WTB white crane food

[jtrotter77]

Ok no flames please. I know the food is basically taboo but I have a client who has a show tank and he has filled it with African cichlids. Mostly peacocks but a few mbuna aswell.
anyways. they are all still pretty young and he is being impatient and wanting to speed the coloring up. I have givin him some Spirulina powder and NLS but the peacocks are still young and theres only so much you can do.

I remembered reading about White crane food years ago but havent heard or seen any threads mentioning it in a long time.

anyone know where you can get it(in the states)
also any experience with it?

I know he doesnt plan on any breeding so he is not concerned about them being infertile.
any help will be appreciated.
Thanks

[ILLUSN]

If your in sydney headout to canleyvale, theres a shop near the station that sels it.

[Exotic Aquatic]

Sorry cant help you source it overseas. However i ran tests on it at home with some peacocks a few years back for a couple LFS who were curious.

According to my results it definitely works (on peacocks, i only tested on what the two stores provided me with). It does actually effect breeding too. However i do not believe this is due to hormones in the food as it clearly states hormone free, and i dont think they would get away with that statement if it werent true. (yea ill get to PSB later).

I tested on juvi E blues (iceberg), and a mating colony of the same fish.

Heres what i found:
juvies were ALL full adult male coloration (3-5cm fish) within 2 weeks or so, no sign of females.

Adults were all also apparently male, and were all angry at eachother (although this change took a week or two longer than with juvies).

I vented the adults to find the same ratio of male/female as we had begun with. Females still ovulated and lay eggs, males ignored them, and "females" i can only guess ate them.

I can only deduce that this does not in fact alter there genetic make up as some have suggested in the past (altering sexes seems impossible, but who knows). But it does bring out "full color" in all sexes causing males to become confused, wondering "where did all the women go and who are all these blokes?"...

Perhaps eventually they would have worked it out, perhaps not... i only worked with them for 7-8 weeks total.

White crane will enhance your fish, but so will a micro algae, caratoid rich called astaxanthin, round in products like naturose (some guys on other forums swear by this, however im yet to try it). i have also read of using several types of chloraphyll in fish, there are apparently some commercially available things out there in the states (talk to your local discus/FH guy, or search it online).

Thankfully i believe these products cant be imported here, and dont exist in oz as far as im aware ( i HOPE!) as the results would be devastating on our stock.

Hope this helps clarify things,

Regards,
Adrian.

[jtrotter77]

looking for it in the united states.

[Exotic Aquatic]

google is your friend

[jtrotter77]

yea I have wore google and yahoo out to no end. I cant find any to order.

[syxx]

Just some confirmation on white crane.
It does not have hormones added, so your fish will not go infertile. If it had hormones added it would not be allowed through customs easily.
A friend has been using it for years with his electric yellows and they continuously spawn, with peacocks they all colour up like males so they fight a whole lot more and they do not see the females as females so they rarely spawn.
I have used white crane and apart from the fish not liking the taste as much as other foods it had not detrimental effects.
I now use my own frozen mix of foods, live foods and tetra bits so that they get a wide variety of nutrients and i believe this brings out their colours just as well.
Good luck with your search in America.