does the food you feed make a difference in color the color of your fish?

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does the food you feed make a difference in color the color of your fish?

i have never noticed a difference in the color of my fish, no matter what food i feed. i have feed lots of different things including dainichi and NLS.

what is everyone else's opinions on this and maybe some picture proof if you have some.

Since switching to the spirulina flakes I have seen them starting to grow faster and a little more color not much.All my fish love that flake food.My Angels are getting bigger too.

Im no expert but I use to feed NLS to all my fish all the time. Now I use kens fish foods. I mix it up a bit though. I dont like to eat the same thing everyday so I figured why would my fish. I went from feeding only nls to feeding 7 different knids of kens fish products. I alternate foods and never feed the same thing twice in a row. I also feed alot of spirulina flake now. I have noticed a difference in growth and color. NOW I am not sure if it is the food quality as much as it is the variety but what I am doing really works!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

i am currently feed a self blend of 3 flakes to my babies.

I love Kens Spirulina. I use it all the time. Never noticed color change but growth rate is deff a plus! I also mix up the foods.

Yes my fish growing faster with the spirulina flake food.I need to start mixing up the food.

Spirulina is supposed to bring out the reds and oranges in fish.

Too many foods with color enhancers will turn white fish an off white/yellow color.

Algae will bring out greens/blues.

It seems that with aquarium fish it's hard to see a difference, but I definitely notice a difference with my koi and their foods. Not to mention that they have different foods during the year because of the temps..

Wheat germ keeps them healthy and takes focus off of the look of the fish as well. It doesn't per say take the focus off, but it doesn't do anything to help it or make it better.

Is Kens spirulla flake or pellets???

I use both. About to make another large order of food from kens

Well that's easy to remember..learn something new each day

"Spirulina is supposed to bring out the reds and oranges in fish......Algae will bring out greens/blues"

????? spirulina is an algae ...it is a blue-green algae (AKA Cyanobacteria).

Interesting note....."phycocyanin, produced by Aphanizomenon flos-aquae and Spirulina, is used in the food and beverage industry as a natural coloring agent 'Lina Blue' and is found in sweets and ice cream."

I've always heard that spirulina will help enhance blues & greens and that foods rich in Carotenoids like astaxanthene and beta-carotene will tend to do the same in the red-yellow spectrum.

2nd interesting note....."The most common side effect of excessive β-carotene consumption is carotenodermia, a harmless condition that presents as a conspicuous orange skin tint arising from deposition of the carotenoid in the outermost layer of the epidermis"

I believe we saw an example of someone overfeeding some kind of supplement to their fish a few years ago when Dave got in a batch of very orangey 'yellow' labs--the fish eventually lost most of their unnatural color over time with 'normal' feeding.

IMHO, for the 'best' colors in your fish:
1) start with good quality stock
2) do your best to provide a quality environment (tank mates/tank size/water quality etc...)
3) feed a mix of quality foods


Quoted material from Wikipedia

cool. stuff. this has turned out to be a very informative topic. thanks everyone.

Yes it has learned some new stuff!

I agree with NickA. How is spirulina going to enhance red coloration when you say algae brings out the blues. Spirulina is algae.

When I was a kid I had an iguana that ate mostly yellow squash and carrots. After a few months he started getting more and more yellow coloration. I started feeding a more well rounded diet and his color changed back to normal.

And that is why I have carrots and spirulina in my home made fish food
David I am glad you brought up the question I'm sure many have befitted from reading this!!!

.. .

You guys must have some awesome fish feeding them all of this awesome super food!

I don't use any super foods. Just a mix of flakes and pellets. You be the judge if the colors are any good. Just remember...especially with Lake Malawi cichlids.....that blues/greens AND yellows are important colors

Awesome Colors!!!

After seeing what everyone has to say I would say this. Food has a slight effect on colors especially the blues and greens. However I think most would agree water quality and the surroundings have more of an effect.


ps Nice pics Nick a!

i have seen nicks fish and that are all amazing!!!!

Very nice fish!

i have noticed that since i started feeding NLS 2 weeks ago my red top trews females have gone from a cream color to more of an orange color.

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nice vman. your fish look amazing.

Those are some pretty fish.