Do not support dyed fish

**Lady Hobbs** · 04-04-2012, 03:44 PM

Good job. Going right to the managers generally has more effect than storming out of a store. :)

With fish farms all over the US, why in heck are they buying foreign anyway!

**CosmicStar** · 05-06-2012, 08:57 PM

I just purchased 6 glofish danios to add with my 3 diamond tetras..hmm. Not all genetic alterations are painful or inhumane.

**junkers12** · 05-09-2012, 03:32 AM

I once bought a strawberry cichlid a year back and it was killed with in a few minutes of me putting it in the tank. I brought it back to the pet store that I normally dont go to where I purchased this fish. They told me that it was a dyied fish and they like to bring them in because of their colors. I then did some research on dyied fish and found it to be very disturbing. I now only buy my fish that are from the pet stores that I know and trust. I do pay a little more but it is worth it. I like the natural colored fish over a neon blue or pink fish.

**Kush818** · 05-21-2012, 04:48 AM

Hi. Myself and my girlfriend are new aquarists. We have a 20 gallon tank with 12 "pink" danios. I was told that the Danios embryo were injected with a coral protein to become pink and are now permanently pink. Their spawn will also be pink.

Do you abhor this practice as well? How do you feel about them? I like my pink danios, even though I know they do not exist in nature.

I will soon post pictures of my 10 and 20 gallon tanks.

In the 20 gallon are 2 dwarf plecos (clown plecos L104 style from Venezuela), 12 pink danios and 10 ghost shrimps. We do approximately 50-60% water change weekly as the tank is still establishing.

My 10 gallon has 4 macrobrachium shrimp which have a pink coloration to them. I really enjoy them! It also has a common pleco which is about 4-5" now and trust me I know he needs a new home SOON. We will be upgrading his tank to a 20 gallon temporarily. Eventually we are doing a 55-80 gallon tank just for him and maybe some cool Angelfish I found at a LFS. I will have two 20 gallon tanks, 1 LARGE tank, a 10 gallon hospital tank and a 5 gallon new species quarantine tank. We are very in depth in researching our hobby and really love our pets.

To be honest I want a 150 gallon tank eventually but I live in an apartment currently and I think my lease rules prohibit tanks this large on the second floor I live on. We are looking at getting a house. Maybe I'll even go larger like 250 gallons. We don't mind the work of water changes. We love our pets. =)

Thanks for any and all advice. I hope to become a contributing member here someday.

**FinalJenemba** · 05-21-2012, 05:07 AM

Pink Danios are not dyed, they are cross bread glofish. Glofish are genetically modified, some people don't like this but they are not tortured or abused like dyed fish are. The actually genetic modification happened a long time ago (years), anything you buy today are simply offspring of those original fish.

A more specific description of pink danios from a google search: "Since Glofish are patented, you can't sell fish labeled as Glofish unless they come from Glofish, not even glofish offspring. They are probably glofish bred with gold zebra danios or something and the breeder or distributor is selling them as pink danios. Since gold zebra danios have white stripes and so do glofish I am guessing that that is what these fish are. If you breed pink glofish with regular zebras, you get a red fish with blue stripes (cool looking fish)."

**Kush818** · 05-21-2012, 06:25 AM

Originally Posted by FinalJenemba

Pink Danios are not dyed, they are cross bread glofish. Glofish are genetically modified, some people don't like this but they are not tortured or abused like dyed fish are. The actually genetic modification happened a long time ago (years), anything you buy today are simply offspring of those original fish.

A more specific description of pink danios from a google search: "Since Glofish are patented, you can't sell fish labeled as Glofish unless they come from Glofish, not even glofish offspring. They are probably glofish bred with gold zebra danios or something and the breeder or distributor is selling them as pink danios. Since gold zebra danios have white stripes and so do glofish I am guessing that that is what these fish are. If you breed pink glofish with regular zebras, you get a red fish with blue stripes (cool looking fish)."

Awesome. Thanks for the information. Yes what you said is correct. They cannot be called Glofish as that is a registered trademark but I have seen glofish for sale somewhere (either an LFS or Petco, with the Registered symbol next to the name).

My pink danios are a yellowish tint. They have these gold streaks running through their fins. So they might be gold zebra danios. I will take pictures soon to share.

The LFS I bought them from is called Underwater Depot in Sherman Oaks, CA. They have a rare triggerfish for sale (saltwater) that is $2000! It is beautiful. I wish I could have him and a saltwater tank but not yet!

It is a specific type of humu triggerfish from madagascar. They say there are only two in the country, and according to my research, they are correct. I found the female here-> http://reefbuilders.com/files/2011/0...s-cinereus.jpg

lets try this, Rhinecanthus Cinereus

The one my LFS has is the male because he has no pink stripe!

As you can tell, I'm extremely motivated in my fish hobby. I really like my tanks!

Back to the freshwater Danios. The worker there is very knowledgeable and he explained that the pink Danios were made by implanting a coral protein in an embryo, and he did say it was quite some time ago (years). I guess Glofish is the one who does this scientific process?

I have so much to learn, but I have already learned so much.

BTW, danios are a very hearty fish and are EXCELLENT for starting an aquarium cycle IMHO. I had 1.0-1.5 Ammonia before a water change and all was superb still. They love their bloodworms/flake/crushed up plankton diet. The color really popped since I got them!

My first attempt at a fish cycle was with Neon Tetras and I had a lot of deaths (over 35 fish throughout, tried with 6-10 many times). I almost gave up my aquarium hobby in the beginning due to failure, but after much research I now know that neon tetras are very sensitive to water parameters and I will not make that mistake again! The danios appear like nothing will stop them!

**thall44** · 05-27-2012, 05:00 AM

This is aweful i have never heard of it before but i will surely stay clear of it now

**Lady Hobbs** · 05-27-2012, 07:02 AM

Kush, no fish belongs in water with ammonia levels over .50 at the MAX.

However, this thread is about dyed fish, not cycling, so let's keep the subject of the thread on track.

**dice502** · 07-28-2012, 11:36 AM

I first saw this at my lfs. They were "tattooed Balloon Mollies". They all had a heart on their sides in either pink, purple or orange, sometimes each side had a different color. I had no idea that it was some genetic defect at first. I didn't purchase them because I see mollies and think goldfish :P. After leaving the store I looked it up online and saw that they were in fact tattooed. I was beside myself with anger and honestly plan to never darken their doorway again. I just can't imagine how someone could knowingly purchase one of these fish. DISGUSTING!