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 ;-)
>
>