Painted fish

[Fishyfanatic]

I am a little confused. I have heard of painted fish and how it is done. How exactly do I know if my fish has been injected with dye? We have two yellow parrots and one red parrot. I went to that website deathbyinjection.com or something like that and it showed a pic of parrots but it was calling them cotton candy parrots. BUT, then I went to another website that talked about breeding parrots. Then another one said that the parrots are hybrid's and they can't be bread. Which one is right? Do I really have a dyed fish?

I went to the lfs about a month ago and bought 4 baby parrots. They were labled Blood Parrots. They are grey with a black stripe down the side and the saleswoman said that they would become red when they grow to adulthood. Is this a dyed fish? I am under the impression that a dyed fish would be a color as a juvenile. I am totally confused here.

 

[electrikat]

The dyed ones will be purple or pink usually. Undyed usually are orange or yellow. These are what people call the dyed ones. If they are bright colors as juveniles(besides yellow or orange) they are probably dyed. However as they grow they lose the dye and revert back to yellow or orange.

 

[Wizzard~Of~Ozz]

I've also read that some have paprika mixed with the food to create a more vibrant red colour, AFAIK this will not harm the fish (at least any where close to injection) anymore then poor maintenance of the tank they are in.

as mentioned above, the colouring will fade over time aswell. (unless you keep giving them paprika)

just a thought since you mentioned red.

I actually saw Dyed Bala's the other day, they looked disgusting..(pinkish colour) and considering thier natural beauty, I couldn't see why this would be done.

 

[Fishyfanatic]

I was just wondering beacuse we originally got the 2 yellow ones when they were small (when I say small, I mean 2 inches) and we got the red one at 4 inches. The yellow ones have grown quite a bit and are still a vibrant yellow. The red one is still very red but is starting to show a tint of orange.

I went to one of the lfs' last week and they had a blue parrot in their tank. I asked if it was dyed and the woman said No. I believed her because I have read conflicting stories on the internet about what is actually painted/dyed and what isn't. The fish was already 2 inches. Was this fish actually dyed? We considered buying it and my fiance asked if they would order him one (the blue was already sold). I'm wondering if we should just cancel the order. I love my parrots as they are my favorite fish in the tank. But I don't want to promote fish dying. What do you think?

 

[Toirtis]

The dyed ones will be purple or pink usually. Undyed usually are orange or yellow. These are what people call the dyed ones. If they are bright colors as juveniles(besides yellow or orange) they are probably dyed. However as they grow they lose the dye and revert back to yellow or orange.

Like these? Anything other than a pale orange or dull yellowish is dyed.

 

[Fishingdood]

they also do this to Ghost Catfish ...little did I know before 0I bought mine it was dyed blue : / ...I dont go back to that lfs ...thats just not right poor fishy

 

[Fishingdood]

they also do this to Ghost Catfish ...little did I know before 0I bought mine it was dyed blue : / ...I dont go back to that lfs ...thats just not right poor fishy

 

[Pufferpunk]

Yes, the blue parrot is definately dyed. Don't buy it & make sure to report your displeasure in their selling them, to the shop's owner!

 

[Fishyfanatic]

We have a red parrot, not orange. We also bought 4 baby parrots that are gray and black and the store had 5 tanks set up with the parrots showing how they will look as they grow (color and size wise) and when they were adults, they were red. Can they grow from being gray and black to red and still be painted?

 

[Fishyfanatic]

BTW- the store owner has an entire tank filled with these red/yellow/purple/blue parrots. She says that she absolutely loves them. I don't think that complaning will do anything. She told me that they weren't painted/dyed.

 

[Pufferpunk]

Copy some of the info from the http://www.deathbydyeing.org/home.htm website & give it to her. If she still insists on selling dyed fish, tell her you won't be shopping in her store anymore.

 

[RoK]

For red parrots the grey/black are the natural colors for when they are babies, they then become reddish when older I believe. (I may be wrong though, not totally sure)

 

[Pufferpunk]

Mine never got brighter than a goldfish. That's what most non-fishy folks think she is. She's about 5-6" & beautiful, just the way she is!

 

[Fishyfanatic]

Mine never got brighter than a goldfish

Ours are a very bright vibrant color. It might also be the light bulbs that we have in the tank (blue) with a black background. THe combination makes all of our cichlid's color really stand out and look beautiful. The yellow ones I thought would lose their color first but they aren't. The red one was turning slightly pinkish for a while, but has returned to a nice red color again.

I was just confused about which fish are actually painted/dyed and which ones weren't because I have been to the deathbydyeing website and it showed parrots as being painted/dyed. But then we got these baby parrots that are gray and black and it confused me because how could they be gray/black now but then be red later if they were painted?

Also, is the Sweetheart parrot painted or a hybrid? It's a red parrot and the tale looks different than the standard parrot. The woman had a full grown parrot in the show tank that said Not For Sale because it's her parrot but she keeps it at the store because she wanted people to see a variety of different types of fish. We were going to get two of them to put in a new 55 gal tank along with all of our parrots but I don't want to get them if they are painted/dyed.

 

[Pufferpunk]

All parrots ore hybrids. The sweetheart parrots have their tail bred out of them.

 

[Fishyfanatic]

Ok so now I feel stupid. I called the lfs that we were going to buy the parrots from and I told them that we wouldn't buy any more fish from that store because they sold painted fish and lied to customers and said that they weren't painted. So we decided to go to another fish store today and check out their supply. We are in the process of finishing up our tanks (stocking). I had snails only in the 10 gal and 4 tiny baby parrots in the 29 (besides the eels) and we wanted to "finish off" the tanks. So we decide to get something small for the 10 gal and get a couple more eels for the 29 and a pleco. They didn't have a pleco that would stay under 10 inches so we got some Algae Eaters and 2 baby Spiny Peacock Eels. While I was looking for something to go in my 10 gal, I went down the aisle with Mollies and Tetra's and picked out 3 Tetra's that I had never seen before and thought that were gorgeous. So I bought 3 and came home. The store that we purchased them from has been very good about not stocking painted/dyed fish. So I get home and look on the internet and sure enough, my Blueberry Tetra's are painted.

I dont know what to do. I don't want to promote the injection and painting of fish, but it's not really feasible to drive 2 hours back to the fish store and return them. AUGH! I wish they would write on the tank which fish are painted/injected. The girl that was working was not helpful and I didn't trust a word of what she said. I asked if the Tetra's needed to be in a school and she said, no, no fish really need to school. 8O

What do you guys think?

 

[Pufferpunk]

It's your call, but you really should return them & give them a piece of your mind!

 

[severum mama]

Fishyfanatic, all parrots are hybrids but it is thought that the "sweetheart" parrots are mutilated as tiny babies by having their tails cut off to make them shaped like a heart, similar to how the "unicorn" parrots have most of their dorsal fins hacked off to make them look like a "horn." I am pretty sure the sweethearts are not bred to be tailless.

Can you post any pics of your BPs? I would be really interested to se them, maybe I could tell if they were dyed or not. They do change color as they age, eventually turning a shade of yellow or orange, although some of them have gray patches that never go away completely. There is also a kind of parrot known as the purple parrot, which actually looks like a brighter, deeper red but is a natural color. I have 2 parrots and they were both gray when I got them so I know they are not dyed. Here they are in case you want to see them for comparison:

 

[SpaceButler]

What stinks for me is that all the LFSes in town sell painted fish, and the only one left has CRAZY owners. Freaky people.


Well, there's always Wal-Mart. :?

 

[youronlysin]

Listen. You've done the research now, so you know how to better prevent yourself from letting this happen again. You cant blame the store, because they are only trying to provide a product that people seem to want. The only problem is, that the majority of the people providing the demand, in addition to store managers, are simply uneducated when it comes to these topics...so they just think that a fish looks cool and it seems to sell a ton. Sounds like buisiness to me. It is unfortunate and I dont condone it...I think anyone who is in the buisiness should have the responsibility to know what they are selling. It just doesnt work like this anymore...you get people who think they can sell anything, even if they've never seen it before. Its ignorant.

The important thing is, you did your research and you did what you thought was the responsible thing to do! Kudos to you for that! Now, the other important thing is, you have a live fish on your hands...more than one. They may be painted, but they are still alive and now you have the reponsibility to care for them. I am sure you will do a wonderful job....it isnt the fish's fault! If you simply cant find a store that you like that doesnt sell painted fish, just dont buy painted fish any more. If you can, try to educate the people that work there and express your feelings on painted fish. This is the only way they'll ever begin to understand why they shouldnt stock them. Boycotting them wont do anything at all...Its the thousands of other people that are demanding the painted fish that keep them coming back. If the people running the store just dont know any better, then the only way they will ever know is if people like us educate them. We have to deal with things like this in life. When someone does something stupid, they usually have it in their own mind that they are right. Punishing them never gets that thought out of their head. It takes patience and education; teaching to help them understand different.

You take care of those fish. Its a sad subject, but Im sure they are just beautiful! They need food and water just like the rest of your fish. Good luck!