[Guest]

Has any one ever dusted their fruit flys with spirulina and chlorella powder to add variation to the frogs diet? I know it is used as a tadpole food source and as a coloring agent in culture mixes to bring out frog color but was curious to see if anyone used it directly for the frogs themselves? Thank you!

 

[Guest]

frogs have really sensitive skin, and it would be potent, so idk i think it would be a bad idea. I have no idea tho, i was just taking a stab at it. :?:

 

[bbrock]

Yep, lots of people have done it. It's a good supplement if nothing else. But there is a big question as to whether it really affects color. You might want to check out the tadpole feeding for color thread. It turns out that blue coloring in frogs is normally caused by the structure of the chromatophores in the skin rather than pigment so no food supplement would change it. Green is often blue structural color with a yellow pigment layer over the top. But dust away, lots of us do just in case.

 

[Ed]

I thought that the blue pigment is a result of the wavelengths of light not being absorbed by the chromatophores and being reflected back by plates in the iridiopores.
(At least this is how it work in reptiles).

If this model holds for amphibs then species that contain blue individuals may be more blue if they are not fed caretenoids that may absorb blue wavelengths (yellows, reds....)

Ed
Ed Kowalski
South Jersey

 

[bbrock]

I thought that the blue pigment is a result of the wavelengths of light not being absorbed by the chromatophores and being reflected back by plates in the iridiopores.
(At least this is how it work in reptiles).

If this model holds for amphibs then species that contain blue individuals may be more blue if they are not fed caretenoids that may absorb blue wavelengths (yellows, reds....)

Ed
Ed Kowalski
South Jersey

That's the way I understand it too. The other night I found some web references that found the same thing in frogs. Don't remember where they were though.