Little more on nutrition... IMO it's not so much that you have to be an expert and know individual nutrients and add them to foods or look for them on packaging, etc. Lot of the color producing nutrients are in the carotenoid family and are naturally found in primary food sources like crustaceans (krill, shrimp), algae, spirulina, salmon, etc.
Some people get the idea that the color of the food or nutrient equals that color in the fish. Not necessarily. It's how an animal processes the nutrient. Example is I've seen people say astaxanthin is bad for blue fish, since it's largely responsible for the pink in flamingos and the red in salmon. But if you research it, for technical reasons that have to do with the way astaxanthin is bound to proteins, it's also responsible for the blue in blue lobsters. Astaxanthin can produce blue, green, purple, etc.
Some of the same people seem to think spirulina is good for blue fish primarily because of its blue-green color, but spirulina actually has a number of yellow and red/orange nutrients, so it's not just about blue fish, it's a nutritional food source in general because of the overall synergy of nutrients. As I understand it, the blue in blue-green algae comes from phycocyanin. However, that doesn't mean the key to blue fish depends solely on phycocyanin. I've seen reports of a discus study that found astaxanthin and beta-carotene (red/orange pigments) improved the color of blue discus. I've seen the same with my Zaire blue fronts, they look good with sources of astaxanthin like krill or salmon. So it's not as simplistic as feeding red/orange foods to enhance orange and red or blue (or blue-green) foods to enhance blue.
That's why I say, at least for me, it's not so much about trying to come up with a secret formula to get a particular color I want from my fish or to max out their growth, etc. To me it's more that overall good health and nutrition brings out the natural vibrance and color that's already in their genes. It's a subject I like and have done a good bit of reading, but doesn't make me an expert-- ultimately I like to keep it simple and go with what has worked for me... another way to put it is I want my fish to look good because they feel good.
Some people get the idea that the color of the food or nutrient equals that color in the fish. Not necessarily. It's how an animal processes the nutrient. Example is I've seen people say astaxanthin is bad for blue fish, since it's largely responsible for the pink in flamingos and the red in salmon. But if you research it, for technical reasons that have to do with the way astaxanthin is bound to proteins, it's also responsible for the blue in blue lobsters. Astaxanthin can produce blue, green, purple, etc.
Some of the same people seem to think spirulina is good for blue fish primarily because of its blue-green color, but spirulina actually has a number of yellow and red/orange nutrients, so it's not just about blue fish, it's a nutritional food source in general because of the overall synergy of nutrients. As I understand it, the blue in blue-green algae comes from phycocyanin. However, that doesn't mean the key to blue fish depends solely on phycocyanin. I've seen reports of a discus study that found astaxanthin and beta-carotene (red/orange pigments) improved the color of blue discus. I've seen the same with my Zaire blue fronts, they look good with sources of astaxanthin like krill or salmon. So it's not as simplistic as feeding red/orange foods to enhance orange and red or blue (or blue-green) foods to enhance blue.
That's why I say, at least for me, it's not so much about trying to come up with a secret formula to get a particular color I want from my fish or to max out their growth, etc. To me it's more that overall good health and nutrition brings out the natural vibrance and color that's already in their genes. It's a subject I like and have done a good bit of reading, but doesn't make me an expert-- ultimately I like to keep it simple and go with what has worked for me... another way to put it is I want my fish to look good because they feel good.
