Do not support dyed fish

[CAX474]

This is discusting and discracefull I would never buy one! Good post Hobbs! Im with you all the way!

[kigroy]

i was at an lfs today owned by an non-aquarium enthusiast, and he had "tattooed tinfoils". Not only was I repulsed by the entire store at that point, but the fish looked ridiculous. They were white with red and blue spots or stripes. They looked like a three year colored them.

I think the next time I am there I will say something to the owner. Great Post Hobbs!!!

[Blue Ram]

I prefer the natural colors myself.

[slinky]

Glofish were actually zebra danios that had their genes spliced with jellyfish genes. This was done many, many years ago so they could be used to research pollution in waterways, as it made them easy to spot. When you purchase Glofish, some of the money goes back into the research. Other than thier color nothing else is adversly affected in these fish. If anyone is thinking about getting some, please do, help protect or worlds waterways!!!

Here's the skinny - this is absolutely correct. There is no dye inserted into glofish. There was supposedly some process to make the fish less fertile but some of them can and do reproduce. I'm not sure why this was done, perhaps so that more of these fish could be sold and profits made.

Now let's get something straight - unfortunately buying these fish doesn't help the waterways. It helps the company that bought the patent for splicing the gene that created these fish, which is Yorktown Technologies. Off of their site it says "Fluorescent zebra fish have already existed for several years and were originally developed to help fight pollution. By marketing these existing fish, we will allow people to have their own fluorescent fish while promoting the beneficial scientific goals behind their development. In fact, a portion of the proceeds from sales will go directly to the lab where these fish were created in order to further their research—research we hope will help to protect the environment and save lives." So just like many other scam charities, this slick bit of marketing implies that if only 0.025% of each sale goes to "the foundation" (run by someone), then it still qualifies as "truthful" advertising. I'm not done.

Almost as sickening as the thought of tattooing fish is the fact that if you bought your glofish, the did their little thing in your tank and reproduced, and you sold those fish to your friend for $10... you could be sued for patent infringement. No, I am absolutely not kidding. If there was actually a significant connection to helping pay for the cost of research that helps save lives, perhaps I might feel less nauseated.

I have a few pink ones only because the store gave them to me for free. They are pretty and do draw the attention of kids. The green ones are sort of neat although not as vibrant. The starfire yellow are very nice too, stand out, just a little less in your face than the pink ones. Breeding them together as I've seen in the LFS when they were mixed in the tank.... ouch. Ugly. The green and pink together look like a bland mixture of the two colors and that ain't pretty.

Just sharing my experience with glo-fish and what it appears are the facts about them.

[angelcakes]

hello,i think dyed fish look gross and horrible,and unatural,i have an orange parrot fish since it was a baby and hadn't had a colour change so my fish was a browny colour before he turned a beautiful orange,this is how it should be,not a fake blue,purple,green the colours of dyed parrot fish,

[todaie12]

I personally don't like the idea of any fish being dyed. No fish should be dyed just so people will buy them.
That's my thoughts on that.

[jbeining75]

Fish are beautiful enough. Dyed fish are a kid grabber as the colors yell out to them. Bright blue and pink. Neon orange. Some fish already come with great coloration please don't buy dyed fish or support stores that sell them. This is cruel and unusual. How many hot pink humans do you see walking around???

[Adrian]

I do not understand how people can get away with this? If someone abuses a dog, cat, or any other animal, they can get fined or arrested. Who's to say that a fish isn't also in animal? They should be fined or arrested as well. As cruelity is cruelity, doesn't matter what species it is. Can you imagine an animal rights activist catching wind of tatooing a dog or a cat? Someone should do something about this.

[Eric James]

I've seen this dyeing trend in the stores. once I saw a tank of jack dempsies all injected with phosphorescent colouring at first I thought they looked kinda wild until I realised it wasn't a bred colour variation. It's repulsive taking something naturaly beautifull and try to improve upon it!

[Asphenaz]

Wow, that is some crazy stuff, dyeing fish for profit. But I can't say that I'm not surprised that it's done.