NatuRose in Artificial Diets

One of the greatest challenges in the tropical marine ornamental industry is to accurately replicate the natural colour of fish in a captive environment. NatuRose alleviates this problem through its high concentration of natural astanxanthin, which is similar to those encountered in the wild environment. NatuRose added to feeds of 40 day old Amphiprion ocellaris resulted in a dramatic enhancement of colour and market value after only 10 days (Reef Propagations Inc.). The black stripes of A.Ocellaris were particularly striking, which was probably due to astaxanthin carotenoproteins.  

The largest breeder of marine ornamentals in the world augments their own feeds with NatuRose to enhance pigmentation and fertility. At a fish farm in Kapa’au, Hawaii, NatuRose was mixed into Moore Clarke “Nutra Starter Feed’, fed to Red Velvet and Neon Green Swordtails. By the fifth feeding, pigmentation noticeably improved, and by the 30th  day the colour had achieved market quality. Feed not supplemented with NatuRose did not meet market quality standards in the marine ornamental industry. 

Since NatuRose comes in a concentrated natural astanxanthin powder form, it can be incorporated into any type of food delivery system such as dry flake, crumble or frozen food. NatuRose containing 1.5% astaxanthin (15,000ppm) is generally incorporated into feeds at final concentration of 45-90 ppm (3-6grams/kg of feed).