Painted glass fish?

[Fetcher]

I went to my local pet store the other day and saw "painted" glasses fish for sale there...or at least thats what they called them. They had not been injected with colour, so I'm not sure why the claimed they where painted. I know they wernt glass catfish. I wish I could find a picture of them somewhere. I'll try..
Alright..they looked a lot like this, but without the colour cruely injected into them:

Anyway..now I hope all of that made sence, but my main point of this post is...how do you care for them? They are fresh water, if I am correct. How many gallon do they need each, and do they need to be in schools of their own kind? What other fish care compatable? What sort of heating do they need? Any information for care on these fish would be a great help. Thank you!

 

[TomK2]

uhm, I beleive the "painted" glass fish have indeed been injected with dye. The pics you have in our post appear to have been injected. If they have no color at all in them, aren't they just plain glass fish? They are a FW fish, of the community type. Their room needs are what you would give any fish that size, as they seem to stay in the 1 to 2 inch range, I beleive.

 

[Botia4Life]

freshwater, schools, community, nomal aquarium heating, dont know how big they get

 

[severum mama]

If they looked like that then they are in fact "painted" (cruelly injected with dye, often resulting in stunted growth and premature death). No glass catfish looks like that naturally. Have you visited www.deathbydyeing.org ? It explains a lot about this horrible process.

From your post, I couldn't tell if you meant that they were colored or transparent. If they are transparent without the bright color, then they are the natural color.

 

[Fetcher]

No, they where not painted. It just said on the sign that they where "painted glass fish", but they remained to be clear, no false colouration at all. I deffenetly would never buy a fish that has been treated that way at all...poor fish.

When you say normal aquarium heating, does that meen that no heather is required, or is there heating reqired? What tempuature is the tank supossed to stay at?

Also, what fish are compatable with them? And how many gallons should they each have?

Thank you to eveyone who has replied so far!

 

[Regen311]

First of all, I would recommend just doing a google search for "glass fish" or "painted glass fish". You can also try a search under the scientific name, Chanda ranga. According to the information I've read, the glass fish is a tropical fish, so yes the aquarium would need heating. 74-80 degrees is what I've read. It helps to have a heater anyway to keep the temperature stable in the aquarium and therefore keep your fish happy.

http://www.google.com/search?as_q=&...gle+Search&as_epq=Chanda+ranga&as_oq=&as_eq=&lr=lang_en&as_ft=i&as_filetype=&as_qdr=all&as_occt=any&as_dt=i&as_sitesearch=&safe=images

 

[severum mama]

Sorry, I misunderstood.

Yes, the glassfish would need a heater, and they could be kept with other peaceful tropical community fish. What size tank do you have? That would help us tell you how many you could keep, and what tankmates you could choose.

 

[flamingonhot]

Actually glassfish need somewhat brackish conditions...

 

[odobenus]

They had not been injected with colour, so I'm not sure why the claimed they where painted.

According to the site sev mama mentioned, the dye fades with time. It could be that the fish you were looking at were in fact dyed and have just lost their color. You might want to ask someone in the store about it; if the glass fish were dyed they will be more prone to disease and probably have a shorter life.

 

[Fishyfanatic]

Those fish are in fact injected with dye. Check out the link that Severum posted. They come in Red, Green, Yellow, Orange, Purple, and Pink. No matter what the store tells you, they are injected. It's the 7th one from the top of the Dyed Fish List page.

I bought blueberry tetras because the lfs told me they weren't painted. I came home and did a little research and they are in fact painted. They should be returned, but I hate to do that to them.

 

[Fishyfanatic]

Ok, wait. I think I know what you are saying. You found them without the coloration?

 

[Fetcher]

Yes, I found them without colouration.

The tank I will be putting them in will be a 33 gallon tank.

 

[malkore]

Just a lil more info: the 'fruit' tetras like blueberry tetras, are altered..but not injected. They are actually given an acid bath, then dipped in dye. They repeat this several times until the color is dark enough. Equally as cruel as injecting though.
They do the same thing to blood parrot cichlids...which are normally a pale color, or rusty brown/red. If you see purple or blue ones, they're dyed

 

[severum mama]

Also, BPs come in neon pink, green and yellow. Just had to throw that out there.

 

[Fishyfanatic]

Don't forget blue and purple Severum.

 

[severum mama]

I didn't, Fishy, malkore already pointed them out. Poor things.

 

[Fishyfanatic]

Sorry, didn't see that he said that. I know, poor things. I feel so bad everytime I look at the blueberry tetras in my tank. Just if I had known........

 

[malkore]

Thankfully neither of my LFS's carry the dyed parrots, so thanks for filling in the missing colors I didn't know about.

Way back in the day I kept painted glass fish. that was before the internet really took off and had sites like ours to help peopel avoid these pitfalls. None of my painted fish lived long, obviously from the stress/side effects of being "tattoo'd"

 

[severum mama]

Way back in the day?? How long have people been "painting" and dyeing fish?

 

[kimberly]

Are any sw fish painted/dyed or do they just reserve that for fw?

We have both types of aquarium and I want to be sure that we avoid any painted/dyed fish.