Best color enhancing fish food?

[AydenLincoln]

I’m wondering if anyone has any experience/recommendations on the best fish food branded as color enhancing or maybe it’s a gimmick? I soak my food in selcon/fish vitamins anyway and feed a variety of frozen and occasionally dried. But I’m wondering if there is a food anyone has experience with that helps boost the color of their fish?

 

[ninjamyst]

TDO pellets. My anthias got so much brighter with pellets

 

[Viking_Reefing]

i would say that there are probably additions that can enhance specific colors, reds in Asian arowana being a prime example, but something that specifically targets color enhancement in general is probably hogwash.
Proper nutrition is what I would aim for in terms of bringing out vibrant colors in fish.

 

[homer1475]

Forget the name now, but TDO is advertised to have it in its ingredients.

Gimmick or not, since I started feeding TDO my fish have much brighter and deeper color.

 

[Mr. Mojo Rising]

I have 5 kinds of dry foods at home, all 5 claim on the packages to enhance fish color.

I believe most, if not all dry foods, claim on the packages to enhance fish color, its standard marketing.

 

[Gp!]

Read about astaxanthin. This is the ingredient they usually mention for color enhancement.

 

[Tuan’s Reef]

Add selcon to your food .

 

[AydenLincoln]

Add selcon to your food .

Already done although I just bought it yesterday. I was using fish vitamins and garlic before. I didn’t know it could be a color enhancer too?

 

[AydenLincoln]

Read about astaxanthin. This is the ingredient they usually mention for color enhancement.

Thanks! Will do.

 

[ISpeakForTheSeas]

Anything with astaxanthin should be able to help (including the krill mentioned above):

It won't let me quote the comment with the study mentioned in the other thread, but it's a study about the effects of astaxanthin on clownfish coloration, and it basically shows the more astaxanthin they consume, the deeper their coloration.
The thread:

Food to improve fish colors

What fish foods are you familiar with for improving fish colors? My understanding is that different foods will target different colors. I'm having trouble with online searches for this, so I though I'd better ask the community!

www.reef2reef.com

As a side note, foods with spirulina in them are supposed to do the same thing with blue/green colors (and according to one company in Japan, yellow too).

Things like beet root juice have also been found to enhance certain colors in fish.

 

[jda]

Balance.

About all that I need to feed anymore is Mysis and NLS Pellets. These get colors that we used to pine for a few decades ago. The vitamins, fatty acids, spirulina, etc. in both of these are what I had to use selcon and zoe for years ago. However, I do mix in some other types of food from roe, seaweed, etc. I get my food from Brine Shrimp Direct and they have a mix called Caribbean Mix that all of my fish love that has all kinds of things in it - it has the astanxanthin and may other things in it. I also feed them pacific plankton (whole) and a few different kinds of pellets here and there - finishing a sack of PE Pellets and Formula 2 pellets that supplement my NLS.

 

[jda]

If you are using selcon, put it on dry food. It will just wash off of frozen food. The more you let it soak in, the more that it will get to the fish.

 

[o2manyfish]

The best food I have seen for fish health and color has been live black worms. Within a week or so of feeding live black worms every day you will see much more vibrant colors. Details like the brightness of the blue in the eyes of Frimandi, the brightness of the yellow in Yellow Assesors, the contrast in the stripes of Bangai, the darkness of the black in Springeri PseudoChromis and the radiation of color from clowns.
Also the spawning behavior and response goes way up.
I have done this experiment many times over - pending the availability of Live Black Worms. And it's always the same. I will say though that it's much more effective in smaller fish. Tangs and Angels I don't see the same color shifting in.
But the behavior changes are there. Golden Angels come out of hiding to spawn. Venustus Angels try to act like they want to spawn -- It definitely 'perks' up the angels sexual behavior.
I have tried fresh seafood, and all the major fish food brands - both dry / wet / frozen.
Cyclopeeze Frozen was the closest substitute for enhancing colors. I didn't get near the same response when feeding the freeze dried version.

Dave B

 

[jda]

I forgot about cyclops... my fish went crazy over it. I have not seen the frozen stuff in a long time.

 

[Peace River]

My understanding is that
astaxanthin, which is in Reef Nutrition’s TDO and a few other foods, will primarily enhance the reds and oranges. Overall health will potentially positively impact the overall coloration.

 

[jda]

More yellow, red and green light can also show off colors in fish that heavy-blue will not.

 

[mattdg]

I've had good luck with aquanix flakes and piscine pellets, adding selcon for a few feedings a week. I drip it on and let it dry overnight. I tend to notice diminished vibrancy in the fish, when I veer from this combination.

 

[AquaticYeti]

TDO pellets. My anthias got so much brighter with pellets

Is this the product you’re referring to?

 

[Dan_P]

More yellow, red and green light can also show off colors in fish that heavy-blue will not.

Has anyone actually measured the difference in color after fish started eating color enhancing stuff?

 

[ISpeakForTheSeas]

Has anyone actually measured the difference in color after fish started eating color enhancing stuff?

With astaxanthin, yes (it wasn't a super formal study, but it wasn't bad). I mentioned it in my quote above, but here's a link to the study that works and isn't a download:

https://nhrec.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/02/vdocuments.net_clownfish-astaxanthin-study-reed-mariculture-astaxanthin-level-average-preference.pdf