Food to improve fish colors

[jpcaram]

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!

 

[DaJMasta]

From what I've seen, this is more of a freshwater than saltwater thing. You get a bit for coral coloration, but generally, if the feeding and habitat needs of the fish are met, it should be as colorful as it otherwise gets. Something that should help more broadly is using good quality food and using some variety in food, but I don't think, for example, that a clownfish will get any more vivid or contrast-y based on its diet unless that diet is missing something that it needs, in which case it will look somewhat worse.

 

[LeftyReefer]

Astaxanthin

Astaxanthin Clownfish Study

TDO Chromaboost and NLS Ultra Red are two pellet foods that have been fortified with Astaxanthin.

 

[The Farmer]

Tdo chromaboost added with my frozen home made food. Home made food all fresh from the fish market

 

[i cant think]

If I’m honest, I just feed my fish as closely to what they’d feed on in the wild, I didn’t really know that there’s colour enhancing foods.

 

[LeftyReefer]

Rod's Original Blend frozen food also contains some Astaxanthin.
But he now makes a specific Astaxanthin blend top dressing.
Rod's Astaxanthin Blend

You can also buy Astaxanthin powder from Amazon or health food suppliers.

 

[HuduVudu]

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!

White worms and live food make my fish colors beautiful.

 

[Mr. Mojo Rising]

I think its just a marketing gimmick. Any animal that has a good healthy natural diet will look better than an animal with a poor diet. I dont believe fish colors can be 'enhanced' because of a certain food.

 

[jpcaram]

Astaxanthin

Astaxanthin Clownfish Study

TDO Chromaboost and NLS Ultra Red are two pellet foods that have been fortified with Astaxanthin.

The link is broken. Could you attach it to a message?

 

[LeftyReefer]

The link is broken. Could you attach it to a message?

 

[ISpeakForTheSeas]

Astaxanthin is a red pigment found in Tigger pods, some shrimp, pacific salmon, etc. It's what give them the reddish/orangish/pinkish coloration. So, as shown in the study above, it does impact color - and it is found naturally in many fish foods in the ocean - but I'm not sure if it would improve all fish colors, or just those with red/orange/pink coloration (such as the clownfish studied above).

Interesting thing to learn about either way though.

 

[Jesterrace]

I think its just a marketing gimmick. Any animal that has a good healthy natural diet will look better than an animal with a poor diet. I dont believe fish colors can be 'enhanced' because of a certain food.

Couldn't agree more with this. Color enhancing food claims are similar to all those "As Seen On TV" products that claim to save the world.

 

[lion king]

Astaxanthin is a carotenoid which will enhance reds, oranges, and yellows; you can do a quick search to find scientific studies which substantiates this. Spirulina has substances which will enhance greens and blues, you can also find science to back this up. There are natural foods which contains astaxanthin like shrimp, that;s why they turn orange when they die, and salmon.

 

[i cant think]

Spirulina has substances which will enhance greens and blues, you can also find science to back this up.

Now I know why my foxface has a random blue tint on his anal fins, I’m pretty sure I feed spirulina mysis or brine.

 

[Jay Hemdal Verified Community Expert]

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!

I've only heard of supplements to enhance reds and orange hues. I think in order to enhance other colors, you need to feed a good general diet, and offer great water quality. Some reef fish (Anthias, blue chromis) also seem to respond to water motion by having better color/activity.

Enhancement by Astaxanthin and other carotenoids is really subjective (to me anyway). I've fed it and never really noticed much of a difference. The reason why is there is no side by side control and the effects can be subtle. I DO think it is much more evident when fed to growing baby clownfish. Back in the day, when I began using copepod naups to raise clownfish, the difference between those fed just a few copepods versus those fed rotifers/brine only was really apparent.

Jay