foods/methods to enhance color of fish :)

[pandamonium]

hey everyone,

as the title says, how do you guys help bring out the colors of your fish? i ask because i have seen all these color enhancing foods. not sure if they work or not. i have a few GBRs (3 soon to be 4), a school of lemon tetras (7), and soon a school of cardinals (around 7) as well in a 40 gallon. i have them eating bloodworms frozen and brine shrimp frozen as well as micro pellets by hikari. are there any color enhacing foods that you guys use? or any methods to keep their colors bright? i know lemon tetras will shine more yellow if the water is soft and acidic. my water is soft and almost neutral. not sure if water parameters will affect ram color.
thanks

[hydrosparky]

Black substrates are good. I have a ram too, and she really looks nice. Food like Omega One and NLS bring out the colors, and so does live food like daphnia.

[Colorful]

Try feeding live foods. I heard that live foods will really bring out the colors in fish.

[hydrosparky]

Oh, and I found that Indian Almond Leaves also help.

[pandamonium]

i will try live foods if i can find them in my area. i think the only live foods are brine shrimp that my LFS stocks. omega one i will look into and what is NLS?
and how do IAL help? i know you use them for shrimp

[Colorful]

IAL reduce your ph by leeching tannins in your water. Also, microorganisms are found on the leaves which the shrimp eat.

[ony]

Give them girlfriends to show off to, live foods when possible and a little bit of morning and evening sun to display in.

[pandamonium]

i have right now malaysian and manzanita wood and im pretty sure they are leeching tannins (which i want to get that authentic blackwater feel) as i have no shrimp microorganisms wouldnt be very useful to me.
i will try to get them girfriends. not sure my rams genders yet though i am guessing all female. we will see haha

[Diana]

Albany Aquarium sells live foods. Call and ask before you go, they may be sold out.

NLS is New Life Spectrum.

Try the frozen forms of all sorts of worms, bugs, shrimp and so on. Especially for color, look for Spirulina enhanced Brine Shrimp. I find that the local Pet Smarts have a good selection, and the fish stores often have some specialty ones that PS does not carry. Try the fish store that is somewhat south of the city, near the Cow Palace (about a mile or so west)

I use Almost Natural Tropical Fish Food, an on-line source of fish foods that is high quality and economical. The foods start with human grade fish and shell fish, and they add algae, vegetables and other things (they make many foods). No fish meal, no grains.

The darker substrate and background can be really helpful. Many fish will get pale in too-bright surroundings so they will not be seen by predators.

[hydrosparky]

My fish always nibble on the IALs for snacks. They eat the microorganisms on it. IALs also help by leeching minerals that boost the immune system.If your water is not brown, then tannins are not being released. I recommend the leaves to anyone with acid-loving fish.

[Bananariot]

Also I think some bloodworms will do it some good. Basically any live foods/frozen foods will do it well.

you could clove oil them and inject them with dye..........
jk

[pandamonium]

Originally Posted by Diana

Albany Aquarium sells live foods. Call and ask before you go, they may be sold out.

NLS is New Life Spectrum.

Try the frozen forms of all sorts of worms, bugs, shrimp and so on. Especially for color, look for Spirulina enhanced Brine Shrimp. I find that the local Pet Smarts have a good selection, and the fish stores often have some specialty ones that PS does not carry. Try the fish store that is somewhat south of the city, near the Cow Palace (about a mile or so west)

I use Almost Natural Tropical Fish Food, an on-line source of fish foods that is high quality and economical. The foods start with human grade fish and shell fish, and they add algae, vegetables and other things (they make many foods). No fish meal, no grains.

The darker substrate and background can be really helpful. Many fish will get pale in too-bright surroundings so they will not be seen by predators.

ill check them out. i keep meaning to but im always busy during the day so i cant take BART to the east bay. one day though i will. maybe next weekend. right now i am feeding them frozen brine shrimp and frozen bloodworms. this spirulina enhanced brine shrimp i will look for. there is a petsmart right near me so will go there maybe today if i have time. or if its still open.
is the fish store hung ming aquarium? i heard they moved around a lot so i havent visited. i know there is another on ocean aquatic central. before i check either of those ill look for it at my LFS. they usually have tons of stuff.
my substrate is almost brown ish. its play sand from home depot and i have a black backdrop to help the colors out. my lemons are starting to have a yellow tint about their bodies now which is nice my rams used to be colorful lately they seem a little more toned down.

Originally Posted by hydrosparky

My fish always nibble on the IALs for snacks. They eat the microorganisms on it. IALs also help by leeching minerals that boost the immune system.If your water is not brown, then tannins are not being released. I recommend the leaves to anyone with acid-loving fish.

my water is very brown. but not like opaque its a nice tea color. i have 2 pieces of malaysian driftwood in it so the tannins leach from those nicely. i will look into IAL. there is some at a place about an hour from me.

Originally Posted by Bananariot

Also I think some bloodworms will do it some good. Basically any live foods/frozen foods will do it well.

you could clove oil them and inject them with dye..........
jk

yeah i have been feeding them bloodworms from the start. the worms are for the honeycombs but since they dont get all of them, my fish grab the others. if i injected my fish it would have to be with bioluminescent bacteria. lol jk jk thats for developmental biology to do not me.

[Bananariot]

We could audit that glass next year? I'm gonna see if I can inject aashish while he's sleeping.......I'd be able to finally tell where he is at night.

[pandamonium]

i want to audit it but im not sure if its being offered. to be honest i just want to audit the lab. they use zebra danios. adding chloride in the fetal stages causes them to be born without eyes. wtf thats the weirdest connection.
tetra color flakes/granules? has anyone tried those before?

[Bananariot]

Originally Posted by pandamonium

i want to audit it but im not sure if its being offered. to be honest i just want to audit the lab. they use zebra danios. adding chloride in the fetal stages causes them to be born without eyes. wtf thats the weirdest connection.
tetra color flakes/granules? has anyone tried those before?

Dude that's the crud we used to feed our fish in our dorm. Not gonna lie, didn't see a significant color change from the normal version. The flakes were more colorful