Color Enhancing Food for Guppies

When it comes to finding fish food that will enhance the color of your guppies, no one-bottle approach exists. The key to bright colors and healthy fish is a varied, well-balanced diet filled with whole foods and quality ingredients, rather than fillers such as wheat germ. Natural color-enhancing methods always prove superior to artificial flakes and pellets, but guppies will require ideal water conditions to retain their vibrant coloration.

  1. Types

    • Color-enhancing foods marketed to guppy hobbyists include fish flakes, pellets, gels and at-home recipes. However, products sold at pet stores typically contain artificial hormones, which have the potential to change the behavior of your guppy, cautions the Aquarium Fish Wonders website.

    Whole Foods

    • By avoiding any type of manufacturing process, whole foods retain their nutritional value -- all of the vitamins, proteins and minerals essential to enhancing fish coloration. Examples of whole foods that promote vibrant colors in guppies include whole shrimp, salmon and halibut, chopped into small pieces before feeding.

    Spirulina Algae

    • Spirulina -- a dietary supplement for humans as well as animals -- contains a mix of essential vitamins, minerals and carotene pigments. Flamingos, who consume vast quantities of the spirulina algae, serve as an example of its color-enhancing properties. This type of algae works the best for red, yellow, and orange guppies, but won't do much for blue, green or black fish, despite the fact that spirulina appears blue-green in color.

    Live Foods

    • Guppies benefit from a varied diet that includes live foods such as fruit flies, brine shrimp and different types of small worms. As part of a guppy's natural diet, live foods maintain or even boost fish health, which in turn will make their colors appear brighter. Krill -- shrimp-like marine crustaceans -- offer a solid source of protein for guppies, but fish owners must ensure that the krill are small enough for guppies to swallow.

    Frozen Foods

    • Frozen blood worms, brine shrimp and spirulina cubes can substitute for fresh foods, and will still enhance a guppy's natural color. Packets of frozen food intended for African cichlids and aquatic turtles and sold at pet stores -- typically featuring blends of different types of algae and worms -- help bring out red, orange and yellow coloration in guppies.