If you feed your yellow fish red enhancing foods, will they stay red?

[jeff12]

I made a beefheart mix for my growouts but I added shrimp to the mix and I have some Golden Lollipops. I noticed that since feeding they have turned a pale red color. If I were to stop feeding them it now or when they are adults, would they turn back to their yellow selves or will they stay like that now and as adults also? The Lollipops eat the mix more than the Marlboros LOL.

[brewmaster15]

In theory if you removed orange and red pigments from their diet...maybe. but in practice ..its very hard to do that.
.
What else do you feed or would you feed?

Hth,
Al

[jeff12]

In theory if you removed orange and red pigments from their diet...maybe. but in practice ..its very hard to do that.
.
What else do you feed or would you feed?

Hth,
Al

I have been feeding them FDBW cubes and blackworm flakes. They get hooked on that stuff but I wanted some variety.

[Jayy]

I made a beefheart mix for my growouts but I added shrimp to the mix and I have some Golden Lollipops. I noticed that since feeding they have turned a pale red color. If I were to stop feeding them it now or when they are adults, would they turn back to their yellow selves or will they stay like that now and as adults also? The Lollipops eat the mix more than the Marlboros LOL.

The red color is only showing up specifically because of the Astaxanthin found in the food you are feeding. The shrimp contain this but it should be in relatively small amounts. What else are you adding to the BH recipe?

If you cut out astaxanthin from their diet (tricky to do) the red color will fade. It's not permanent.

[nc0gnet0]

The red color is only showing up specifically because of the Astaxanthin found in the food you are feeding. The shrimp contain this but it should be in relatively small amounts. What else are you adding to the BH recipe?

If you cut out astaxanthin from their diet (tricky to do) the red color will fade. It's not permanent.

That's not necessarily true, but it could be, in theory anyways :)

Many Yellow fish are not really naturally yellow as adults. As they age, they slowly tend to turn color. This is why you seldom see larger 5.5-6.5 yellow strains marketed, and whey you do, they are at a premium price. Now, while feeding color enhancing foods will indeed exaggerate and accelerate the transformation from yellow to orange, I can't recall any instance of a documented case where the process was fully reversed.

Long story short, if you want a yellow adult, buy a yellow adult. Buying a yellow juvenile is a lot like buying a lottery ticket.