Color up

[Disucs15]

What is the best food to color up your discus for reds and what can I use for my Blues how much would I feed them.

[DiscusLoverJeff]

Sera makes a pellet for discus, one for red and one for blue. As for how much, I am not sure.

[Phreeflow]

Krill, shrimp for red. Not sure about blue but in Asia, I've heard they use beefheart to enhance blues

[jsullins]

For blue - http://www.kensfish.com/aquarium-supplies/fish-food-feeders/sera-discus-color-blue-250.html

For red - http://www.kensfish.com/aquarium-supplies/fish-food-feeders/tetra-color-bits-1058oz.html

hth

[DISCUS STU]

I'm using a beefheart/turkey heart recipe that adds paprika for color and other benefits. DON'T USE THE HOT TYPE! (lol)

[Tankster]

quick question - sidebar.

Do you need to continually feed your fish color enhancing food to maintain vibrant colors or is this a color up and done thing?
I'm growing out some 2.5" and want to let them develop naturally however, if there is a window for achieving the most vibrant colors, I don't want to miss it.

Thanks!
Greg

p.s. - Discus15, sorry for the semi-hijack

[Phreeflow]

Great colors are dependent on their genetics. That's why it's so important to get good stock from the get go. Otherwise, you're wasting your time. Just focus on providing a high quality diet for optimal growth and nutrition and discus of good stock will color up for you. There is no window...if you feed dietary color enhancers, that's short term and not a permanent solution. Some unscrupulous breeders will use hormones that may color up fish a while longer but they can also damage those discus and possibly make them more aggressive, infertile, or accelerate development in an unhealthy way. If you see fully colored 2 inch fish...stay away.

[Tankster]

Thanks Phreeflow - these are Hans' fish so I am good to go. Enhancing would have been a pain since I have 10 different strains with three distinct color groupings.
I will let nature take its course and appreciate what it gives me!

Edit: strains is probably not the right terminology so feel free to correct me. I think it my be phenotypes and not strains?

Great colors are dependent on their genetics. That's why it's so important to get good stock from the get go. Otherwise, you're wasting your time. Just focus on providing a high quality diet for optimal growth and nutrition and discus of good stock will color up for you. There is no window...if you feed dietary color enhancers, that's short term and not a permanent solution. Some unscrupulous breeders will use hormones that may color up fish a while longer but they can also damage those discus and possibly make them more aggressive, infertile, or accelerate development in an unhealthy way. If you see fully colored 2 inch fish...stay away.

[DISCUS STU]

Great colors are dependent on their genetics. That's why it's so important to get good stock from the get go. Otherwise, you're wasting your time. Just focus on providing a high quality diet for optimal growth and nutrition and discus of good stock will color up for you. There is no window...if you feed dietary color enhancers, that's short term and not a permanent solution. Some unscrupulous breeders will use hormones that may color up fish a while longer but they can also damage those discus and possibly make them more aggressive, infertile, or accelerate development in an unhealthy way. If you see fully colored 2 inch fish...stay away.

Great points, especially about the hormones. If the fish are from good breeds should it really be necessary to feed alot of color enhancing foods? I don't really think so. So time and resources can be spent on raising healthy fish that look nice because they are healthy without having to artificially enhance them. I really just try to raise healthy fish.

Does anyone have experience with before and afters of feed enhancing for color and a dramatic difference in the look of the fish when they stopped and what type of fish these were?

[Phreeflow]

I agree 100%...good food, genetics, and husbandry will turn out nice looking fish without enhancers. IMO, color enhancers are only necessary if you're feeding substandard feeds and need to supplement what they are missing in their diet.