This work investigates bacterial production of astaxanthin as an alternative to production by algae and yeast owing to its lower incubation time and simpler downstream processing. The physical parameters and medium composition were optimized for astaxanthin production by Paracoccus MBIC 01143. The optimized media was supplemented with tricarboxylic acid intermediates to enhance the pool of precursors, while the cofactors of Crt enzymes (ferrous sulphate, ascorbate, NADPH, ATP, and 2-oxoglutarate) were added to stimulate their enzyme activity aiming at higher astaxanthin accumulation. Malate at 5 mM and ferrous sulphate at 1 mM increased the astaxanthin production from 177 to 3,750 ${mu}g/L$.