Dyed fish

Ok now you all should spell it out for me.

How do I know when a fish like a Diskus fish is dyed? I mean Im a beginner how would I know when I walk into a lfs and see this fish if it is a true colour or a dyed fish?

 

Discus dont get dyed... they are line bred for their colours and then sometimes (mostly asian fish) fed colour enchancing hormones....

 

The colour just looks unnatural usually. The fish they usually dye or dip, or have been genetically altered, is (copied from another website):

* The Lionhead have an egg shaped body and no dorsal fin. With EXTENSIVE breeding the fins are short and the caudal are divided. The head is covered with a raspberry - like headgrowth or Wen. The Wen grows slowly, taking as much as 3 years to complete . Lionheads are poor swimmers and can not compete with normally finned fish for food. Lionheads may have their vision obscured and breathing impaired by the degree of headgrowth. It is difficult for the fish to balance itself. It swims and eats slowly and gracefully. Some Lionhead have their heads pointing downwards when they are not moving. When swimming, the often turn somersaults
* Blood Parrot Cichlids, which a hybrid between the Red Devil and a Sevrum (this is similar to what creates baloon bellied guppies, mollies, and platies) are being dipped to produce Red Parrots, Violet Parrots, Blue Parrots, Purple Parrots, Green Parrots, Gold Parrots, and Yellow Parrots. The Blood Parrot is being bred not to have tails.
* The butterfly discus, which are bred not to have tails (this makes it very difficult for them to swim).
*The lutino and albino morphs of the "Black Skirt Tetra" (Gymnocorymbus ternetzi) are injected with dyes and fed dye laced foods as fry to produce blue skirt tetras, red skirt tetras, purple skirt tetras, blueberry tetras, grape tetras, strawberry tetras, patriot tetras, Halloween tetras, and mixed fruit tetras.
*Some "Skunk Botia" (Botia morleti) are injected with dyes and painted to produce purple, red, and blue loaches.
*Another botia, the blue loach or blue botia, and is not dyed - though a painted blue botia is now available. Apparently the natural blue wasn't blue enough.
*Painted Tinfoil Barbs (Barbus schwanefeldi) are available, though I could not tell the difference between the painted and non painted versions with three exceptions - the painted ones had a darker eye, the painted ones seemed to have difficulty seeing (they would bump into stationary objects in the water), and I could not get a painted one to live over three months...
*Red Painted Tiger Barbs and Green Painted Tiger Barbs are produced from gold, albino, and red color morphs of the Tiger Barb (Barbus Tetrazona) that have been injected with red and green dyes (I do not know why there don't seem to be blue, purple, or black versions of these fish). The particularly odd thing about these (and this is frustrating as well) is that there are perfectly good red and green varieties of these fish available through selective breeding...
*recently the Bala Shark (tricolor shark) is being dyed to produce a "Gold Bala Shark"
*Albino morphs of the Oscar are being painted to produce Blue Oscars, Red Oscars (though there is also a Red Oscar that is not painted), Yellow Oscars, Blueberry Oscars, Gold Oscars (though I understand that there is also a Gold Oscar that is not painted, but has a more yellowish tint to the normal salmon to orange coloration) and Purpe Oscars. These Albino Oscars that have either been injected with dye or placed in a dyed tank with additional chemicals that damage or destroy the fishes natural slime coat so the dye can soak in. The fish tend to be sickly and prone to disease and if they live long enough the color will fade.
*Albino Palaetus and Aeneus cory catfish (Corydoras paleatus and C. aeneus) are being injected with dyes to produce colored spots on the top of the caudal peduncle between the dorsal and caudal (tail) fins. These are available in blue, green, red, orange, and purple.

*Honey Gourami are being injected with blue dye between the caudal and dorsal fins on the top of the caudal peduncle to produce a 'blue sunset gourami' and a 'green sunset gourami.
*Albino Plecostomus (Hypostomus spp.) are injected with dye to create the Blue Albino Plecostomus. This is the only color I have seen, however, I would be sure that there are green, pink, purple, yellow, and the other colors you see in other painted fish.
*The "Painted" Glass Fish is not a natural color morph. Small pockets of dye are injected just below the skin using a large guage needle. The puncture wounds inflicted on these fish must be traumatic.

FruitLoop Tetras
The carcinogenic pigments used on the colored tetra and colored botia are stored in vacuoles in cells creating a faint background color. The more intensely colored areas are created by injecting the fish with more of the dye in strategic locations. The fish's immune system then proceeds to fight this infection until the dye has been removed from the system. This added stress makes these fish highly susceptible to any other infection which they may be exposed to, since they are unable to defend themselves from it.


Farm-raised salmon have been dyed pink.
The flesh of farmed salmon is naturally grayish. Wild salmon's brightly colored flesh is the result of the fish eating krill or other small crustaceans, says the British Columbia Salmon Farmers Association, a trade group.

The Flower Horn Cichlid: A fish with a gargoyle-like head, the product of a Frankensteinian experiment, is raking in a fortune for aquarium fish dealers in the country.
Origin of Flower Horns:
Flower Horns originated in Malaysia between 1994-1996. There are many different theories of what was originally cross bred to create the original flower horns. Most seem to agree that it was a result of cross breeding a South American Cichlid and other types of cichlids. There have also been rumors of it beginning with cichlids and giant gourami's.
Though there are adversaries of the cross breeding origins of the flower horns, it gained popularity with many enthusiasts by it's attractive color and unique characteristics. Mythical beliefs further fuel the craze on that the Asian culture also tout the flower horn to bring it's owners good luck and prosperity. Today the craze is ever popular in South East Asia, and is quickly growing throughout the world!



The best advice I would give to a beginner fishkeeper is when in doubt don't. If you see a fish and you aren't sure whether it is dyed/painted/injected or not, rather go home and research the species to see whether they are available in the colour you saw it in.

It really is a very sick thing to do to a fish and we definately should not be supporting it. If you see dyed fish being sold at your LFS let them know that you are disgusted and ask them to please not stock them again - if need be, don't support that shop again. If there is no market for the fish they will eventually stop dying them.

 

Thanks all,

Will def use your advise.