The list of dyed fish seems to be growing. The dyed fish I have seen are:
Painted or Berry Tetras are White Skirt Tetras (also Long Fin)
Jellybean Cichlids or Berry Cichlid are baby Pink Convicts or baby Blood Parrots
Cotton Candy Parrots are Blood Parrots
Berry Convicts are Pink Convicts
Neon Glassfish are Tetras of some kind
Now painted Albino Cories? Can we call them Candy Cories? That's a cool trade name, although I have no idea what they're actually called, I've only seen them once but didn't stop to look. Seen one dyed fish, seen 'em all.
I think we will see an even greater explosion of dyed fish. So long as the pigment in the skin will not interfere with the color, every species that can take a dye will be dyed. They are very popular with beginner aquarist who think most natural tropical fish have "dull" colors, and want to spice up their tanks. Children are especially attracted to the colors, since it turns something that may be intimidatingly unfamiliar into the familiar by giving it the colors of candy or toys.
Unfortunately, there will always be a demand for these fish with the number of show-piece customers (those who have a tank just for conversational showing-off) that impulse buy into the hobby without caring. LFS can't afford not to sell them, we call them "bread and butter" fish, in the trade. They are what give employees paychecks and keep the electricity running in the shop. To take a best seller off the availbility simply because of a few animal rights activist is stealing food from the mouths of your employees' children.
Some say it is injected, other say it is a dye the fish are made to swim through, and I think both methods are used depending upon the fish. Popular opinion is that these processes are very stressful to the fish and lead to shorter lifespans and decreased vigor of health. I have found no scientific opinion on this, nor have I found any hard methodolgy into the process. It seems to be a well guarded secrete. I have read a few speculations as to what the processes are, but nothing confirmed as fact.
From personal experience, I've had painted glass fish and painted white skirt tetras living in my store for what seems like forever without ill health. The dye does fade away after six to eight weeks, so the fish becomes "unattractive" to the customer, and live happily in my tanks, eating and pooping like normal fish. You can tell the color has faded when the new shipment arrives all bright and shocking. The painted glass fish are the hardest to sell once the color has faded, nobody seems to think a clear fish is cool unto itself. One lived with me for six months, the only glassfish in a tank of rainbows, and did fine until it sold.
I don't purchase painted fish simply because I don't find the colors that attractive, and they don't blend well with the natural decor of my tanks. I don't recommend people purchase painted fish simply because there is no hard evidance on the subject, and why pay for a fish they're just not going to like in six weeks anyway?
~~Colesea
