I am a bad person

[chainsaw]

I was at my LFS store yesterday picking up some salt and my girlfriend saw some painted parrots that she liked so I bought one. When I got home I did some research on them and found out how they get "painted". Needless to say I felt like crap for supporting this horrific practice, but I figure it would be better off in my care, then back at the fish store.

My question is: can this fish lead a long and healthy life that way, or am I better off euthanizing him ASAP? He Looks like he's doing alright in my tank but I don't want him to be suffering for the rest of his life.

Thanks in advance and feel free to flame away at my ignorance.

 

[TankGirl]

No, no need to euthanize a healthy fish - he's already over the worst of it so not it is up to you to take as good care of him as you can.

I am torn about returning him versus not returning him, as retailers really hate returns and they are the best way to alert a company about your feelings about something. They really pay attention to what gets returned, so they might get the idea they should not order these fish, but I can understand that you want to give him a better life than what might be in store for him if you return him.

Kudos to you for looking into it and wanting the best for this fish

 

[lyquidphyre]

Ive heard they can live a long healthy life.

Ive also heard they make awesome fish pets, too

 

[mayreee]

I love my parrot

 

[ttopmustanggt88]

how do they paint em??? just curious

 

[thanew]

my mom bought a couple of these cause she thought they were pretty but then when we figured out how they became "painted" (injecting dye) she felt pretty bad as did I oh well i went back to the LFS and they don't sell them anymore thankfully..

 

[Pufferpunk]

I would return it & give them some info from here:

http://www.deathbydyeing.org/

By telling them you refuse to buy a fish like this, you may save others form these painful procedures.

 

[FishLover14]

I would probably not return it give it a long happy life it has already had enough pain!

Dan

 

[rubysoho]

I agree with Dan, give it a good home, but tell your LFS how upset you are with them.

*edit* and you're not a bad person, just uninformed at the time

 

[Fishyfanatic]

I have three of the little guys in my tank. I didn't realize how they were colored until after I got home and did some research. I feel bad for them for the way that they were colored so I try to compensate by giving them the best life they could possibly have. They are very friendly fish and will eat our of your hand.

 

[Pufferpunk]

FF, It looks like you'll be looking for a much larger tank in the future!

 

[Fishyfanatic]

Puffer, the fish in our tank won't grow much larger than what they already are. We've had the Parrots for about 14 months now and one of them is still the size of a juvenile. We plan to upgrade to a 75 gal hexagon after the new year because my bf wants to turn the 55 into a tank for a fw stingray. I love our cichlid tank.

 

[Pufferpunk]

Very odd... Do they look crowded at all? what are you feeding them? My parrot is the size of my fist & my electric blue JD is huge (around 6" now)! Maybe your "blues" are different then that. The pleco will get to around 18".

 

[Fishyfanatic]

They aren't crowded. The red parrot is the largest, we just recently purchased him and he is about 6 inches (body only) but the two yellow ones are smaller. The smallest blood is about 2 1/2 inches (bo) and the other is about 4 inches (bo). We had just the two yellows in the 55 by themselves for a couple months because we had a bad case of ick that killed our bala's and catfish. The lfs told us that the bala's and catfish would work well with the parrots but then I heard otherwise when I asked other fish stores. But, they did perfectly well together. The electric blues are maybe 2 inches, and so is the yellow lab. Our pleco is still a baby. We try to buy the smallest pleco's that they have so we can have them for a long time.

We were feeding them all only brine shrimp and a little bit of flake food. This past weekend we started feeding them a variety of brine shrimp, blood worms, red parrot pellets, and flake. They seem to love the blood worms.

The red parrot wasn't that healthy at the lfs. We used to stop by the place every week to see their fish and noticed that he was kind of pink and being picked on (not bright red) and finally we gave in and bought him. We thought that he shouldn't have to suffer in those tanks all alone. Now he is looking more red and interacts with all of the fish. He's our favorite. When we feed them he swims to the top and eats out of our hand.

 

[benji-star]

I had no idea you could even dye a fish is it more or less dangerous than a human getting a tattoo
just asking

also how is it done

this is pretty gross

 

[Pufferpunk]

There is a link in this thread all about the process.

 

[minzabella]

ohh.. that's so sad about the painted fish. fortunetly, I'd read about them before I'd actually ever seen them in a store. when I did see them I was pretty upset.. it seems like the pet store owners must not care very much about the well being of the animals they're stocking if they support that sort of practice. I might be making a harsh generalization, but its a cruel practice. good for you though, for reading up on it. I agree with everyone else that you should give it a good life, but let your lfs know how you feel about the treatment of the painted fishies...

 

[minzabella]

benji- its worse for a fish than a person getting a tattoo. its stressful and can shorten their lifespan significantly.
somebody else posted this link already, but here it is again:
http://www.deathbydyeing.org/
good site. check it out.

 

[TomK2]

Help me out here - Is a painted parrot the same thing as the blood parrot? I have had the blood parrot before, lived 2 years in my tank before I gave it away before a move. Last time I asked, it was still alive and closing on 4 years (hope they werent just telling me this to spare my feelings!). I was once told that you shouldnt buy these fish because they were hybrids of ciclids that would not occur in nature, but didnt hear anything about artificial coloring. Of course, my home library does not have any refences to this fish, so now I am confused.

TomK2

 

[mayreee]

Not all of them are dyed.