I was interested in purchasing one of these unusual fish, but I have been told their colors are artificial. Is there any way to determine whether they've been dyed or not.
Red Parrot Fish
- Thread starter paradigmcubed
- Start date
Usually the "natural" color of these guys are a bright tomato red or a pumpkin orange, though some are a bit yellower than others. Sometimes the yellow ones are still dyed. Other common dye colors are blue, green, and purple.
See if you can find a juvinile one. They are grayish brown (sometimes with black stripes). It is also pretty fun to see them change colors. They look pretty funny for a while when they are half grey with spots of orange comming through. And then you know they are not dyed.
Hi Parod, looks like VoodooChild gave you some accurate info already.
I have kept lots of different fish for years and love cichilds (especially the S. Americans) though now I just have the one 55gal tank inwhich I have four 5-6" blood parrots, one reddish with almost a purplish hue, two OJ orange and one yellowish orange. One way I could tell my 'purple' parrot hadn't been dyed is she - like most cichlids shifts her hue in accordance to her mood or stress so the purplishness comes and goes. If it were dyed it wouldn't do that.
I love my blood parrots and don't get the hub-bub about them being evil because they are hybrids. But I really am against dying fish, it is a nasty process which shortens the blood parrot's life from a possible 15 years down to generally 3-4 years. I don't get dying fish, they are pretty enough as they are.
I have kept lots of different fish for years and love cichilds (especially the S. Americans) though now I just have the one 55gal tank inwhich I have four 5-6" blood parrots, one reddish with almost a purplish hue, two OJ orange and one yellowish orange. One way I could tell my 'purple' parrot hadn't been dyed is she - like most cichlids shifts her hue in accordance to her mood or stress so the purplishness comes and goes. If it were dyed it wouldn't do that.
I love my blood parrots and don't get the hub-bub about them being evil because they are hybrids. But I really am against dying fish, it is a nasty process which shortens the blood parrot's life from a possible 15 years down to generally 3-4 years. I don't get dying fish, they are pretty enough as they are.