Dyeing aquarium fish

[Bassetluv]

After reading MyBoyHarper's thread on rescuingthe little betta, this reminded me of something I saw people discussingnot long ago in a fish forum. They were talking about stores that nowsell fish who are dyed....apparently some species of aquarium fish arenow being sold with dyes injected into them to give them more color, oreven to give them 'personalities' -- i.e., injecting permanent dye togive them the appearance of eyebrows, hair, lipstick, etc. I've neverheard of this before, and it sounds incredibly cruel (they were sayingthat most of the fish either do not survive the dyeing process, ortheir lifespans are shortened immensely as the dye introduces all sortsof health problems.

Just wondering if anyone has seen this? I don't know if the practice isdone in Canada...hopefully it is a new fad that will faze out withenough people refusing to purchase from stores that partake in it...

 

[naturestee]

Yes, it's very common and it's horrid.One of the ways they dye them is to take a white fish like White SkirtTetras, Albino Corys, or white Parrot Fish and put them in a causticchemical to strip away the protective mucous coating. Thenthey dip them in the dye, and throw them in a tank with regularwater. This is very damaging and the ones it doesn't kill aremore prone to diseases because the protective mucous was stripped away.

I've also seen Glass Fish with lines of dye injected. Whywould you do that to a tiny fish? That also causes severeproblems.

Often these dyes don't even stay in permanently. They oftenfade after a few months. So it's purely a gimmick to getpeople to spend more money at the pet store.

The store I get my fish from does not stock dyed fish, and I make surethey know I appreciate that. When I do see dyed fish, Icomplain to the manager. Unfortunately it's still very common.

 

[bunnydude]

Yikes, that's terrible! I would certainly neverbuy a fish like that. I think animals look the best in theirnatural state!

 

[Bassetluv]

naturestee wrote:

Yes, it's very common and it's horrid. One of theways they dye them is to take a white fish like White Skirt Tetras,Albino Corys, or white Parrot Fish and put them in a caustic chemicalto strip away the protective mucous coating. Then they dipthem in the dye, and throw them in a tank with regular water.This is very damaging and the ones it doesn't kill are more prone todiseases because the protective mucous was stripped away.

I've also seen Glass Fish with lines of dye injected. Whywould you do that to a tiny fish? That also causes severeproblems.

Often these dyes don't even stay in permanently. They oftenfade after a few months. So it's purely a gimmick to getpeople to spend more money at the pet store.

The store I get my fish from does not stock dyed fish, and I make surethey know I appreciate that. When I do see dyed fish, Icomplain to the manager. Unfortunately it's still verycommon.

I've never seen it myself...the first I knew of it was when I happenedacross the topic in a fish forum. That entire method sounds absolutelybarbaric. Imagine the trauma it must inflict on them! I wonder ifanimal protection laws include fish? If enough people protested, I'mwondering if animal societies would get involved as well, in order tostop things like this from happening.

 

[peapoo_bunny]

sadly ive heard of it... arent some species ofthe neon tetras only neon colors because theyve been injected? i have 5fruit tetras, but they arenaturally colorful

 

[Aina]

My dad got some pretty fish that all ended upturning orange because they had been dyed. It was really annoying,especially since the fish were $15 a piece. We complained, but kept thefish. The store we got them from no longer sells dyed fish that I haveseen.

 

[naturestee]

Neon tetras are natural. "Fruit" tetras are actually dyed white skirt tetras. Sorry, Peapoo.

Store employees may not know which fish are natural colors and which are dyed, so you might have been misinformed.

 

[naturestee]

Here's some info on dyed fish:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Painted_fish
http://www.firsttankguide.net/painted.php

Here's a list of trade names and species of commonly dyedfish. I had no idea some people were dyeing bettas!When they can be bred with bright blues, reds, and greens I don'tunderstand dyeing them!
http://www.deathbydyeing.org/colormedead.htm

 

[jordiwes]

There was a dyed bunny at my shelter a couple of years ago, I guess she was dyed for Easter :X.

She died shortly after coming into rescue. Why do some people do these things?????? :tears2:

(sorry, slightly OT)

 

[bunnydude]

I can't believe that!!!

 

[peapoo_bunny]

naturestee wrote:

Neon tetras are natural. "Fruit" tetras areactually dyed white skirt tetras. Sorry, Peapoo.

Store employees may not know which fish are natural colors and which are dyed, so you might have been misinformed.

hmm... thats sadi wouldnt have bought them if iwould have known... but mine have always been really healthy and ivehad the oldest one for 3yrs now

 

[Bassetluv]

Next time I go to our local fish store (BigAl's...I am giving up my two common plecos...) I will be on thelookout for any fish that look suspicious. If I do discover that any ofthe pet/fish stores here are dyeing fish, I will certainly beprotesting...and will submit an article to the local paper to make itknown. I'm sure a lot of people aren't aware of this practice...I onlyheard of it a little while ago when I stumbled across the thread in afish forum...

 

[pinksalamander]

I read this when i was on a forum (i wanted toget some fish, but i didn't realise how expensive they were!). Itsreally horrible how they dye them all. In Japan some of the bigger pondfish (koi) are given steroids to make them huge.

 

[Greta]

A while back, there was a bit of a stir hereregarding a pet store chain saying that they were contemplating sellingfish that had been injected with a combination of chemicals that madethem glow in the dark as well as looking like a highlighter in thedaytime. Talk about nasty! On the positive side, however, the pet storedidn't get very far before they decided to drop the whole thing, andthere hasn't been any similar cases since (thank goodness!).