Experienced FBT breeders / coloration issues.

[CJ PELCHER]

All,

So at A.I.R. Exotics we have breeding FBT. Only problem I see with them is the belly coloration even as an adult is not a red like i see in the local pet stores. It is a very faded orange to almost whitish belly. After reading some posts its due to captive breeding over time. SO what is it in the wild that helps them retain the RED color? I feed them vitamins and calcium at every feeding so I dont see it being a vitamin defficency. Just looking for a few suggestions on this.

[Mentat]

Need to start working the coloration issue at the tadpole stage. Feed the tads a diet high in carotenoids and anthaxanthin. Some fish foods have a very high content of those (like the Saki-Hikari Goldfish Color Enhancing Formula) .