Fish food and color

[brad]

I mostly feed a mix of krill and formula II. I wondered if different food might improve the color of my fish. My concerns are:

1) A tuskfish from LA, supposedly from Australia. After a year and a half, it has gotten much bigger and eats like a pig, but if anything, it is less colorful now.

2) 3 yellow tangs, with very nice bright yellow coloration. Formula II is working well here.

3) An Australian stripey, which is pale yellow and a recent addition. I know they can be white, but I've also seen bright yellow ones. Anything diet related to get more yellow would be worth trying.

4) A 2" flame angel, which is growing very slowly, but looks thick and well fed. Nice color, but redder would be better.

5) A goldflake I just picked up 2 days ago.

6) An orange spot tobi, would be nice to get more orange.

 

[Stevenliu9]

I have always wondered about food and colorations too. But I also think that coloration can be affected by multiple factors and food is only one of them. For instance, my desjardini tang changes color a lot based on its mood. Also, the lighting can play trick too, a 20K cold colored light can make fish seem "pale" versus a warmer 10K bulb. Genetics is also a factor, for the flame angel, depends on where it was collected, Marshall Is. or Christmas Is, can display very different hues of red/orange. So for your flame angel, it is entirely possible that it is already as "red" as it can be based on its genetics. And for yellow tang, the only "pale" ones I have seen are mostly deficient in nutrient one way or another. It's funny you shall post this today because I was just looking at the ingredient and nutrition facts between Formula II and Reef blend- Formula II has less than 50% crude protein whereas the reef blend as up to 60%. Have you had a chance to try New Life Spectrum's "ultra red" formula? I wonder if that'll make your harlequin tusk more vibrant?

 

[Dmorty217]

Feed more of a variety (formula 2, frozen mysis, brine, pellets ect) enriched with selcon and vitachem (I use several others too) you should see colors improve

 

[sc50964]

I also mix in as many food variety as possible. Clams, angel formula, silversides, spirulina brine, rods seafood, formula I, NLS finicky formula, just to name a few. The only thing I also do is to keep the water parameters as close to reef conditions as possible. And lastly lights, i believe some fish such as anthias, butterfly, and angels do like some lights. To me, bottom line is happier fish is more likely to have better colors.

 

[Wind]

What happened to cyclopeeze? Also, what's an online retailer where i can buy?

 

[sc50964]

I prefer frozen mini mysis and reef caviar instead of the fried powder like cyclopeeze. It's just easier to tell how much is enough.

 

[Stevenliu9]

I actually make my own "mix", I go to grocery store's seafood section and buy uncooked shrimp tail, uncooked smelt, also gather clam and calamari, throw them all into a blender. Then add a sheet of nori, some mysis and/or spiraling brine, some phytoplankton, mix really well then pour into ice boxes and freeze them. Thaw and feed my tanks one cube at a time they gobble it up!

 

[brad]

I mail ordered an "Ultra Red" and may pick up a Selecon next time at my LFS. I don't see how the tuskfish could eat cyclopeeze (too small).

 

[sc50964]

The ultra red only comes in small pellets. Not sure about yours but my HT doesn't eat anything that small.

 

[ThreeMoneyJ]

I'm a big believer in variety. Get as much variety as you can. I've taken fish to my LFS to trade in (fish that I've bought there) and every time the employees ask how I get the colors so vibrant. Variety, variety, variety.

 

[brad]

The ultra red only comes in small pellets. Not sure about yours but my HT doesn't eat anything that small.

Larger would be better, but my HT eats anything.

 

[brad]

I'm a big believer in variety. Get as much variety as you can. I've taken fish to my LFS to trade in (fish that I've bought there) and every time the employees ask how I get the colors so vibrant. Variety, variety, variety.

I can feed 30 different dried foods that have fish meal or krill as the main ingredient and wheat after that? That isn't variety. When you look at ingredients, there really isn't much variety, and I think most protein (shrimp, krill, fish meal, squid, salmon, etc) is pretty much the same anyway.