Dyed Parrot Cichlid

[MissFishy]

Well folks...never thought I would be posting here, but alas, here I am. My birthday was about a month ago and tonight I went to a belated get together with some friends from out of town. I was horrified to discover that one of them had brought me a belated birthday "gift" of a blood parrot cichlid, DYED BRIGHT BLUE!!! This poor thing is neon blue. Not only that, but it had been in it's carrying bag (the one the fish store put it in) for who knows how long and since the weather here in MI is about 5 degrees, the water was FREEZING cold!!! I was speechless...

So, now I'm the "proud" owner of an unreturnable bright blue parrot. I'm concerned for this little guy as he was in cold water in a baggy for quite some time. He's currently being acclimated to my 29g, so I'm hoping he'll be ok. He's about 3" long and just as tall, pretty hefty little guy. I really was not prepared to take on this fish, so we'll see what happens. I suppose one of my tanks is better than a baggy. I'm hoping he'll have some sort of appetite too. We'll see, pictures to come...and hoping for the best.

 

[sweetpickles7]

Those fish are tough! Im sure he'll be alright. He will probably start eating right away i would imagine. Seems like everyone keeps something type of fish like that at one time, poor guys.

 

[TabMorte]

The poor little guy!!!

 

[the_sixx]

what did you say to them? I would have been mortified!

 

[d3sc3n7]

what did you say to them? I would have been mortified!

Thats the problem...most people have no clue that fish are dyed. I'm not sure how you dont know that a fish in a quart of water that is 20 degrees is bad, but whatever. So, you sorta have to hold your tongue. I've owned painted fish one time...when I very first started into keeping fish. I had some painted glass fish. They were pretty, I'll admit...but once I learned how they got those pretty colors...I no longer wish to keep them. Glofish however, those are neat little fish!

 

[MissFishy]

This is one of my very dearest friends, and she meant well. Had even asked the fish store employee if the fish would be ok in the bag until she gave it to me, of course they wanted to make the sale and told her yes. I did explain how he got that color and that they are usually light to darker orange. She was horrified. So he's now in my tank (I'm calling it a he) and I've named him "Blueberry." Blue has been swimming around and exploring. He's made a few passes at the Ticto Barbs in there, but they're too fast. At least he has a good home now. When he gets too big for this tank, I can always move him to my 55g.

 

[the_sixx]

thats the problem with alot of lfs the sale is important so theyll tell you whatever you wanna hear to get you to buy a fish, well at least we know he came to a good home!

 

[Hamburgler]

Ehh, situations like that are awkward. Sounds like you are willing to give it a good life though. Those fish otherwise most likely end up in unsuitable conditions, since they appeal to the uneducated. I would just use it as a tool to spread the word, if anyone asking about it or sees it.

 

[SinisterKisses]

Thats the problem...most people have no clue that fish are dyed. So, you sorta have to hold your tongue.

I strongly disagree with that statement, actually. Rather than holding your tongue, I believe you should try to educate people when you can, otherwise how else is it ever going to come to a stop? MissFishy did exactly what I would have done - it was a close friend of hers who she didn't want to offend, but she explained to her friend about dyed fish and the friend was horrified - exactly the response you'd expect to get. I'm sure she did it without offending her friend; just explained the situation so she was aware. That's one more person who knows and thinks it's a disgusting practice now.

 

[MissFishy]

Meet Blueberry!

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[usacutie81]

Awww poor little guy. I had one of these once (not dyed); it came with a tank that I had purchased on Craigslist. I have to admit, weird looking as he was, he was really cute in a funny kinda way. Also, I don't know how yours will be, but mine had some attitude! He was always making me watch him, and he made me laugh a lot.

Good luck with Blueberry, hope everything works out ok.

 

[d3sc3n7]

Sorry, you mistook what I meant. I didnt mean to say that you shouldnt say anything about it. I'm all about educating people on these poor fish. What I mean was you can come across as angry or agrivated with someone because they got this fish...when you know that they have no idea how it happend.

I strongly disagree with that statement, actually. Rather than holding your tongue, I believe you should try to educate people when you can, otherwise how else is it ever going to come to a stop? MissFishy did exactly what I would have done - it was a close friend of hers who she didn't want to offend, but she explained to her friend about dyed fish and the friend was horrified - exactly the response you'd expect to get. I'm sure she did it without offending her friend; just explained the situation so she was aware. That's one more person who knows and thinks it's a disgusting practice now.

 

[brian1973]

A few weeks ago my daughter saw these little guys (not dyed ones) at petco and feel in love but before buying i came home and researched them. Most of the sites lacked info and focus on how bad these fish where to have because they are hybrids and that people should not buy them, but I found this forum that is a positive information portal much like this forum and for the most part is dedicated to the keeping of these fish.
ParrotCichlid.com - A Club for Blood Parrot Cichlid Owners

I did not purchase any as of yet but probably will in the near future once I have the room for them.

 

[marvin]

I strongly disagree with that statement, actually. Rather than holding your tongue, I believe you should try to educate people when you can, otherwise how else is it ever going to come to a stop? MissFishy did exactly what I would have done - it was a close friend of hers who she didn't want to offend, but she explained to her friend about dyed fish and the friend was horrified - exactly the response you'd expect to get. I'm sure she did it without offending her friend; just explained the situation so she was aware. That's one more person who knows and thinks it's a disgusting practice now.

jezz kiss wont it go away

 

[jessey]

well, even though fish dying is obviously not something any of us condone, at least this guy is going to have a much better life than he would have otherwise. good luck, can't wait to see more pics!

 

[SinisterKisses]

jezz kiss wont it go away

Uhh...huh?

 

[marvin]

Uhh...huh?

the dye!! i must be a little behind on that i have seen tatooed albino oschars but dye is new to me guess i need to get out more rofl

 

[SinisterKisses]

Yes, the dye goes away, which is part of the problem - its misrepresnting the fish and the colour doesn't stay, so then the buyer is left with a fish of natural colour. Do some research on dying, do you have any idea of how cruel it is? They inject it into the fish under the skin with a needle at numerous entry points on one tiny little fish. There's also some talk out there of an "acid dip" where they dip the fish in an acid that strips it's slimecoat off, then dip it in dye and let the slimecoat regrow to seal in the dye. As far as I know this hasn't been proven, but even the injecting method is sick and inhumane. What the heck is so wrong with the way a fish looks naturally that we have to come along and mutate and mutilate it, without any concern to the fish itself? Dying also greatly shortens a fish's lifetime.

 

[marvin]

i have heard of breeders using something called 10 to boost colur people that show use it too lol steroid testing for fish sad.... i work with people that inject them self's

 

[MissFishy]

Only 1 in 10 of the injected fish survive the dying process. This process is done on asian fish farms and there is little documentation from these dying operations to know exactly what they do. However, there are now some US fisheries that are "tattooing" images on fish. Quite horrifying considering the survival rate of these living creatures.