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Home: Articles : Colour Enhancing Foods
Colour Enhancing Foods
by Vanessa
There are many ways to improve their colouring,
from giving them hermie-friendly bark and driftwood to
munch on, to foods such as FMR Land Hermit Crab Food and
HBH's Hermit Crab Bites; and colour enhancing fish flake
is safe to use with hermit crabs, with some varieties
including marigold or plant sources high in beta carotene.
I found a good article on colour enhancing:
http://www.koikichi.com/about/articles/colour_enhancing_food.html
"Here are some key words to look for when
considering dietary supplements that will enhance
red pigmentation in your koi - carotenoids, canthaxanthin,
astaxanthin, spirulina, Musca Domestica and Krill.
Carotenoids are a family of over 600 natural lipid-soluble
pigments that are produced within microalgae, phytoplankton,
and higher plants. They also produce compounds such
as essential fatty acids, steroids, sterols, vitamins
A, D, E, and K. Within the various classes of natural
pigments, the carotenoids are the most widespread
and structurally diverse pigmenting agents. They
are responsible, in combination with proteins, for
many of the brilliant yellow to red colors in plants
and the wide range of blue, green, purple, brown
and reddish colors of fish and crustaceans.
Carotenoids are absorbed in animal diets - sometimes
transformed into other carotenoids, and incorporated
into various tissues. As we all know, flamingo's
are pink or should be pink - this is due to ingesting
algae containing high levels of beta-carotene and
then converting this yellow carotenoid into canthaxanthin
and astaxanthin before depositing it into the feathers
and tissues as red plumage. Some fish species such
as koi and various crustaceans have the enzymatic
mechanisms to convert carotenoids into other forms
as well, such as astaxanthin - some fish/animals
don't. Astaxanthin is the optimal carotenoid for
the proper pigmentation of the red/pink colors is
aquaria. Crustaceans and other aquatic animals are
unable to produce astaxanthin de novo (naturally),
only plants and protists (bacteria, algae, fungi)
are capable of synthesizing carotenoids. Therefore
astaxanthin must be available in either their native
habitat or manufactured diet to meet nutritional
requirements. In the natural aquatic environment,
astaxanthin is biosynthesized in the food chain
within microalgae or phytoplankton at the primary
production level. The microalgae are consumed by
zooplankton, insects or crustaceans which accumulate
astaxanthin, and in turn are ingested by fish which
then accrue astaxanthin.
Fish in the wild will obtain natural red, orange
and yellow color pigments, via carotenoids, through
natural food sources such as shrimps, snails, daphnia
and blood worms. Pond's lack these natural food
sources so the fish require a supplement to their
diets. Unfortunately natural color enhancers are
an expensive addition to a diet, so many fish foods
do not contain them or they are provided in such
small quantities they are not effective.
I personally feed a very high protein, low fat,
low carbohydrate diet. For pellet food I usually
use Hikari Excel, Hikari Hi-Growth, Hikari Wheat
Germ . I use a paste food that starts out at 63%
protein off the shelf. In that paste food I mix
several different ingredients - Musca Domestica
(common house fly) either the larvae, or I prefer
the pupae as it floats better and is 55% protein.
You can also buy Musca Domestica larvae that is
'gut loaded' with canthaxanthin and or spirulina.
The spirulina I use is 60% protein with just 7%
fiber. Freeze dried Krill which is a small shirmp-like
member of the Crustacea family, is up to 70% protein.
Krill are planktonic and feed on algae rich zooplankton
where they get astaxanthin - up to 80-120 ppm of
astaxanthin where your koi, at most, contain 5-8
ppm in their tissues. I like the fact they're freeze
dried instead of using heat which can/does destroy
some of the vitamins and fatty acids."
http://www.koikichi.com/about/articles/colour_enhancing_food.html
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Summary/Main Points:
"Carotenoids are the most widespread
and structurally diverse pigmenting agents"
"Astaxanthin is the optimal carotenoid
for the proper pigmentation of the red/pink colors is
aquaria."
"Crustaceans and other aquatic animals
are unable to produce astaxanthin de novo (naturally),
only plants and protists (bacteria, algae, fungi) are
capable of synthesizing carotenoids."
"Therefore astaxanthin must be available
in either their native habitat or manufactured diet to
meet nutritional requirements. In the natural aquatic
environment, astaxanthin is biosynthesized in the food
chain within microalgae or phytoplankton at the primary
production level. The microalgae are consumed by zooplankton,
insects or crustaceans which accumulate astaxanthin, and
in turn are ingested by fish which then accrue astaxanthin."
"Fish in the wild will obtain natural
red, orange and yellow color pigments, via carotenoids,
through natural food sources such as shrimps, snails,
daphnia and blood worms"
ie. Crustaceans eat other crustaceans, plankton
and algae in order to develop their colouring. They are
unable to synthesize or process the colour enhancing carotenoids
or pigment(colour) agents that increase their colouring.
If we feed our hermit crabs things like
Krill, Blood Worms, Baby Shrimp, and Musca Domestica (common
house fly) *shudders* along with the woods (and in some
cases, Brown Oak leaves such as Carol offers Jon and Kate)
high in tanine and pigments, then they will improve their
colouring. I would hazard a guess that the roasted Nori
sheets I give my hermit crabs (seaweed that is pressed
into flat strips and roasted, to be used with Sushi) are
high in carotenoids and astaxanthin, as would other types
of algae I feed my hermit crabs.
While hermit crabs are not Koi, I thought
that this introduction to pigment-rich agents and how
crustaceans obtain their colouring would be helpful to
some.
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