TETRAS

[panther1505]

I have been reading up on different types of fish that I might want to put in my aquarium once I am finished cycling it. One type of fish that I would like to get, I saw in a LFS. It was called a Painted Tetra. On the 3 or so websites that I've visited, I haven't found Painted Tetras. I've found other species of Tetra, but not Painteds.
Is there really such thing. I was told by someone who I work with that fish stores actually hand paint the flourescent stripe on the backs of the Tetras. When I went to someones house who has a tank with some Painted Tetras, it did seem like the flourescent stripe on their backs were peeling.
The rest of their body is transparent.

 

[Fiddlesticks]

MAY BE OF INTEREST


This may be of interest to you. Click on the link up there and you will find out about painted and dyed fish. I would recommend against buying any painted fish, but that is just my opinion.

 

[clutterydrawer]

they sound like coloured glass fish. did they look like this?

[

If so, they have had the coloured stripes injected into them with a needle.

 

[panther1505]

Clutterdrawer,
They look exactly like that. If the color is injected, then why is it peeling? Without really knowing, I would tend to think that if the color is injected, it would be like my tattoo, permanent.

 

[Becca]

It's not so much that the color is peeling. From what I've read and heard, dyed fish end up fading over time. The ink or color that they've been injected with have probably just faded off.

I don't own any dyed fish, so I can't really tell you much about the process or how to treat/care for fish that were dyed. I've heard that a fish's lifespan is shortened significantly from the dye process. I believe this website might help you understand the process a bit more. (I got it from another member's signature...)

http/www.deathbydyeing.org

 

[panther1505]

I just read the information on painted, dipped, and dyed fish. Knowing what I know now, I will not be buying any painted glass fish.
Do you know if the painted tetras are injected or dipped, or otherwise artificially colored? The ones I'm referring to are pink, and some are blue.

 

[Becca]

If they're teh ones that you're referring to in this post (pictured above by cuttlerydrawer) - then I believe those are dyed, by injection.

 

[Fiddlesticks]

I thought you might change your mind once you learned some more about dying. It never even occured to me that someone would dye fish until I found this site. And just in time too, because it saved me from buying some fish that I didnt know were dyed.

 

[Becca]

I thought you might change your mind once you learned some more about dying. It never even occured to me that someone would dye fish until I found this site. And just in time too, because it saved me from buying some fish that I didnt know were dyed.

Me either. Now it's one of the first questions I ask if I see a brightly colored fish that I'm interested in.