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Feed Ingredient: Color Enhancers

Are there color enhancers in the diet?

Red color is enhanced by things like astaxanthin, bio-red, shrimp oil, carotenoid pigments and spirulina
Red color is enhanced by things like astaxanthin, bio-red, shrimp oil, carotenoid pigments and spirulina

Look for terms like Spirulina, Bio-Red, BetaCarotene, Canthaxanthin, Marigold petals, Xanthins, Shrimp Oil, Synthetic and Non Synthetic Carotenoids, Color Enhancers…On the label. Generally, the shrimp oil is the most expensive. It performs as well or better than the synthetic carotenoids but either is acceptable. Spirulina cannot push color unless the fish are exposed to sunlight. None of these color enhancers are hazardous to fish but can make a fish with a yellow head YELLOWER and so they say: a fish with a tendency towards pink pinker. No color enhancer can replace the irrefutable contribution of genetics and sunlight to color.