Mine sure were. I have three O's. A big green male(Lefty) and a 4 inch orange of either sex, (Ruby and The King). I have had them for about eleven months( three molts), and when I got them, they each had spectacular BRIGHT colors. (they were amazing specimens, you can see thier pictures on the Lurkers site). But with each succesive molt they each became not only darker but duller. I had asked Dr. Roy (all hail) when I first got them and he assured me that my diet of fresh shrimp injected with Selcon and frozen would be adequate. He said that is what he feeds his bugs in the lab and some have dulled, others have not. He also said that the stomatopods in his macro algea farm tanks, are bright and beautiful. Hmm... So on or about Jan 1st, after deciding metal halide lighting was too drastic and expensive, I began a new diet, A HYPER DIET! Actually it's just Formula One and Prime Reef soaked in Selcon and Coral Vite, but these frozen formulas together contain a wide variety of sea bits and vits and a good helping of algea. It's been three months now and I have seen EXCELLENT results! I'm so happy. Ruby and Lefty got the hyper diet for only about three weeks before each had thier third molt and as soon as they did I could see an improvement. Lefty, who's right raptorial has never shown the slightest sign of regeneration, started to regrow his right raptorial. The King had just molted before I started the new diet so I was eager to see his third molt. Wow, he molted last weekend and I couldn't even tell he had molted. From observing my bugs and specimens in lfs, these are the symptoms of poor nutrition I have noticed.
1-The fine red hairs on the tail, swimmeretts and attenual scales become thin and faded. 2-The body colors become grey and dusky in juveniles and green bugs get dull dark green and lose thier blue highlights. 3-The attenual scales lose the bright rosey orange on the back and turn yellowish while the front loses its emerald quality and turns dull green. 4-The blue colors in the face darken substantially.
Since the Hyper Diet I have seen improvement all of these qualities! I imagine stomatopods eat a wide variety of stuff in the ocean and I think I've gotten closer to a varied diet with the frozen formulas. They took a while to get used to eating it, but now they love it. I may have to rename Lefty.
BTW, if anyone has bug pics they want to share, I'd love to swap.
Scott L
R.I.P Grendel
1-The fine red hairs on the tail, swimmeretts and attenual scales become thin and faded. 2-The body colors become grey and dusky in juveniles and green bugs get dull dark green and lose thier blue highlights. 3-The attenual scales lose the bright rosey orange on the back and turn yellowish while the front loses its emerald quality and turns dull green. 4-The blue colors in the face darken substantially.
Since the Hyper Diet I have seen improvement all of these qualities! I imagine stomatopods eat a wide variety of stuff in the ocean and I think I've gotten closer to a varied diet with the frozen formulas. They took a while to get used to eating it, but now they love it. I may have to rename Lefty.
BTW, if anyone has bug pics they want to share, I'd love to swap.
Scott L
R.I.P Grendel
