how to maintain peacock color
- Thread starter pebble
- Start date
Companies like hikari and nls and dainichi make color enhancing foods.Some of the peacocks from chain stores are so full of artificial hormones when you buy it it may never show that level of color again if thats where you got it.
Yeah, unfortunately many chain stores are starting to carry hormoaned africans more and more. They get the fish in with the striking colors you describe, and within a month or even weeks the color will fade. It is just an easier way to sell them.
It is also getting harder and harder to find good quality africans in stores anymore. Half the time all the fish are hybrids, hormoaned, or mass bred in fish farms.
On to your question, the way I have found to get the best colors out of your africans is good water quality, frequent water changes, and a good quality food like hikari, or new life spectrum.
The best way really though is to just get a good quality fish. Nowadays, you basically have to get wild caught or f1 fish, otherwise you really don't know what the hell you are going to end up with.
It is also getting harder and harder to find good quality africans in stores anymore. Half the time all the fish are hybrids, hormoaned, or mass bred in fish farms.
On to your question, the way I have found to get the best colors out of your africans is good water quality, frequent water changes, and a good quality food like hikari, or new life spectrum.
The best way really though is to just get a good quality fish. Nowadays, you basically have to get wild caught or f1 fish, otherwise you really don't know what the hell you are going to end up with.
pebble;860409; said:
I really have never found that it played a big role in maintaining color. Not to say it doesn't, but I never messed with it when I kept africans and they all had what I thought was great color.
I would get wild caught fish and never do anything special to their water and they all seemed to keep their color fine. Only thing I ever did was keep water in barrels so that the clhorine would naturally evaporate, and I would have water ready when I needed it for water changes.
When ever I bring home a new African cichlid from the store I can expect it to gain color within a day. My water is hard higher pH, they always seem to color up. I have noticed that food also makes a difference. I use a mix of foods (3 different brands). Omega One Color flakes is one of the foods that I use with my adult fish that seems to make difference with the yellow, orange, reds. I also like Flake Frenzy HBH, but no one carries it anymore.
the first picture is of the a sunshine peacock the day I got it. I have been getting into the habit of taking pictures of new fish to see the growth and to document when I got it. The second is of the same fish a few weeks later.
3rd- blue ahli.
3rd- blue ahli.
Any foods made of spirulina will help with blue coloration. Shrimp or krills help with reds and oranges. Omega one makes their products with salmon, which has natural pigments great for all colors. I feed a variety of these, and do weekly water changes. I just started my cichlid tank about 2 months ago. My colors are developing pretty nice. Like fish head said, nutrition is probably the most important factor for coloration. His fish have great coloration.