Macrostoma color development, based on feeding experiment

[this1fish]

I know we have an experiment section here but i'd prefer to post here as it mostly deals with my macs. I have been experimenting with certain foods to see If the frys will retain and develope their colors sooner at an early stage and wether this will help the overal coloration of the fish in it's adult form( mainly the males). I know macs of about 1mo or so will have a black outlining of colors but from previous batch it has shown that this color will dissappear within the first few months.



Here are my first batch of F1 fry. They started out with baby brine shrimp(frozen), then moved onto feeding atison betta pro mainly with some of food X(gonna keep secret for now until it shows true that this food helps retain color) here and there, also feeding live cherry shrimps now

fry coloration with the black outlining as stated at 1mo old.

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here they are at 3mo that i took from my old thread. Notice that the black outlining has dissapeared.

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here are the same fry at 6mo, they are clear with minimal color.

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[this1fish]

Now onto batch number two, They started out feeding food X at birth, no BBS. I continue to feed food X along with atison betta pro and it has shown some results. I hope that this food will make these F1 fry's color pop out and more beautiful than the wild caught( so people would want to buy F1 and keep the wilds in the wild).

the fry both look the same as the picture above with the black outlining at 1mo BUT the difference comes in at 4mo. The fry has retain their coloration and are starting to develope alittle more color too as well. the ones that ate the most retained and developed the most color while the ones that ate alittle less still retain color but didnt develope much color.

here are pictures of the fry at 4mo

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now all my fries are together in a 30B feeding all the same foods to see how they will turn out in the future. Now i have added Black worms to their diet along with food X, atison betta pro, and in the future i will start feeding them krill, and another food X that i have been waiting to feed them but won't start until i can sex them as this food will be focused on the male's colors.

Hopefully this experiment will prove worth while and that my macs will develope colors unimaginable compared to in the wild.

[Bree81]

Either way, they're beautiful! Good luck with your other experiments!

[this1fish]

they are really benefiting from it, they are showing sex already. which is 2months earlier than the first batch. Im excited for the outcome! seeing little colored males is awesome!

[majerah1]

So would you say this experiment is a success?And when will you tell us what the food X is,lol.If its a success it would most likely benefit other wild breeders to know what this is.Either way they are very nice looking little guys!If i had the space and cash i would be asking for a pr.Maybe one day.

[yeeviabettas]

WOW! Good job for breeding successfully and raising them too.
I finally saw real Macrostoma at my friend house too.
They are big and very beautiful when they flare!
I even see their babies!!!!
It is an open eyes to see this type of wild bettas!
I love them. ;) Maybe in the future I will breed them. :)

[this1fish]

yeeviabetta: thanks for hte comments, i really appreciate it! and yes they are beautiful and in a class of their own!

majerah1: I wouldn't really call it a success as i've only tried it on two sets of fish, Maybe it may just be from the benefit of them having a more nutritional food source... or it could be the food....

The food i am experimenting with is called cyclop-eeze. It's a very nutritional food the size of BBS but with alot more nutrition and natural pigment enchancements. the main thing in it that catches my eyes is Astaxanthin, this is a natural pigment enchancer that'll bring out the colors. I've red and seen that they yeild the best results for red/orange(mostly clownfish, turns them bright red instead of orange) fish which the macs are.


http://www.aquaticsworlduk.com/product.php?productid=16231

I know it's a uk site but i googled it quick, most saltwater store should carry this exact brand/package but with their own name engraved on the package.

Another food source i plan to use once i figure out all the males from females is naturose..... it is a form of Astaxanthin which will also promote the color. That along with atison's betta pro which also enchances color and cyclop-eeze should make these fish beautiful......Again, the best results i've seen is for red/orange fish, it may or may not do much for other colored fishes. here are some general information, there's alot more if you google it if you wish to learn more.

http://www.naturose.com/ornamental_fish.html

again im just experimenting and cannot guarantee if anyone wish to try.

[onehomegrownsoul]

Very interesting. So they're utah strain brine shrimp, from salt lake. There is another site available where you can order cysts, and algae cakes for feeding them live and culturing them yourself.

http://www.aquafauna.com/Artemia-%20Artemia%20Cysts.htm