What Can You Tell Me About...

Hey all!!!

I was at a LFS something I don't normally do. I like Petsmart for they're quality and guarantee NOT advice lol. But anywho. I saw these Glasspainted Tetras or Painted Glass Tetra, something like that. What can y'all tell me about them? I did a quick Google search, perused the titles and saw nothing but terrible things. I love this forum and trust what everyone has to say, so if you could give me some insight on these guys I would greatly appreciate it!!

Thanks!

 

Painted fish unfortunately go through all the torturous events described in what you read. They are Glass Tetras that have been injected with dye or dipped in acid and later dipped into the dying agent. These dyes often cause cancer and almost always greatly shortens fish lives.

Any painted fish that manages to survive will absorb the paint and will again become a glass tetra in about 6 months time. It is my understanding, however, that most do not survive this long.

While they do appeal to many, I do not recommend them.

 

+1 Everything Dena said.
Carol

 

Oh my. Thank you. I also saw a Tetra of similar shape in a light blue and almost lavandar color. Do you know what they are??

 

They are probably white skirt tetra's that have been dyed. Since it is a cruel practice to dye or tatoo fish, it is recommended not to purchase them. The belief being that if they can't sell them, they'll stop dying and tatooing them.

 

Glass Tetras are the most common ones I see dyed; but I have seen White skirt Tetra, Blood Parrots, even frogs that have been subjected. Glofish are genetically altered and not subjected to this process. Maybe they would be of interest to you.

 

I have seen painted and tattooed fish in lots of stores and have never purchased any myself but from what I have read it is not money well spent. Normally the fish have a much shorter life span and if they live long enough the painted ones will loose their color over time. I have seen Mollies tattooed with hearts, stars and even team logos sold at some ridiculously high prices.

Some fish are genetically engineered for color and are a much wiser purchase. Fish like the GloFish (Danios) are genetically engineered for their color. This is a much more human way to get color variations and don’t effect there life by injecting them with poisons.

 

Wow thank you so much!!! I have 5 Glofish, one in every pretty color. I had no interest in buying the Glass Tetras I saw. I was just curious. I couldn't allow myself to support those terrible practices. It's awful.

Thank you so much for telling me about them.