How Quality of Food Can Make a World of Difference

As many of you may know, I keep both freshwater and saltwater aquariums.

A few months ago, I was offered a royal gramma for my saltwater aquarium. The owner was moving and did not want to take the fish with him when he did (it was the only creature in the tank). Since this saltwater fish is one of my absolute favorites, I agreed to take it.

Pale/faded Royal Gramma

The fish was quite pale/faded when I got it, as shown here. These pictures actually make the purple look better than it did in person. The purple was very grayed-out in person. The yellow was paler than normal as well but the purple was the most dramatic.

After doing some research on why that might be, I narrowed the possibilities down to two:

1. Lighting in previous tank was too bright. These fish are from relatively deep water so they're not used to extremely bright lights.

2. Food that the fish had been getting was not great quality. This matters for all fish but is especially important for saltwater fish, which normally eat foods that are rich in nutrients.

Pale/faded Royal Gramma

The lighting was a possibility but since the previous owner had used the same lights that I use (and I've never had a royal gramma become pale under mine), I thought it was less likely to be lighting. But again, lights were not ruled out since individual fish can react differently.

The food that the previous owner had been feeding TetraMin Tropical flakes, a common brand found in many stores, but a variety of that brand that is meant for freshwater fish, not saltwater. I don't use that brand for my saltwater fish. The food I feed most often is OmegaOne (I often use the SuperColor varieties, but I use others as well). I focused on nutrition as the most likely cause of the royal gramma being pale/faded and within just a few months, it has gained its color back and looks amazing! This just goes to show how important nutrition is for all creatures, even fish!

Royal Gramma after getting color back!