Appalled! This takes the cake.

[Connie]

I was in a local pet store that carries food for saltwater tanks, but only carries fresh water fish. I always look at the fish any way. I was appauled when I saw these little white fish that had been tatooed! They were about the size of a molly. They were tattooed on their sides with hearts, smiley faces, and flowers. I asked the employee, "Are these poor fish actually tattooed?" He said "I think so." I can't believe there is actually a market for this! These poor things had to be caught, held down and stamped (I hope it was only a stamp) individually. I think it's ridiculous. Has anyone else seen this? How do you feel about it?

 

[FishLipz]

I've heard of it, but I've never seen it. Makes you worry about the future of this hobby if there are people willing to actually buy this stuff. It surely doesn't paint a compassionate picture of the hobby.

 

[AHDOnline]

These have been in the freshwater market for at least 10 years now. I don't even think they look nice. I have seen them with love, hearts, clouds, and at one time you could special order one with your name.

 

[Zoanthkid]

No different than fish injected with dye so they "glow" bright neon colors. It's sad but we do alot of unnatural things to animals in the name of having a better looking pet.

 

[slapshot]

Haven't seen it and would not pay for it. Shame on the LFS for carrying them. We have enough political storms brewing in the hobby. We don't need an indefensible example like this.

 

[Steven R]

That is horrible, you have to be a real piece of work to do that to any living thing! I dont know what is worse inking fish or cutting the pitbull ears.

 

[EmilyXLC]

Ugh... That's sickening. Let's just hope it's a stamp of some sort & needles aren't involved... but something tells me they are.

When I was a child, I had some of the brightly-coloured glowing fish, but when I learned that they became that way unethically, I decided never to ask for another one. All of my fishies lived long, happy lives... Especially my hoard of Bettas. : )

 

[Johmanda]

No different than fish injected with dye so they "glow" bright neon colors. It's sad but we do alot of unnatural things to animals in the name of having a better looking pet.

The DayGlo fish from Segrest Farms in Florida were NOT injected with dye. They have been developed genetically by using DNA from fish that naturally have the desired color.

 

[mainereefer]

I think there was a store in a mall in texas that you could bring your fish into and they would tatoo it. sooooo sad

 

[Loki]

I also had some of the glow fish when I was young. I was told that they weren't injected with die though.

 

[cparka23]

I read that the GloFish are engineered to produce green fluorescent protein (GFP), which was first synthesized from jellyfish ages go. It's been a critical tool in labs for all sorts of studies, so the inventors got a Nobel Prize for it around 2007-2009 or so.

Anyway, the protein is produced by the fish themselves. The sequence was written into their genome, so the fish's cells make this glowing compound by themselves.

Does anybody have a pic of these fish tattoos? The only images I find are of people.

 

[kschweer]

One lfs near me has them all the time it's pretty ridiculous in my opinion. A needle is used in this method of marking the fish

 

[kschweer]

http://www.underwatertimes.com/news.php?article_id=01769543281

 

[SPSjunky]

Back in the day when I owned my LFS, I did have a few people come in and ask for these.Most of them didnt like my response to much when i told them i'd rather get a tattoo on my forehead than tattoo a helpless animal.So most of them went down the street and bought them.

 

[EmilyXLC]

UnderwaterTimes.com | Pet Stores Offer Tattooed Fis

Some of the comments on this article make me want to punch someone in the face...

 

[dougers31]

I think what some of you are referring to is the glass fish that used(and prolly still are) to be injected with flourescent dye of different colors to make them look pretty, not the glowfish(danios) that are currently for sale at some pet shops.

 

[GratefulReef]

that is really messed up to tattoo them, even more messed up is that its allowed to happen.

 

[gar732]

A lot of people think it's messed up for people to selectively breed fish to bring out certain genetic mutations. It's all in the eye of the beholder you can't stop one thing with out stopping it all, be careful what you ask for.

 

[WesF]

What is worse?

Getting an involuntary tattoo, or getting caught in a net, killed, and eaten?

 

[Dave3112]

But don't we use tile saws and band saws and a multitude of other things to purposefully cut up other organisms (corals) and thats perfectly ok.....

Don't we use chemical warfare on flatworms and anemones? Sorry to be playing devils advocate here but if one life form matters doesn't all of them? Or is it that some "pests" are justifiably "eliminated" for the sake of others?