It wouldn't happen to a kitten

"I am sad. These things make me feel ashamed of being a part of the humanity...sorry !!! Did I say humanity?! Just imagine how beautiful this planet would be without us humans on it. We are worse than viruses. Sad but true. Anyway, because we are on this planet, at least some of us can say stop to this madness and try to spread the boycott. Do not support this cruelty by buying dyed fish...please."

"Legislation is generally a slow and cumbersome business, and therefore I guess we shouldn't be suprised that this abhorrant practise isn't technically illegal - although their statement in its own right gives at least a clue to how it is seen officially.

Whilst it would be nice for it to be illegal, and thus heavily cut out the practise of selling such fish in the UK, I think public and commercial pressure is by far the most constructive method of preventing such sales at least until the law catches up.

Practical Fishkeeping has taken a good and well-supported lead in this area, although there obviously are still people out there who purchase fish without reading such magazines. Perhaps there is scope to get the RSPCA and other animal welfare organisations to push this self-imposed ban on sales by pet shops?"

"I know I'm ignorant on the subject, so please don't be upset with me for asking this - Does the practicing of dying the fish hurt them or shorten their life? I'm not sure I would approve even if it doesn't cause them any harm, but I guess it seems 10 times as cruel if they actually suffer during the process..."

"Defra must be mad. As you have already stated, If I treated my pets by tatooing or injecting them to give them brighter colours, I would be locked up and the key thrown away.

The main problem is that there are still shops selling these fish and they should or must understand that selling these fish to the untrained aquarist, who only think this is natural, and after some weeks either the poor fish has passed away or the colours drained.

These same aquarists will either complain or just get fed up with loosing fish that they will leave the hobby altogether.

About 20 years ago My wife Jill and I were in a shop in the Leeds area, I forget exactly where, but a customer was complaining about buying some of these fish and how they have all perished, comment from the shop was "It's your water quality that is wrong, empty your tank, fill it and come back to us after 24 hours and you can buy more fish."

I made a comment and was told if I wasn't buying then I should leave, and so did the other customer. I directed him to a better shop.
Surly we as aquarists need more hobbiests in clubs, shops etc, giving the correct advise and good quality fish must be the first thought.

Remember if we just sell for a quick buck, then there will be no more young aquarists in years to come, meaning even more reduced clubs, show, shops and every other business that relys on the natural or home bred fish, Not mutilated fish, this practise must come to an end or the hobby will."

"What about the 25% of shops that haven't signed the pledge? Could more be done to encourage them to sign up?

If there are shops willing to buy these poor mutilated creatures in from the far east or wherever, there will be places that continue to mutiliate them, because thats how those people make their living.

I had never heard of fish being dyed before i started keeping fish, so i would assume that is mostly just fishkeepers that are aware of it, most other people won't know the difference from a dyed fish to a naturally colourful fish, and there are some of fish shops that are unfortunately not run by hobbyists and are there to just make money, so they may not realise that the fish are dyed, or if they do they may not care.

I'll be keeping an eye open for dyed fish and if i see any i will have a 'quiet word' with the owner! "

"It's all well and good making it sound like they care by saying it is mutation etc..... more than likely they will make some kind of franchise of the word!

Lets face it, Matt Clarke is absolutely right in that fish get the short stick and the government couldn't care less, it is only dedicated fishkeepers like ourselves that see them as more than something that lives in a bowl on the fireplace and you replace it when it dies.

Just my opinion..."

"I suppose we shouldn't be surprised - remember we used to dye chicks for Easter, and Toy Poodles to match their owners' outfits (oh wait, some idiots still are doing that last one).

Still, I think it is barbaric, plus extremely dishonest, to change the natural colours of fish. Does it hurt??? Well, I suspect it does. Fish may not scream in pain, but they do have nervous systems, so they do suffer. So, how do we go about making our disgust known??? "

"It's sad that people keep buying these fish and stores keep stocking them. But even sadder is the lawmakers won't support legisltaion banning this horrid torture of animals."

"i work in an aquatics outlet. I am constantly saddened by the amount of people who see fish merely as objects to look at, or worse, toys for thier spoilt children. people need to take responsibility for the welfare of their animals.

This meands not buying dyed fish, which is a cruel and unnecessary practice. but also caring for the "normal" fish that are available, even if it is "just a goldfish".
"

"i agree that if fish were cute then they would probably get a better deal - some of my mates thought fish weren't "animals" and still think they have a three second memory! "

"Who the hell buys these fish, anyway? As a purist I like to keep fish that I can identify in a book and pass on such knowledge to those interested.
Stop these people from messing with nature!

"

"This is disgusting, how is it that people can sell these type of livestock in retailer shops, which know full well the process.

This is irrisponsible as they should look after and look to the full ability of the comfort of their livestock.

I wonder how the sales would be effected if a large scale awareness program set to aquarist retailers to educate their customers about this cruel procedure took place?

I know everyone at my local aquarium shop, and we had a conversation about this a couple of years ago.

For those of you who this is new to..., this is not a new program, but has been going on for many years and another aquarium shop near me also stocks and sells these fish.

I breifly put a stop to my buisness with them when I found this out several years ago. This is awful and must be stopped for the fishes sake, and the poor uneducated fishkeepers who buy them, to find that they have a very shortened lifespan and die out quite soon after purchase. "

"I find it sad that the Government have not acted to stop this cruelty, but then the trade has also to take some responsibility for a lot of fairly distastful practices as well as dyeing.

A shop that I occasionally visit has an appalling record for allowing fish to die of diseases such as white spot and fish-lice (I recently saw a tank of 30 or so guppies, or which only 5 were still alive, but heavily infected).

A number of the fish in some of the other tanks looked horribly emaciated. You are right, we would not get away with this if it were mammals or birds.

It gives me no pleasure saying this, because I have kept fish for 34 years now, and love the hobby.

Can anything be done via your magazine to draw attention to the really good shops - perhaps a marking system when shops are visited - points off for negative features although it would be good to have an awards system for some of the worst shops (And the winner of the award for services to white spot goes too.....).

I suspect you would not be able to mention the worst offenders, but perhaps publicising the high scorers might propmote them and crate something of an incentive for fish-keepers to shop at the better establishments."

"I have been to several shops with the problem i was going to buy some equipment from one shop and saw albino cordroys in purple and pink I watched as inxperianced people beliving it was natural brought them. i asked a member of staff if he new how the fish got there colour he refused to comment i left the shop without buying anything. In some contries people tatto puppies for cosmentic reasons so they sell better. Please dont blame DEFRA it is more of the state vets side as it is to do with animals."

"A sad reminder of how powerless we can feel when appalled by cruel practices elsewhere. Only this week we have been seeing TV footage of fins being removed from live sharks before being returned for almost certain death in Japanese fishing waters. Yet sharkfin soup is available here in Australia.

It is sad that we can't seem to have any faith in our respective governments to make any stance against objectionable behaviour elsewhere (unless of course there is oil involved)."

"To me, dyed fish is inhumane, it is truly unfair to the fish and cruel!
these fish must have a tough time being dyed, then exported to different countreis all these fish must suffer alot.

People out there think, fish that have been artifically dyed are beautiful but these people are ignorant to the facts.

Artifically dyeing a fish is like abuse to a dog or cat."

"I suppose we shouldn't be too suprised that the government hasn't made all cruelty to fish illegal first time around. Just look how long it took them to outlaw that other barbaric and despicable practice involving animals . . . namely fox hunting. From what we hear, they are still having trouble enforcing those laws too!

Anyway, until humane common sense laws are brought in to protect fish from this sort of abuse. All we can do as the public is refuse to buy these abused fish and continue to support PFK and the great work they are doing in promoting awareness of this ugly side of our hobby. "

"It's obvious by other people's comments that, like me, generally people are disgusted and upset by the dying of fish.

It seems like total lunacy that things like this are allowed to continue within the industry.

In fact only yesterday I just happened to visit a garden centre Kent that I hadn't been to in years. The tanks were disgusting and to my total horror had no less than 3 different types of black widow style tetras - only they weren't black widows. They had all been dyed along the whole top half of the fish to about the lateral line in disgustingly abhorant neon/dayglow colours pink green and blue respectively.

I left instantly, totally disgusted, letting the staff know in no uncertain terms that I'd never be back and would tell everybody I know to boycott the shop!

Isn't there someway these people can be stopped or taken to book? I feel ashamed of being part of an industry or more importantly a species (humans) that can't stop this kind of cruel selfish greedy behaviour."

"I reported to PFK some time ago (2003) that one of my local garden centres was buying and selling dyed fish.

I susequently paid a visit to their premises to complain to the aquatics manager, found no one except a worker who knew nothing about fish biology nor husbandry or anything else I asked him.

I returned several times to this garden centre, but was never successful in tracking down someone with authority. However, in view of what I learned from my experience with this outlet, it seemed in this case, that these unfortunate fishes, were stocked mainly because of ignorance.

Would it not be possible to send a PFK "flier" (or enclose the flyer in copies of the magazine requesting your readers to leave it at the offending dealers) explaining the cruelty of dyeing pet fishes. to outlets who were suspected of dealing with this abhorrent practice. A list could be compiled from information gathered by PFK readers who found the dyed fish outlets.

One thing is certain. Aquatic dealers will rarely take any notice of customers, in the belief that hobbyists, by and large only think they (the hobbyists) know everything about keeping fish.
Finally, I would have thought the only way to deal with offending dealers, as there is no legistlation, is to boycott their businesses. "

"Hmmm... so importing mutilated animals from outside the UK is not going to be legal.

And we're expected to believe that this glaring hole in the law wasn't spotted by our wonderful government?

No doubt this hole will be continued to be enjoyed by dog breeders.

I wonder if the OATA allows businesses to join who sell such animals?

Perhaps its time they took a public stand as they have against GM fish?
"

"Very disappointing. Perhaps the RSPCA might assist in putting pressure on the government to stop this practice. Are there any countries that have banned dyeing fish, I wonder?"

"Why don't you take the lead and name and shame any shop selling such fish, asking your readers to send you details of shops in their area you can then print their details and recommend to your readers that they shop elsewhere?"

"To answer one of the questions on the comments page I unfortunately bought some dyed fish when I was newer to fishkeeping. I thought they looked pretty and it wasn't until I had bought them I was told they were dyed. I thought I would give them a good home anyway but they didn't last long and the colour faded quite quickly.

It seems the fish went through a lot for very little gain. We have enough pretty fish out there we do not have to dye them.

Unfortunately I can see why those new to fishkeeping or those who just want something pretty on their desk would buy them. There should be more pressure put on the importers and shops. The far east would soon stop the trade then if we didn't import them!!! "

"unfortunately this is the way of the world that we live in. in no way do i condone these practices, they abhor me, much ib the way that all cosmetic breeding pratices disgust me too.

but until there is no longer a market, or the fish get protected status, all we can do is stand by our own beliefs and not use the shops that stock them.

if a shop realises that stocking dyed fish (in whatever form) is costing them money they will soon stop"

"The only thing that i can compare this vile thing to is people having tattoos. i myself have a number of tattoos, which i choose to have.

Notice i used the word choose. they are all small tattoos, but really hurt when i got them done, on one of the occasions i nearly fainted and then the tattoo became infected and it took twice as long to heal with the added pain, that was my last.

Now think about this poor fish swimming around minding its own business. then its caught injected a hundred times, whilst being held down against its will. its not fair it shouldnt be done. he never asked for it. this only makes it stressed and in pain for god knows how long afterwards.

how many survive after the dyeing treatment? once again its us who are playing god, and these poor fish are in hell. it is cruel. we should be ashamed."

"If I took my dog out, shave it and tattooed it, do you think I would be allowed to own another pet? I don't think so!

I am disgusted, just as much as when getting goldfish as prizes never got banned. I am outraged.

Retailers selling these fish can't call themselves fishkeepers. The same goes for those who buy these fish. If there wasn't a demand, they wouldn't be put on the market. Shocking!"

"Unfortunately this is the world we live in, where its money before life.

There are many things in this hobby that cause concern and outrage, from dyed fish to hybridisation, neglect.

The problem we face isn't that people don't care, not in the public domain, its that they are ignorant to the topic. I started keeping fish a little of 12 months ago, in that time I have learnt so much, and still have much to learn.

I complained in a LFS about the state of the tanks and their stock, and I was gladly told they would sort it and then brushed to one side, while the assistant went to sell yet another fish to a customer that would out grow the tank they were buying at the same time.

Most retailers give a life expectance of around 6 months (or so I'm told) of their stock, even though a lot of the fish they sell should live for 10 years or more.

After complaining and having now action, I wrote to the local licensing agency, who duly paid a visit to the LFS in question.

This story has a good(ish) ending the store had to replace 50% of their filters, clean ALL the tanks, and quarantine ALL their live stock. They were told if they slipped to the level that they were at again, they would lose their trading license. They are up for review in a few months, and from what I’ve seen their setups are much better, except the many cases of ich. But we can’t have every thing.

Our many problem is we are a minority trying to take on the world, this will be and has been a long struggle, maybe, just maybe one day in the future we will see our hobby being properly governed and organised.

We wait in hope and suspense."

"It's a disgusting practice. But why are shops which haven't signed the dyed fish pledge still featured in PFK?

Surely the only reason a shop doesn't sign is because they do, fairly regularly, sell dyed fish, whether or not they're there when PFK visits.

Whilst preventing them from advertising in the magaxine could be impractical, not including them as featured retailers would be perfectly reasonable."

"We must not forget a different problem, while I think there is a long way to go with animal welfare in the UK most other countries lag far behind us.

I have been living in Hawaii since January 2007 and I can tell you the pet stores here, and the way many animals are treated in Hawaii can be shocking.

I am not excusing the UK of allowing these fish in (I am firmly against the idea of doing this to fish or any other animal) however we must not forget that many countries do operate very cruel practices toward animals.

Dont forget it is quite common in some countries to skin dogs and cats alive or as in Hawaii cock fighting and dog fighting is a common past time that even to this day still occurs. Also take a look at the recent issues occuring in Puerto Rico, and dont forget animal testing too.

It is sad to see people's ignorance regarding these poor fish but I also believe that there are other important animal welfare issues that cannot be forgotten.

Also dont forget if the UK bans these fish the practice will still not go away, instead these fish continue to be sold in other parts of the world.

Im sure the numbers of dyed fish entering the UK market is very small compared to the world market."