Effect of supplemented liquid pigments in the diet on growth performance and body skin color of Jewel cichlid (Hemichromis lifalili) fish.

The weight, average daily gain (ADG), and body skin color values of Jewel cichlid (Hemichromis lifalili) fish were measured on the 0, 30, 60, and 75 days of the experiment. The fish received liquid feed for the first 60 days and no supplementary feed from day 61 to 75. The body weight and ADG of fish raised for 0-30, 0-60, and 0-75 days was not statistically significant differences (p<0.05). However, it was found that fish fed with the supplemented different pigments had different L* and a* values at each stage of the experiment, i.e. when fish were fed with diets containing natural capsanthin and synthetic astaxanthin for 60 days, the L* and a* color values were higher than those of the other groups. The L*, and a* values were lowered after the liquid pigments supplementation was withdrawn.