Pink Flakes.

[Angelfish]

Okay, now this is going to sound really wierd, but do fish have color preferences? When feeding my fish I notice that one of the gouramis ate the pink flakes first. To start with I just thought that he had excellant taste, but now I notice my angel fish doing it. Even if there is a large yellow flake, they would sooner eat a tiny pink one. So I'm wondering if they are attracted to the color, or if the flakes taste diferently. I'm assuming that noone here has tasted fish food(?!) Its not important or anything, I'm just wondering.

 

[Antwan]

Maybe its the taste of pink that attracts them to it, you know, like the food dye or something, maybe. I wanna think that they bake different nutrients into different colors, but that would make it hard to get a balaced feeding every time.

 

[SoulFish]

i believe the different colors are different flavors, there was a post about this a while ago

 

[Antwan]

For real? Fish have favorite flavors!!

 

[Angelfish]

Wow, I really wasnt expecting that, just thought I had wierd fish =) Its interesting, I wonder if I could get all pink flavor (now I wonder what it tastes of).

 

[FroggyFox]

It would be cool if you could get all one flavor that you know your fish like...but I suppose it would be something like feeding a little kid ice cream constantly just because he likes it. Like Antwan said it would be hard to keep a balanced flake diet if the flakes weren't pretty even in content.

 

[fishaddict]

Im not really sure about this but someone told me that the flakes were kinda different. Like green ones have vegetables or rather the nutrients baked in i guess, red ones have like protein, so on like that. Id guess that they all have different flavors. Maybe one day ill pay my friend to try some tell me what he thinks.

 

[catfishmike]

with some brands yes the colors are flavors others are just dyes. iknow with hikari micro pellets yellow is fiber,red is protein,and green is veggie.another thing could be a color response.most wild fish food is tones of pink and green.i can''t think of too much yellow stuff they eat offhand.

 

[angel51431]

I just figure that its kinda obvious that fish would have preferred tastes. My Pepper Cories, for example love algae wafers, more than any other type of food. The other Cories seem to prefer shrimp pellets. Hrm, the two albinos are gluttons and will eat anything (they'll sit on top of a wafer and nibble occasionally until they finish it), but that's not the point. Fish get bored of the same foods, occasionally. I've heard of plecos quickly getting bored of algae wafers. Plus fish do have a sense of smell, which probably accounts for more in their preference of food than taste.

I've never gotten flakes with different colors, there's just something I don't trust about them. Then again, the last time I bought new flakes was ages ago. I bougt the 6.8 oz bottle of Wardley Total Tropical at least 5 years ago, and I've used up less than half of the bottle so far. "Bottle" isn't quite the correct word - container, perhaps. Then again, the bottomfeeders do outnumber the tiger barbs in my tank.

 

[Dogsby]

Most of my fish dont like the yellow/tan/brown whatever color they are. They are the last flakes to get eaten.

Shawn

 

[Wormo3188]

It has to do with whats inside of the flakes, not the color or the "taste" of the flakes. Most flakes come in a variety of colors, usually 4 or so to a box. Seeing how most of the the flakes are designed for community tanks, there are different foods in the flakes, one has meat in it for carnivorous and omniverous fish, one has plant/veggie in it for vegitarian and omniverous fish, and the other two are modifications on those, such as the brown is another type of veggie and the yellow is another type of meat. I believe it is only color coded for the factories that produce them, cause when I introduce a new fish it doesnt just go towards the pink emmidiatly, it seems to imprint on the idea that pink=meat and so on.

 

[Antwan]

I think thats retarded that they do that. Its not very balanced at all, unless you keep track of whats between your fingers. And that means that cheap fish food companies would try to cheat you on the the cheapest flake to make. Now its getting more complicated....

 

[Angelfish]

Who would have though there was this much info and complication in fish food flakes. Thanks all of you for helping me solve that mystery. I guess the pink must be the chocolate of fish food.

 

[GDH]

Originally posted by angel51431


I bougt the 6.8 oz bottle of Wardley Total Tropical at least 5 years ago, and I've used up less than half of the bottle so far.

I think its time to get a new can of fish food. Usually its best to get new food every 3 months. The longer the food is opened, the less food value it has.