How do I get good color?

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JeffLeMay

Feeder Fish
MFK Member
Jan 22, 2006
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Manchester, CT
I am new to african cichlids, and I was wondering if anyone had any advice on how to get the best color out of them. Granted, right now the ones I have are babies, so I realize it will take a little growth and patience to see them at their best. I was just wondering if there is anything I can do to help the process along. The group I have are all tanganyikans
three yellow compressicepps
one tretacephalus
one brichardi
one julie, not sure what type
one goby, spathodus

They are currently in a 55 gallon tank. Any advice on the color issue would be great... also if there are any suggestions on what i might be able to add to the tank as far as more fish that would be terrific. thanks in advance for the help
 
The best would be to buy Wild Caughts or F1's. These should show good colour, as in the Lake, when they start to mature. I have wild caught Malawi's and the fry, F1's, start showing the parents colouring at about 1-1,5 cm. Keep their water conditions sound and feed them the food they prefer and your colour should be great. Good luck and post some pics.:naughty: :woot: :clap :headbang2 :thumbsup:
 
I agree with the wild caught thing, and I believe most food sold specifically for African Cichlids contains spirulina algae, which will help.
 
dark substrate/background.
 
Excellent water quality, quality food and patience.

A dark background helps, I wouldn't go with too dark of a substrate since that can actually cause them to darken out or go muddy.
You might also want to rethink the Spathodus in that set-up. Their dietary requirements are different from the rest of the fish on your list.
 
thanks for all the help guys. I'll definitely do the dark background...water quality is always good, I stay on top of it religiously. as far as getting wild caught fish, i know the spathodus and compressiceps are, the others i believe are captive bred. As far as food I feed one type that has spirulina in it and the other is cichlid omniformula, and i supplement this with the occasional frozen mysis or brine shrimp
 
i agree with all!my fish have all and beautiful colors but they get even nicer when i feed them Tetra coloe bits,their granules so if u have small fish crush.u guys can see for yourself in my thread lalos tang collection,especially the pic of my nigripinnis!check them out guys!
 
I'm not completely for it but some foods I feed inherently contain color enhancing ingredients and for the most part it ain't too bad since they're in such mall amounts it doesn't seem to make much of a difference.
Foods that contain spirulina may help with the blues, greens and purples and foods that contains carotenoids (astaxanthin or canthaxanthin) will help with reds, yellows, oranges.

Out of personal preferance I try not to stuff my fish with color enhancers. It's a real turn off when a fish is pumped with color and then fades over something as simple as a change in diet.
 
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