Is it right to?

[fish_4_all]

Well we all see the discusions on painted fish, dyed fish and other modifications to fish and we are for the part appaulled by it.

My question is, there is a lot of focus on a lot food now that is supposed to enhance the colors of our fish and make them more vibrant. Is this a good thing or is it just feeding our fish something that they don't need and could actually be bad for them by modifying their body chemistry or some other possible damage to enhance their colors?

 

[onah]

i thinkthe supluments are supposed to make the fish happier in which case the color is more vibrant is it not?

 

[SCFatz]

I think the color claims are more health oriented then modifying oriented.

An eat good look good kinda thing...at least thats how I have viewed it.

 

[Mosaic]

Most color enhancing foods have extra carotene to bring out the reds. I guess maybe there are other nutrients that bring out other colors too. I believe they are just getting an excess of something already in their natural diet. In any case, its not nearly as dramatic as dyeing. I don't think I've ever noticed a difference when I fed color enhancing dry foods. Live foods are another matter.

 

[tropicfishman]

the food is just enhanced with vitamins and supplements that have the purpose of enhancing natural color, which also can help things like the immune system and appetite, I don't believe it does any harm, its basically the same concepot of us eating dairy products for calium ya know

 

[fish_4_all]

Well snails will turn the color of bloodworms if fed enough, this is where the question came from. I also agree about the live food, have never seen healthier or more vibrant fish. I have also seen the color effects of the "color enhancing" food on some fish although they don't seem to respond negatively to any of them.

I do know however that carrots in high quantities will turn your skin orange and this is actually very bad for you. Has somethng to do with pigment altering and the possible effects of the sun from it or something like that. Just thought that if the fish get too much more colorful than they would be in nature they could lose their natural abilities to deal with lighting and possible lose some of their ability for their skin or scales to function the way it supposed to. Might lead to succeptability to disease and parasites or I would at least think it could. Who knows, maybe the fish don't get the negative effects that we do from excess of some nutrients. All I do know is the effects of too much of things like carratin, vitamin C, and calcium can have some nasty reprocussions and there are other needed vitamins and minerals that in excess have very nasty effects on the body.