Astaxanthin???

[Proteus]

OK, what are your thoughts on this...

I have done a load of Googling, and everything I read is good, but I want some hard core facts and testimonials.

I feed my Discus a BH mix every couple of days that is laced with Astaxanthin and they eat it as quick as they do the Blood worms and Brine shrimp...

???

[kevkoi]

Nothing wrong with it except if over fed, u will get fish with red fins, red tail, red lips and red chin... ALL RED! :lol: The intense red colouring will fade if not fed continuosly. As far as I know, no negative health effects have been recorded. Asthaxanthin has been used commercially in salmon feed and is a very popular addition to high grade Koi food as well.

The only thing I can think of that is negative about it is that it over colours the fish making it look 'artificial'/better than it really is and may be seen as "false advertising". Easy way to spot a fish which has been fed excessive amounts of this red colour enhancer is to look at the pectoral fins, especially at the base of it. It SHOULD be clear. If it's tinged in red, expect some of the red intensity in the fish to diminish as you cut back on feeding this red colour enhancer.

[flukes]

Proteus - Where did you find it?? and whats it cost?

Kev - Does this classify as a hormone?


Lets not get over excited with this stuff, thats one thing Australian discus do have over many other countries, drug free discus. Seems every pic i see of other countries fish have heavy bleeding into all fins.

But still wouldnt mind spicing them up a bit!! :lol:

[Proteus]

I dont have any, but one of the blocks of BeefHeart I have has a trace amount in it...

Oxheart mixes it in with some of his BH mixes, maybe he might give an idea of cost and availability... I know it isnt cheap though.

[kevkoi]

Far from being a hormone.. this stuff is just naturally found in stuff like lobster roe, lobster shell etc.... IT's "Natural"... just not natural that it be in such high concentrations. ;) (Kinda like carotene is present in carrots.... u'd need to eat helluva lot of carrots to get you that red "tan" look! :lol: )

[flukes]

Just spoke to David about it, sounds like great stuff. Wouldnt mind taking the human form (Bioatin) for myself, and if its good enough for me its good enough for my fish!!

[Proteus]

Dont get this stuff mixed up with "other" colour enhancers...

whilst it does promote various spectrums of colour, it doesnt give them a fake colour, or an un-natural look... plus there are all the other health benefits that it has...

[Mattzilla]

i am in the process of purchasing some pure form astaxanthin powder that i intend to add to my next b/h mix that i will be making in the next few weeks. i'll let you all know the results that i see if any.

i have heard many positive comments about using astaxanthin. not only for colour enhancment but for containing antoxidents and so on.

like i said i'll let you all know how my discus go once they have been eating it for a month or so.

matt

[Supersnake]

I mix brewers yeast into my beefheart mix, the fish seem to thrive but I think it interferes with breeding pattern Fry do not attach successfully or are not viable. Any thoughts?

Norm

[ericflowerfish]

Here is a link from our website where we speak of nutrition and colorants on fish food.



Astax (in short) are present in shrimps and lobsters and crabs. They are what makes the crab or lobsters red when you cook them (no don't cook your discus, lol). Natural astax from such crustaceans are very fine for your fishes as they are not hormones or artificial in nature.

Hope this helps.

http://www.breederspremium.com/info.html

[DiscusMad]

other than buying from overseas is there an Aussie web sit where we can get this stuff from?

[Proteus]

G&S have it (they are in QLD) but can ship goods down to here.