Red melon colour.

[lahi88]

Hey friends

I have red melon small ones anout 4cm size.

But they dont have that much of colour.

They are only 4 months old.
I use sea shrimp (grinded) and mix with BH.

What are the natural sources of getting red colour in melons ?

Also can I use beetroot for red colour ?
Its hard to find Astaxanthin in my country.

Please help

[Filip]

Iahi , your Mellon's are still too young and small to display any significant colouration , so don't worry about them still being dull coloured.
The thing that concerns me here is their size versus age ratio. 4 cm is less than 2 " size . That's a size a 2 month discus should reach .
At 4 months they should be rather twice as big as they are now.

Your shrimps and BH feeding is perfect Combo for growing juvvies . Just feed them at least 3-4 times and change water daily and they should colour up nicely on this food alone .
Grinded frozen salmon fish is great natural color enchancer too , so you can feed them that too , on occasions .
Feed more and change water more , to get the best growth and vigour out of them , and the colour will come along naturally as they grow.

[lahi88]

Iahi , your Mellon's are still too young and small to display any significant colouration , so don't worry about them still being dull coloured.
The thing that concerns me here is their size versus age ratio. 4 cm is less than 2 " size . That's a size a 2 month discus should reach .
At 4 months they should be rather twice as big as they are now.

Your shrimps and BH feeding is perfect Combo for growing juvvies . Just feed them at least 3-4 times and change water daily and they should colour up nicely on this food alone .
Grinded frozen salmon fish is great natural color enchancer too , so you can feed them that too , on occasions .
Feed more and change water more , to get the best growth and vigour out of them , and the colour will come along naturally as they grow.

Hey thank you for the information.

If I do my water changes today (50%) . Then ill do my water changes again in day after tomorrow. 50%

My tank size is 3ft * 1.5ft* 1.5ft. and having about 25 juvis.
Do u think I have overstocked the tank ?

[Rex82]

Hi Iahi,
I have red melons growing too, they do take awhile to colour as do most strains, it will come it just takes time. Here's a couple pics of mine to give you an idea.

The pic on the ruler is 2 months, the other pic is just under 3 months

[lahi88]

Hi Iahi,
I have red melons growing too, they do take awhile to colour as do most strains, it will come it just takes time. Here's a couple pics of mine to give you an idea.

The pic on the ruler is 2 months, the other pic is just under 3 months

Hey thanks for these pictures. Really appreciate your effort.

I have 30 juveniles in 3ft * 1.5ft * 1.5 ft tank. Do u think I have over stoked them ?

Also around 5 to 10 are in this size. But the others are small.
Please tell me what Im doing wrong here. Ill try to upload my ones tomorrow.

[Filip]

Yes Iahi , I think that you are way overstocked , especially given the fact that you do only 50% WC , every other day .
I would cut the number in half , leaving the 15 most desirable discus in your 40-50 G tank , and I would also increase WCs to more than 50% - and daily . That way you'll ensure better appetite, better growth and healthier discus .
Its better to end up with even 7 great looking discus than having 30 stunted or sick discus to deal with .

[Rex82]

Agree with filip, the only way to counter the amount of fish you have is with cleaner water in that size tank

[lahi88]

Yes Iahi , I think that you are way overstocked , especially given the fact that you do only 50% WC , every other day .
I would cut the number in half , leaving the 15 most desirable discus in your 40-50 G tank , and I would also increase WCs to more than 50% - and daily . That way you'll ensure better appetite, better growth and healthier discus .
Its better to end up with even 7 great looking discus than having 30 stunted or sick discus to deal with .

Hey you guys are awesome. Thanks . To tell u the truth m raising these juvis to sell. I dont like ppl saying bad things about my fish. This is the first batch of mine. But I have kept discuss earlier. But not this much amount. Any other advice would be great.