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Before I go any further, a WARNING TO THOSE WHO CLICK ON THE LINKS CONTAINED HERE - THEY CONTAIN MATERIAL SOME HERE WILL ALMOST CERTAINLY FIND DISTRESSING.

Apparently a dealer here in the UK has been caught napping selling dyed fish ... that are also infected with Lymphocystis.

The piece is here courtesy of Practical Fishkeeping magazine.

From the same source, this account of tattooed Silver Mollies includes a video clip that again, you are STRONGLY advised to think about clicking on.

Looks like the lesson still needs ramming home in some quarters ... sigh.



Panda Catfish fan and keeper/breeder since Christmas 2002

a local radio station was talking about the died gold fish last week. i was going to call in and tell them whats really up with them, but couldnt get threw. i used to see them where i live, but its becoming less and less all the time

Fish tanks are an expensive addiction

that is terriable,those poor little fish,just imagine the truma these little takers go throo getting injected with die,poked with a needle,then shipped onto a bad LFS that lets them get/stay diseased,while he still sells them.the LFS where i go he wont get them in or keep them or sell them,only the ones that are not died,he also said that out of 200 for example,after the whole dramatic process of getting died,only a bit less than half go on to live a healthy life where the die eventully fades out,my guy also said that injecting a forren object like that into a fish,theres no good that can come from it,therefore he dosent support the supplyers by buying and selling the died onesits shuch a shame when the $$$$$ are more important to the shop owner,that selling good healthy fish,i hope he gets what he deserves

Well here's a new one to me! I recently visited a pet store that I don't frequent very often and noticed a tank labelled "Tatooed Fish" .... Contained within were several white mollies that had been "decorated" with some kind of marker! Several had red and blue stripes - while others had hearts! Can you believe it????? All I could think was - how many fish were killed during the process of "tatooing"????? And further, why would anyone want a fish that had been needlessly decorated - ???????


To thine own self be true...

Unfortunatly, as long as people buy them, people will still dye them. I think its horrible.

Inky

It's like they always say, money talks, and there will always be unscrupulous people who will always place a profit above all else. It's really a shame and hopefully this stores client base will slowly diminish if the practice continues.

Jim

---

Water, taken in moderation, cannot hurt anybody. -- Mark Twain

Unfortunately the tattooed and dyed fish are expanding because they do sell. At the ps (more fish than any area lfs) where I work we don't deal in them. We do get 'Painted Glassfish' as they are a staple and sell faster than they die. If it were my store we wouldn't and at least they are the only ones. The wholesalers offer parrots, oscars and mollys with sayings and all sorts of stuff. Valentines is huge for hearts on any fish. Nothing says I love you like a tortured dying fish???

The sad fact is people want them and ask for more all the time. We explain the sad facts and still I bet half the people don't care and want them anyway. At least we can educate a few.

The only dyed fish I see frequently around here are giant gouramis with various shapes like hearts tattooed on them. They sell year round but there will probably be a few extra shipments this month. As if selling giant gouramis to unsuspecting buyers isn't bad enough. I suppose they wouldn't have lasted long even if they weren't dyed but I make it a point to check the store for them and then declare rather loudly to my boyfriend why it's bad before walking out without buying anything.

Its one of those issues that never fails to wind me up into fury. No animal should ever have to suffer this inhumane , sadistic, and vacouously vain practise for the mindless pleasure of abnormally stupid human beings.

I calls em as I sees em.

I think we should always draw attention to the idiots who do this to fish and who sell them. This practise should be completely outlawed. Kudos to cal for highlighting the issue again, we should never stop fighting this fight until we win.

yeah i aggree,it would be great to see this torture eventully stopped,but untill then all we can do is not support this,but not buying them and stear all you fishy freinds away from stores that do sell em..

a little-known local newspaper here recently did an article about an LFS that had recieved a special order for some dyed jellybean cichlids (if you don't know, dyed parrot cichlids).

it's kind of a shame, because this store has never carried any dyed fish before or since, and they took alot of crap for it. but they should have known better, so it makes me happy to know that at least some form of public media was actually getting the word out about this travesty against fish-keeping.


proud father of a bunch of baby haps. http://picasaweb.google.com/Sktchy/BABIES

, thats all these people think about, its sad and this stuff makes me really mad, I hope I never see a dyed fish in my petstores.

10gallon: 8neons 5gallon: 1betta
1oto
2platys

Speaking of painting fish. I went to a restaurant called Cheddar's here in Houston (Houstonians, I DON'T recommend it the service is lousy) and they had a large painted Guarmi. It is a really beautiful fish all by its self and really did not need to be painted. Here is screen shot of it. This is just one of the reason I don't eat there anymore.

Attached Image:


Rick
See all my pictures at Google Web Albums

Bet that Giant Gourami is also in a tank that's too small for it ...

Here's a offer I bet won't receive any takers ...

To: The Board Members Of Companies Involved In Tattooing Fishes

Dear Sirs/Madams et al,

If you are happy with your enterprise, might I suggest a little test. Namely that I tattoo each and every one of you in the same fashion. Then, you can call upon whatever medical personnel to monitor your state of health afterwards (something that sadly the fishes do not have recourse to, but I'm prepared to be charitable). Of course, there is the little matter of a legal disclaimer for you to sigh, so that if the tattooing procedure turns out not to be such a happy affair, acceptance of my offer is entriely at your own risk. Given that the fishes too generally do not have the opportunity to sign a waiver beforehand, I think I am being more than fair in this respect.

I await your reply.

Yours sincerely,


Cali.


Panda Catfish fan and keeper/breeder since Christmas 2002

Dyed Fish are the greatest pity in out hobby but we need to spread the word, so new fishkeepers don't buy them. The fish are beautiful as they are & artificial colours are not needed.

In Malta there was a campaign held by the Malta Aquarist Society, against buying Dyed Fish last year & all the members where informed about the process & how much fish suffer.

Let Fish live how God created them.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/corydoras/
Member of the Malta Aquarist Society - 1970.
http://www.maltaaquarist.com

At the brisbane fish auction a lot came up that, while it was sold, recieved it's own share of criticism from the auctioneer.
"We have a bag of long tailed albino bronze corys, with, it looks like, yes the tails have been dyed pink and purple. Horrid, I do hope whoever put this one up for aucition did not do it themselves..."

I don't think bottom dwellers should be bred to have longer tails, it's bad enough with fish that are mid and upper levels, but bottoms don't seem to have the build for carting around a tail, let alone the fact that it ends up dragging on the bottom if they can't keep it up. But to then go and dye them . If I'd have been in charge of the auction I'd have said no sale! They sold bags with illegal pest fish in them as well ("Take them out and destroy them" ) which I thought a bit irresponsible.

Guess even some fish nuts care more about the money than the fishes health or wellbeing .

^_^

In the article posted by Calilasseia, the shop owner defended the fish saying they were fed vegetable dye to get the color. Is that even possible? If I go swimming in a highly chlorinated pool I get a greenish tint to my hair, but it doesn't glow in the dark.

That'd be a even sillier thing to buy! Most everyone knows that if you put a carnation in water that's got food coloring in it it'll start getting bits of color in the petals and in the stems. But if you transfer it back to normal water it loses it. Same thing with humans and vitamins, if it's water soluable it just gets rinsed out of your body, if it's fat soluable it also burns off, even if it does take a while longer.

If he's "feeding" the fish vegetable dye it's going to be flushed out of the fishes system and he's doing the same thing that Matildas dad did in Matilda. Dressing something up to get it to sell without telling the customer what he's doing.
There are some fish foods that enhance color, but there has to be the color there naturally in order for it to be enhanced. Often this just ends up causing agression in certian species of fish where the color is part of breeding.

^_^

I saw one shop here selling tattooed fish... I think tinfoil barbs, something pretty big and silver... 4-6". Here's the catch, you can pay 50-100 bucks for one stupid fish so you can tattoo your name on it. Or the fish's name. Or something equally stupid. And then you wait 6 weeks or something before you get the customized fish.

It was the most absurd thing I'd ever seen. And not only absurd, but it didn't even look decent. Each scale was colored and it was like connect the scales to form the letters, very much like a pixel drawing.

~Meow. Thus spoke the cat.~

Thats really quite shocking, Imagine what kind of idiot would want their name associated with torture, let alone encourage fish dyeing by running a personalised tattoo service?

I might do a series of photoshop manupulations of fish with phrases "tatooed " on them like,

"Only animal abusers do this." "My owner is a vain moron." and "60% of dyed fish die of disease" "I suffered for your pleasure" " "I used to be beautiful" or maybe "my owner is sick".

Better yet perhaps produce an info poster highlighting how its done. It should make all decent peopple feel revulsion. Infact im gonna start collecting pics of fish with cauliflower disease. Im pretty much sick of this kind of behaviour,in fact, im gonna go pro-active about stopping it.Its sick, barbaric, and Im gonna help spread the word.

In fact im definately gonna do it.