Enhancing bta color with food

[john wright]

i was thinking about trying to feed my bta some krill to make its red brighter what do you think?
is there one krill that is better or are they all the same brand, frozen, or freeze-dried?

or do you have a better idea

 

[tbub1221]

Frozen over something dried and preserved definitely , frozen has more nutrients than dry.
I sometimes feed my anemone's chunks of cocktail shrimp shelled and chopped up .
There are other products like reef frenzy that are good and have a mix of critters in it that your coral and fish will like.

 

[john wright]

i feed lrs reef frenzy now just wanted to try the krill to see if the reds get brighter.

 

[john wright]

are there any other foods out there that you think might be used to enhance red

 

[mcphock]

My understanding is that it is folly to try and enhance color through food alone. The best color an individual organism can display will always be achieved through optimizing their entire environment, rather than providing a specific nutrient.

That having been said, it can't hurt to try. I'd look towards fresh 'human' seafood/shrimp as opposed to freeze dried.

 

[john wright]

McPhock;923115 wrote: My understanding is that it is folly to try and enhance color through food alone. The best color an individual organism can display will always be achieved through optimizing their entire environment, rather than providing a specific nutrient.

That having been said, it can't hurt to try. I'd look towards fresh 'human' seafood/shrimp as opposed to freeze dried.

i think you are prob. right but it is just something to try. I have an inferno bta that i am trying to get to look more like the pic form the distributor i got it from coralcollection

 

[mcphock]

Those are really pricey.... hope you dont have to adjust too much...

I'd give fresh seafood a try, supplemented with HUFA solutions (like selcon, et al).

 

[john wright]

bump dose any one have any suggestions

 

[indecloudzua]

are they using different type of lights than you are?i know different lights affect coral colors. could it also be the same with bta's?

 

[miami dolfan]

I wonder if you can add food coloring to the frozen foods to change the nem's color? My mom used to do that to her potted flowers and I knew a guy who would feed his canary water with food coloring and it got a nice reddish yellow color.

 

[john wright]

i thought about food coloring but I'm kinda scared it might kill my $400 nem.

 

[miami dolfan]

I definitely wouldn't chance it.

 

[john wright]

i thought about that my wife is a photographer so i called them and was told it was a legit pic but that is still a very real possibility

 

[indecloudzua]

See if your wife can recreate their pic with yours.

Sent from my SCH-I545 using Tapatalk

 

[gregoryleonard]

look into Fauna Marin LPS enhanced pellete food, I give it to my Rainbow BTA and other LPS corals. Fauna Marin has done experiments with same species side by side, feeding one FM LPS food and the other just frozen or dried. Colors were dramatically different. My RBTAs, Scolies, and Rainbow Acans look great as well.

 

[john wright]

i have tried to recreate there pic in lightroom5 i get a nice pic but not like theres

 

[wildernets]

+1 on Fauna Marin LPS. Love it!

 

[mvm]

It seems to be out of stock everywhere and has been for a while. Anyone know what's up?

 

[sewer urchin]

Hey John, theis thread reminded me of something I read,

If you have access to Eric Borneman's book "Aquarium Corals: Selection, Husbandry and Natural Selection" he briefly mentions an experimental/optional process in making a home made coral ration (p64).

In a nutshell, it mentions adding small amounts of produce items with a high pigment content, like eggplant skin, carrots, tamarillo, kale, etc. Whether or not the material contains usable forms of pigment is unknown, but it's addition is not harmful. Also, powdered pigment complexes are available thru health food stores.

I have no experience with any of these additions for color enhacement (except garlic, peas and broccoli- I put this stuff in for the fish. They eat the food and no one has died yet)
Good luck,
Ben

-"Talk amoungst yourselves"
Linda Richman

 

[john wright]

thanks thats some good info