# Coloring up TRI COLORS!



## *GREASER* (Apr 11, 2004)

This has been talked about before but I thought it couldnt hurt to bring it up agian. How are you dusting your ffs and waht are you dusting them with to bring out those reds in your tricolors. 

I have just been mashing the paprika I have with a spoon against a plate to make it even more powdery but it still doesnt stick to the flys for long. Any one have a better way of getting the stuff to stick to the flys or something that works even better? I know its best to supliment them as tads but for most of us its to late for that.


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## Ed Martin (Mar 25, 2004)

I use a mortar and pestle to grind the paprika but it is still a bit course, so I mix it with calcium powder to make it stick better. I also feed 1/8th inch crickets that have been gutloaded with sweet potatoes or carrots and make a tricolor media for fruit flies with sweet potato. 
Ed


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## HansV (Apr 15, 2004)

Greaser,

I don't use any supplement to color the tricolor. I have a UV-A lighting and the tricolors are deep red.

Regards, Hans


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## JJuchems (Feb 16, 2004)

Using paprika can color up frogs, but why do it? Once you stop using it the coloring returns to normal and the effects are not going to transfered to the offspring. What is you gain?
Later and Happy Frogging,
Jason Juchems


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## PAULSCHUMANN (Apr 20, 2005)

I havent tried feeding paprika to frogs but I have used it with tadpoles. I spread out tetra spirulina flakes on some wax paper, then gently mist the flakes and sprinkle paprika over them and mist it again and set in the sun until dry. after the flakes have dried I then put them back into the container and feed to the tads. they morph out dramatically brighter than the usual.

What other food additives will "safely" improve color. I have heard rumors of ground cumen? but I haven't tried it because of unreliable sources on it's use.


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## benmz (Feb 18, 2004)

Hey Greaser,
We've pm'd before and you said that your tricolors are still young. Mine are 11 months old and a few still don't have that beautiful color red. I have fed with paprika, but it also seems that they color up with age. I fed with paprika every time I fed them when they were still juvi's and it didn't do squat. I may have helped a little, and I still believe in it (I dust with paprika now and again), but I don't think the results are as dramatic as we'd like them to be. Never tried it on tadpoles, however, still waiting for a female tricolor. I'll have to try it on other tads.

-Ben


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## *GREASER* (Apr 11, 2004)

yeah from what I have read suplimenting with color inhancers at the tadpole stage is where you really make a drastic difference in frogs. I have been suplimenting two frogs more then the 3rd and the two that are given the paprika are darker then the other. I have tryed mashing it agaisnt a plate to make it a little more powdery but for some reason it doesnt stick as well after a few days. I think it has something to do wioth moistuer getting to it. I really need to get and mortar pestle. 

Hans V what you said about the UV-A lighting is really interesting. I have also heard tjhat this doesnt work. Ide like to give it a try.


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## bbrock (May 20, 2004)

JJuchems said:


> Using paprika can color up frogs, but why do it? Once you stop using it the coloring returns to normal and the effects are not going to transfered to the offspring. What is you gain?
> Later and Happy Frogging,
> Jason Juchems


I think this is an excellent question. I consider the coloration of the frogs we produce to be an indicator of how good our husbandry is. If a species of frog tends to be bright red in the wild but all we can produce are pink cb offspring, then something is off in the way we raise them. I remember in the stone age when the first cb clownfish hit the salwater market and you could tell at a glance which were cb and which were wild. Now the cb clownfish are just a brilliant as wc. In my mind we haven't really successfully figure out how to breed and raise PDF until we can produce offspring that are indistinguishable from their wild ancestors.

I haven't ever kept tricolor but I have found blue jeans pumilio darn hard to color up as cb. In my experience, UVA lighting has not helped and, if anything, tends to make the frogs darker and more dull if the food supplements are not right (I keep UVA/UVB light over all of my pumilio). There was a lengthy thread on this subject that describes the carotenoid concoctions some of us have made to try. In addition, Ed K. turned me on to this product http://www.thatpetplace.com/Products/KW/cyclop/Class//T1/F41+0492+0008/EDP/45823/Itemdy00.aspx which I've added to the mix and dust with regularly. Preliminary results look good. My latest cb pumilio seem to be holding their bright color and some of the dull looking adult cb seem to be gaining some color back. Even a very old wc male that I didn't notice had lost any color seems to be a bit brighter these days.

The relationship between UV and color still interests me. On the other thread, Ed and Corey gave a pretty detailed review of the pigments involved in frog coloration and there is little doubt these must be obtained through diet. But I wonder if UV helps to express these pigments so that a combination of diet and UV lighting brings out the best color in the frogs.


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## jbeetle (Feb 8, 2004)

Hey Brent, I am excited to hear that you are already trying the Cyclop-eeze products. Ed K mentioned it at IAD, and I'd be very interested in seeing/hearing about your results. I was gonna try it, but I've only been able to find online and haven't gotten around to ordering any yet... maybe I'll just wait to see how it works for you . Are you just dusting with it or are you also trying to "gutload" feeders with it? Also, do you think there would be a difference if you used the freeze dried product instead of the flakes?


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