Marulioides Care Part 2

Over exposure to strong light you'll notice yr maru turned colorless. Best is low light and you'll see the band forming strong all the time. Too dark eg black sand black side n back will make the fish dark colorless n no band showing. Ive tried this with 18w T5, 36W high output, led low n high same result.

I've tried tanning wit nan light... Fish turns black. Tanning with fullspectrum high out put also produce black fish. I notice unlike most fish maru respond differently with light. When u off the light for many hours, the moment u on yr light u see the fish in full color. Most fish is dull in the dark but maru shows thier best in dark environment. Banding will be strong. U can play around, just keep in mind yr target is the fish should always show its band strongly.

And the most important of all fish keeping is low NO3. How do we not do water change and yet maintain a low NO3? Answer is Plants, low light plants like java is good, or u can plant terrestrial plants in yr filter system. Pothos, water lilies and even yam tree. No joke I used to hv a 5foot yam tree in my filter. I've also notice terrestrial plants have better low ph tolerance compared to most water plants. Even narrow leaf java fern will melt away at ph4. The common java fern is slightly tougher.

Spider Lilies in my filter box

Nutrition is vital, I've always tried my best not feeding marulioides with pellet, but somehow I'm guilty of this as I dont have the luxury of time to feed them fresh food. I believe Marulioides and all predatory fish should not be pellet fed. They can't digest startch gluten and all those fillings and bonds. And most time when I pellet feed the TDS reading goes up. Most probably by all those unconsumed chemical traces left in the tank water.

Always include fishes with scales be it dead or alive in yr predatory pets diet. Scales contain guanine and is vital for the shines. Guanine is the base of Iridophores cells that controls the color changes ability. Shiny fishes will need this eg Arowana or ATF. Fish on high guanine diet will show good luster. But I believe fishes like marulioides will benefit in the color change functions.  Marulioides do not have that kind of luster that Arowana does but scales in Marulioides is very active in fact much more active than Arowanas. They have the ability to keep doing extreme color changes almost like a squid, no luster but they can produce high contrasting colors.

Prawns is also an important diet, feed together with the shells and it will help in the red pigment department. Shell contains carotenoid. 

And for the grand finale, I will share my little secrets with you, I usually go to the extend of loading astaxanthin in my feeds. Astaxanthin is the most powerful antioxidant or red pigment enchancement natural feeding u can find, anything redder you will need to use hormone. The same compound that makes salmon red in color. Original color of salmon is like other normal colorless fish. Due to feeding of mainly algae eating crustaceans that passes astaxanthin to the salmon which turns the Salmon red in color. Fishes cannot make astaxanthin on their own and needs to be supplemented.

I've had very good results from astaxanthin feeding and had used them 10 years ago on my red Arowana that was kept in an all transparent tank. Those days it was not easy to turn arowana red, you get orange color and you're a hero. The same result was also on my Tanzaniae.

Arowana Kept in transparent tank

Before Astaxanthin Feed

On astaxanthin Feed, the tail of the Tanzaniae glows in Blood Red.

Mix half a spoonful of astaxanthin in 5ml of clean water. Use a shringe to inject on the thawed fish or prawns. I discovered that marulioides flower respond to astaxanthin feeding. Dont ask me why or how, I've no idea but I can attest to this reaction. I've done numerous test by stop adding astaxanthin and restart after 2 weeks, I can see new flowers appearing on the fish when astaxanthin was reintroduce to the marulioides. 

How much cyclopeeze is enough?
When your fish starts red poo.