Last thought for now. In the furcatas anyway, colors have not faded
eventhough these deformed fish get allmost no care. It has been several
months since I have gotten them back. It may be something to be said that
if they are grown to adulthood the color is less likely to fade without
regular applications...
>I suspect that it may turn out like the red-factor canaries - that some
>species are genetically predisposed to respond to the colour-feeding while
>others are not.
This might be something to look into. Maybe we gotta look into gut
contents of the fish a bit better. I think we will find that there are
more algal components than we think. Might be why somw fish seem to fade
out quicker in the aquarium than others...
MTF
At 12:38 PM 9/15/98 -1000, you wrote:
>As far as colour feeding aquarium fish is concerned, I think there is a
>"moral" point to consider.
>
>As long as there isn't an enhancement past the normal range of colour
>expressed by the particular species or tribe, just making it evident at a
>smaller size then you shouldn't draw too much flak.
>
>If the colour feeding produced shades or intensity never able to be found
>even in breeding condition in the wild then somehow I think you could run
>into problems.
>
>A while back there was a glut of discus on the market that were being colour
>fed on the red-coloured roe of that Giant Malaysian Freshwater Prawn
>(Macrobrachium rosenbergii) and unless you had access to a continuing supply
>of the same food then the colour quickly faded away as the fish grew up on
>normal foods. Consequently that strain fell quickly out of favour.
>
>I would hate to see any form of Rainbowfish used as a commercial gimmick
>species for some individual breeders to make a few bucks initially and later
>find that the public are disappointed in Rainbowfish as a whole because they
>felt "cheated".
>
>I suspect that it may turn out like the red-factor canaries - that some
>species are genetically predisposed to respond to the colour-feeding while
>others are not. The canaries are especially line-bred from a partially
>fertile hybrid between a canary and the Hooded Siskin finch. Apparently you
>can feed a genetically pure canary all the colour feed you like and it won't
>make a scrap of difference to it's colour.
>
>Regards,
>Bruce.
>
>Bruce Hansen, A.N.G.F.A., Advancing Australian Aquatics.
>
>Bruce Hansen, ANGFA, caring for our aquatic ecosystems.
>
>Please visit us at http://www.ozemail.com.au/~fisher/angfa.htm
>
>
>-----Original Message-----
>From: Mach T. Fukada <fukada at hawaii.edu>
>To: rainbowfish at pcug.org.au <rainbowfish at pcug.org.au>
>Date: Tuesday, 15 September 1998 15:07
>Subject: Re: [RML] rainbowfish diet/ASTAXANTHIN
>
>
>. Might be a moot point if we can get the fish out to market faster by
>>getting them to color sooner. Also it was noted that in some species they
>>don't color up until their ready (secondary sexual characteristics, unless
>>of course the stuff has a hormonal mode of action ;-)
>>
>>
>
>
Mach T. Fukada, Web Master
fukada at hawaii.edu
Honolulu Aquarium Society
http://www.geocities.com/Heartland/Meadows/2948/HASF.html