In the Jan 2003 edition of Tropical Fish Hobbyist magazine there's an article on NLS by the TFH editor, David Boruchowitz, and you can see the results on the N. leleupi in that article. The test subjects used in that article were photographed & the test was performed by Dr. Harry J. Grier, an ichthyologist with the Florida Marine Research Institute. He supplied the photos, and the results, which were then supplied to TFH.
BTW - previous to this article, there has
never been a fish food featured in TFH, nor has there been one featured since. Interesting considering the mega thousands of $$ some of that publications sponsors spend each year on advertising.
I'll be the first to admit that I know next to nothing about Photoshop, or photography in general, but I do know this, Pablo Tepoot is not one to yank peoples chains. He has no reason to fabricate claims about his food, or alter his photos, the results of his food speak for themself. If NLS did not live up to Pablo's claims, you would have heard about it from thousands of people, on hundreds of forums world-wide, years ago. I've yet to have anyone use this food exclusively for 30 days, and complain, or ask for a refund. Nor has Pablo, and he offers a 10 day money back guarantee, something that no other company has ever done.
Below is a photo that I just took from the page of the article in TFH of two N. leleupi (taken together in the same shot) by Dr. Harry Grier. There's some reflection as I shot this under a bright light, and I have made no adjustments, so there is glare, the color is slightly off, you get the idea.
Notice that both fish are in the same photo. These are not digital images, they are from film, and were published by a third party, who used the photos themselves, not images sent to him.
If you would like to question the integrity of the editor at TFH, or Dr, Harry Grier, then that's your call. All Pablo did for that study was supply the food, the N. leleupi used in this study were all siblings from the same spawn.
I won't name the 'color flake food' that was used in the washed out fish in the photo above, but it's a very popular brand of food.
I had the same result with an N. leleupi that I currently own. When I bought it at the LFS it looked almost identical to the fish at the bottom of the photo above. Washed out, very pale, almost sickly looking. It too was being fed a 'varied diet' of some very popular brand name foods. If you saw that fish after a few months on NLS you wouldn't believe it was the same fish.
Yes, other foods can give you the same results in the red/orange spectrum, but IME they will not provide your fish with the same amount of overall vitality as NLS. (due to the micro-nutrient levels)
Most people think of NLS as a super premium color food, I like to think of it as a super premium health food.
