froggypat

I was in Big Als yesterday and I seen some blue tetras I mean tuquoise blue, I asked if they were dyed and they said they feed them special food anyway I told them I wouldnt be back and Id tell my friends to. This cant be good for the fish can it. Why do people have to start fads with living things cant they just find the natural beuty in nature. Thanks just had to get that off my chest.

Neville

yeah i hate dyed fish too, i saw some dyed oscars a few days back, here's the procedure how they do it, first they put the oscars in some kind of chemical to take off their scales , then they color the fish and when the fish recovers the scales, the colors remain inside their body! that's horrible! i mean that looks nice but in the long term the colors will fade and the fish will look ugly, because it has lost its original color!

froggypat

Yea these ones even look fake cant believe people would acually think their that color.

COBettaCouple

Big Al's is well-known for carrying dyed and tatooed fish and they have demonstrated no concern for the people who object to inhumane & cruel torture of fish.

Goldfish301

I watched a video about tattoed fish and about colored baby chickens like green,blue and pink....it seems that everything has to be brightly colored ...its so sad..

COBettaCouple

Yea, it's pathetic!

Oblivion

Oh my word! That is the most horrible thing ever! I just read about it and just saw some pics of it...That's just disgusting! Experimenting basically on a fish? That's just saw and I feel so sorry for all the dyed fish. Ugh...it's like that crazy doctor in Mass Effect if any of y'all have played it...lol
He experimented with humans...well I won't get into details but anyways...
That is just horrible. They should be injected with dye to see how they feel after their skin has been ripped off and or dipped in maybe HCl acid to see how it feels...

KittieKat

lol i thought big al's was in toy story!! Big Al's Toy Barn.. tee hee

sorry couldnt help it!! but i feel the same way about dyed, injected etc... i hate it! grr!

Angela_96

I remember when we were tank shopping a month ago, and I was going store to store in knoxville... I walked into this shop that my husband asked me to check out.. she had a heck of a deal on the tank I wanted.... and I was talking to the owner... and looked down... I saw a tank full of tattoed and dyed fish.... she saw the cringe on my face... and all of a sudden I looked up and said well I think that will be all..... and walked out... and I have never been back in that store... I hope she got my point that was the tank that got me upset... My husband didn't see the tank and if he did he would have never told me to go in there because he knows my feelings on going in that store..... In fact my mom and stepdad get a butt chewing every time I find out they shop at a place because I heard about their dyed fish....
Needless to say eventhough I loved the deal on her fishtank... she didn't get the sale!
I can't stand the thought of it!

finmama

Big Al's here has dyed fish too Poor things
They pack their tanks soooo full too and 2 platys I have bought from them are runts, one with a weird spine.
I think I am going to stop going there.
I saw a reaaallly pretty sailfin Molly at Walmart today....I want her! But I was on my way to work and couldnt leave her in the bag all day

Narcicius

That is really deplorable behavior, people should know that in the long term the fish will grow ugly, even though its not his/her fault. I beleive We as aquarists should boycott Big Al's until they either close or just stop torturing fish. I mean just shop somewhere else. Hopefully they'll get the picture and stop coloring fish unnaturally.

COBettaCouple

That's why I won't order from Big Al's online, even if they're cheaper.

Narcicius

Good I beleive everyone at fishlore(with a heart) should boycott that store and possibly send a suggestive email or two. If you can't avoid this store just don't buy these fish. If enough people do it then they'll get the picture.

Coryd55

Just because a shop carries tattoed fish I am not going to stop buying from there. Sure I won't buy the tattoed fish, nor do I approve of the method. I might say to someone that I don't like it but I am not going to boycott some place. They dont even tattoo them, they just carry them and sell them to people who will probably kill the fish anyway, whether it was/is tattooed or not. If you think about it the only people that won't buy tattooed fish are the fish keepers who have done their research and know their stuff. The people that buy these fish porbably just want something colorful or their kid picked it out and it will be going in a bowl that will soon get dirty and the fish will die. I hate seeing the dyed and tattooed fish but I am not going to stop shopping somewhere because of what they carry. If the people are personable, knowledgeable, etc then I will continue to shop there. Just my opinion though....

MissMTS

I have mixed feelings about boycotting a store because of that. I hate it when stores sell dyed fish, but at the same time, the majority of the LFS's in my area do anyways. My favorite LFS is very reliable and help me with anything and everything that I could possibly need and they have one tank of dyed fish. I think that as long as people will buy dyed fish, stores will continue to carry them. I think that the general public needs to be educated on the cruel and inhumane treatment that a dyed or tatooed fish goes through, so that there will no longer be a consumer demand for them. A LFS is a business and they need to make sales in order to pay rent and stay open. One LFS owner in my area said that he hates dyed fish, but all of his competition carries them, so in order to keep his business afloat he has to stock them as well.

Blub

MissMTS

I know. Its aweful!

froggypat

I think it would be helpful if everybody put together an article on dyed fish and sent it to their newspaper thats what Iam going to to also Iam going to send one to an out of doors magazine I dont think the majority of people know what those poor fish go through.Pat

Narcicius

Like I said don't avoid the store if you can't shop anywhere else, and I guess I was a ignorant in my earlier posts bit I was angry. So if your at a store and see someone considering these fish just politely inform them what that fish has been through and suggest a naturally attractive fish.

bbfeckawitts

I think that it is mean to dye fish but at the same time the stores will continue to sell them as long as they can make a dollar off them. If people knew that this was very painful for the fish anyone who has a heart would not buy them. Unfortunately people think it is "just a fish" and that "they can't feel pain", which obviously is not true because when a fish has a hurt fin they hold it up to their body.

COBettaCouple

The way that I see it is - I'm going to spend the fish budget somewhere, there's the internet, stores, breeders, fish clubs, craigslist, etc.. Why give the money to someone who supports animal cruelty when I can give it to someone who doesn't?

If they have glofish, that's one thing.. but there is no denying the cruelty of dying and tattooing fish. For each little tortured fish swimming around at the store, at least 9 died in the process. Plus these fish tend to be less healthy and more prone to sickness and disease - that's stealing from customers expecting normal healthy fish. More than enough reasons to make me shop someplace else.

So far, I haven't found a store here in Denver selling the tortured fish, but should I find one, I'll be glad to let them know that our fish budget is walking out the door and the word will be spread to not shop there. That store will lose out on more business that the money they make on the tortured fish.

CatladyDane

How can you tell if a fish is dyed? So many are naturally colorful. All creatures are beautiful in their own way. I absolutely love my ghost catfish! He's colorless & you can see through him - everyone says he's "cool". And my little red swordtail with his dark tail is so handsome! As for tattooing: some of the body art (for those brave enough to deliberately stick needles into themselves) is fabulous, but I wouldn't dream of sticking myself or any other creature unless by accident (sewing) or medically necessary. Lasers don't make it any more appealing, either.

sirdarksol

Do research on the fish you're going to buy. For example, if you see a tank full of fish called glassfish, and they've got these beautiful little neon spots in them, but you're not sure, go home and do a search on them. You'll find out that glassfish normally look like ghost catfish, and have no natural color to them (except for the greyish pink of some of the organs).
Others, you can easily tell, like the tattooed koi in one of the other "dyed fish" threads around here. The thing looks like a clown. I was sick that someone would torture such an intelligent creature in order to take away its natural platinum beauty.

I love seeing tattoos on people, but tattooing a fish is like tattooing someone against their will. The fish did not make the choice to be stuck repeatedly with a needle.