# best way to bring out the red color



## dschoter05 (Oct 14, 2008)

my RBP's lack the bright red under bellies that i see in pictures. the man i bought them from told me that the color will come and go depending on how hungry they are. i recently went a week and half with out feeding them but they still did not brighten. i now believe he is full of sh*t. any input would help


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## sapir (Jun 20, 2008)

dschoter05 said:


> my RBP's lack the bright red under bellies that i see in pictures. the man i bought them from told me that the color will come and go depending on how hungry they are. i recently went a week and half with out feeding them but they still did not brighten. i now believe he is full of sh*t. any input would help


start feeding shrimp, krill, and other foods containing carotene.
if you have light colored subtrate theyre bellies will be more of an orange and on dark substrate it will be a deeper red.
the hungry thing is bs


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## boiler149 (Oct 31, 2007)

ya being hungry has nothing to do it...


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## l2ob (May 22, 2004)

dschoter05 said:


> my RBP's lack the bright red under bellies that i see in pictures. the man i bought them from told me that the color will come and go depending on how hungry they are. i recently went a week and half with out feeding them but they still did not brighten. i now believe he is full of sh*t. any input would help


how big and how old are they? As they mature sometimes their colors wash out. My adults were colorful when small but once they got around the 7-8" mark their colors werent as bright anymore and when they got 9-10" they showed colors here and there. a very good diet and good water conditions will bring out their color.

Think of it as the good food as vitamins to supplement their growth and color and the good water quality to make them happy, and youll get the "red" in red belly


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## scotth42 (May 4, 2008)

l2ob said:


> my RBP's lack the bright red under bellies that i see in pictures. the man i bought them from told me that the color will come and go depending on how hungry they are. i recently went a week and half with out feeding them but they still did not brighten. i now believe he is full of sh*t. any input would help


how big and how old are they? As they mature sometimes their colors wash out. My adults were colorful when small but once they got around the 7-8" mark their colors werent as bright anymore and when they got 9-10" they showed colors here and there. a very good diet and good water conditions will bring out their color.

Think of it as the good food as vitamins to supplement their growth and color and the good water quality to make them happy, and youll get the "red" in red belly
[/quote]i feed mine lots of shrimp and fish fillets soaked in kent zoe vitamins and mine are vivid red
but they are just 3in


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## dschoter05 (Oct 14, 2008)

l2ob said:


> my RBP's lack the bright red under bellies that i see in pictures. the man i bought them from told me that the color will come and go depending on how hungry they are. i recently went a week and half with out feeding them but they still did not brighten. i now believe he is full of sh*t. any input would help


how big and how old are they? As they mature sometimes their colors wash out. My adults were colorful when small but once they got around the 7-8" mark their colors werent as bright anymore and when they got 9-10" they showed colors here and there. a very good diet and good water conditions will bring out their color.

Think of it as the good food as vitamins to supplement their growth and color and the good water quality to make them happy, and youll get the "red" in red belly
[/quote]

i got them about a year ago they were the size of a nickel. they are now about 5-6 inches


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## sapir (Jun 20, 2008)

dschoter05 said:


> my RBP's lack the bright red under bellies that i see in pictures. the man i bought them from told me that the color will come and go depending on how hungry they are. i recently went a week and half with out feeding them but they still did not brighten. i now believe he is full of sh*t. any input would help


how big and how old are they? As they mature sometimes their colors wash out. My adults were colorful when small but once they got around the 7-8" mark their colors werent as bright anymore and when they got 9-10" they showed colors here and there. a very good diet and good water conditions will bring out their color.

Think of it as the good food as vitamins to supplement their growth and color and the good water quality to make them happy, and youll get the "red" in red belly
[/quote]

i got them about a year ago they were the size of a nickel. they are now about 5-6 inches
[/quote]

they should still display the nice red belly.
i agree good water conditions and happy fish would bring out the red


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## Piranha_man (Jan 29, 2005)

Two things: What they're eating and the quality of their water.

Frequent water changes, and feed them nutrient rich foods high in cartenoids.
I feed my fish a diet of 98% Hikari Cichlid Gold pellets.
They're the best color enhancer I've seen.


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## hungry84 (Sep 8, 2007)

a sked this a few days back all sounds good but mine will mot take pallets they wont touch them i give them whole fish dead but whole so they can have all the goodness out of it is there anything i can soak it in to help with there colour some people have told me garlic. the fish i feed is sprats are they any good they seem to like it and i only have to feed them twice a week they just leave food if i put more in


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## Piranha_man (Jan 29, 2005)

To my knowledge garlic doesn't do diddly for color, but it's an excellent antibacterial and antifungal.


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## l2ob (May 22, 2004)

hungry84 said:


> a sked this a few days back all sounds good but mine will mot take pallets they wont touch them i give them whole fish dead but whole so they can have all the goodness out of it is there anything i can soak it in to help with there colour some people have told me garlic.


There are vitamins like kent zoe vitamins as scotth42 said earlier you can use. Garlic does not have the caretonode that is needed.

If you have pellets still, give it a shot and try poking a small hole in the fish meat and shove the pellets in there. I used to do it to mine and at one point they started eating pellets, at around 7-8" i was funny to see a big piranha go after a teeney weeney pellet.

Shell on market shrimp is good to have for a piranhas diet


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## Coldfire (Aug 20, 2003)

:moved:


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## shoal king (Oct 27, 2006)

shrimp, krill, crayfish, and hikari pellets


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## PYRO ZOOTS (Aug 23, 2008)

Hikari Cichlid Gold pellets FTW!!!


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## Sanjo Eel (Aug 21, 2008)

I just feed mine lots & lots of carrots.

J/K

Although, I know piranha are omnivorous, I wonder if they would eat a bite of cooked carrot?


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## Sanjo Eel (Aug 21, 2008)

Well, I just gave them a little raw carrot & they ate most of it. It wan fun cause you can hear them crunch it LOL. I probably won't give it to them a lot but veggies are good from time to time.


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## AKSkirmish (Jun 24, 2005)

I have simply not found anything better than discus pellets for red coloration-----But they would have to be started on these when small....But the results is amazing....


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## Piranha_man (Jan 29, 2005)

AKSkirmish said:


> I have simply not found anything better than discus pellets for red coloration-----But they would have to be started on these when small....But the results is amazing....


I've seen those in the lfs but didn't get them because they are so small.
Since you said they work so well, however, I'll pick some up next time I'm there.


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