the study of synthetic and natural pigments on the colour of the albino oscar

in this study, we have investigated the effects of mix of tomato (solanum lycopersicum) & carrot) daucus carota ( and red bell pepper )capsicum annuum( as a natural pigment source and astaxanthin as synthetic pigment sources on the skin colour of cichlid fish (astronotus ocellatus sp., agassiz, 1831), which are generally white with red patches in the dorsal skin. the fish were fed diets containing 100 mg kg–1 astaxanthin and natural pigment. the amount of both natural and synthetic pigment sources given as feed was 100 mg kg–1, and the experiment was continued for 60 days. total carotenoid content of the fish was determined spectrophotometrically at the end of the experiment. as a result, while a visible change of colour in the skin of the fish fed on the feed containing astaxanthin was observed with 0.43 ± 0.2 mg g– of pigment accumulation, a relatively change of colour was observed in the skin of other fish that were fed on the feed containing powder of tomato & carrot and red bell pepper with 0.35 ± 0.2 mg g– of pigment accumulations, respectively. therefore, it was determined that these pigment sources have an effect on the colour of cichlid fish.