

the foods i have found to be really good at bringing out colour are the following -
1 - a really good quality pellet staple, tetra prima is my choice, to be fed everyday at least once a day, they uaually have colour enhancing additives.
2 - algae wafers if your fish will take them. good quality ones. the spirulina is a good colour enhancer.
3 - frozen meaty foods or fresh if you prefer. but not as the staple. i used bloodworm as my GT left any other frozen food like shrimp etc. feed after the pellets, i fed it in the evening.
4 - live crickets that have been fed fruit, i used apples and oranges, and carrots. 2 - 3 times a week.

your fish must take the good quality pellets for a while before giving it the meaty/live foods as they may not take pellets if something better is on offer too quickly, it can undo all your hard work in getting them on pellets.

 

[slowef]

Fish recieve their pigment from the foods they eat if im not mistaken. Also, some fish foods contain additives such as sex hormones or beta carotene or to artificially enhance the color of ornamental fish.

 

[ewurm]

I can say that fish food selection is important. I choose foods that contain astaxanthins and carotenoids. These compounds produce color in fish, although I am not sure any study has ever proven it. My fish do show great color on these foods. More importantly, I choose food based on more important ingredients. Almost all foods use fish meal, which is what is left after they fillet the fish for other uses. This means you are feeding guts, bones, fins, and heads. I like Omega One. They use WHOLE salmon, krill, etc. Your fish eat the real deal, and get added vitamins and color enhancers. It's palatable for almost every fish too. Another good one is Hikari Carnivore/Massivore. I have found this food to be like fish crack. Have yet to find a fish that won't eat it, and it is great bulking food.

 

[gobucks1]

Omega One is Great for bringing out most colors, you can tell its good by how nasty it smells

Also HBH, although it is cheap, has always served me well with my african cichlids

 

[darthodo]

I use the Hikari Massivore and the smaller Sinking Carnivore and they do work good for me. I feed a lot of Omega One products too. They are coming out with new Omega Ones that all have the "Super Color" label soon. I just wish all the pellet sizes were available in all the Omega One pellets. Some of them you can only get in a medium pellet. I use NLS too. Some newer foods coming out have some stout claims though and the ingredients aren't bad, but aren't the best either.

 

[calicichlid]

For coloring I was told look for foods with high protien content. It must be true because there have been a case or two when I switched to foods with a lower protien rating and I noticed color fade.

 

[Modest_Man]

Protein content has nothing to do with coloration.

Feed foods high in carotenoids to bring out the yellows/orange/reds. If the food is yellow/orange/red odds are it's high in carotenoids (think carrots). The best food I've found has been live southern crawdads, by far. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Procambarus_clarkii

Easily bred, easily kept, and eaten by every fish I've ever kept. It was nice when I lived in Hawaii and could just go net them up by the bucket full.

NOTHING processed will match the quality of live foods containing carotenoids.

Carotenoids have many physiological functions. Given their structure (above), carotenoids are efficient free-radical scavengers, and they enhance the vertebrate immune system. Consequently, epidemiological studies have shown that people with high beta-carotene intake and high plasma levels of beta-carotene have a significantly reduced risk of lung cancer. However, studies of supplementation with large doses of beta-carotene in smokers have shown an increase in cancer risk (possibly because excessive beta-carotene results in breakdown products that reduce plasma vitamin A and worsen the lung cell proliferation induced by smoke[6]). Similar results have been found in other animals. Not all carotenoids are helpful, e.g. etretinate is a teratogen.

Animals are incapable of synthesizing carotenoids, and must obtain them through their diet, yet they are common and often in ornamental features. For example, the pink colour of flamingos and salmon, and the red colouring of lobsters are due to carotenoids. It has been proposed that carotenoids are used in ornamental traits because, given their physiological and chemical properties, they can be used as honest indicators of individual health, and hence they can be used by animals when selecting potential mates.

The most common carotenoids include lycopene and the vitamin A precursor β-carotene. In plants, the xanthophyll lutein is the most abundant carotenoid and its role in preventing age-related eye disease is currently under investigation. Lutein and the other carotenoid pigments found in leaves are not obvious because of the presence of other pigments such as chlorophyll.

No food I know of will directly bring out blues/greens. That's due to lighting and mood (and better foods can mean better moods...).

 

[cichlid2006]

a good quality food and with some variety added in the 2nd/3rd meal of the day, such as gut loaded crickets, bloodworm etc will see them good.
i have a rule of always giving pellets in the morning and then the other stuff later in the day, this never changes and i have had good colouring and health.