# Glass Fish, non-painted!



## corvus (Apr 9, 2003)

Sorry if this has been covered before.

I went to Petsmart today to buy dog food. While I was there I cruised through the fish section, and what did I see? Natural Glass fish! I commented to the nearest employee, who told me it is company policy not to sell artificially colored fish. I didn't know that before, but Kudos to Petsmart for that one! The employee even seemed to know his stuff, which is more than I can say for a lot of shops, Mega or LFS.
I made a token purchase of some fish food I hadn't tried before to show my appreciation. 

I don't know enough about the company in general to have much opinion about their overall policies, but it was very nice to see all the tanks looked good, and the Glass Fish in their natural appearance!


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## Script404 (Jun 30, 2006)

Just curious but. I haven't seen dyed glassfish in the UK for years, might just be where I shop though, are they still common in the USA?


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## Burks (May 25, 2006)

Must have been a recent policy change or store owners are ignoring it. I've seen painted glass fish in two different Petsmarts in the past two months. 

Script they still seem to be fairly common. Petland is a big buyer as their tanks (at three different stores, 100+ miles apart) are always full of 30-50 painted fish. I've mentioned it to the "fish manager" a few times and got some interesting looks. I have faith in one manager who really cares about fish and like a lot of us, may have never known what was going on. 

Petsmart does seem to have the most knowledgable staff of the really big pet store chains. The one in Mansfield, OH has a couple guys. One is a huge planted tank fan, another is basically a cichlid freak, and the last guy I've met is really into tropical fish. Ask a question, they'll try to figure it out for you. Buy a fish, they'll make sure you have the proper equipment and knowledge to take care of them.


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## RoseHawke (Jan 4, 2005)

I don't think I've ever seen any (dyed fish) in my local PetsMart. I do know that their tanks are always spotless and I very, very, rarely see a dead fish in them. Also I was recently in when they had apparently just received a fish shipment and they were drip acclimating them which impressed me. I've never actually bought any fish from them though as there is also a fairly good LPS down the road (mostly fish, some small animals, a few small birds) which I like to do business with.


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## Burks (May 25, 2006)

RoseHawke said:


> I've never actually bought any fish from them though as there is also a fairly good LPS down the road (mostly fish, some small animals, a few small birds) which I like to do business with.


Their fish seem to be above average in quality. Out of the 4 Otos I purchased from them, 0 have died *knocks on wood*. Same goes for all my other fish. You are right though, rarely do I see any dead fish in their tanks. Including the 60g tank with 55g of feeders and 5g of water.

Pets Supply Plus and Petco are a gamble. Sometimes there are no deaths, other times I lose 50% of what I bought in three days. The LFS around me are very nice but you will pay an extra 50 cents to $1 for a common fish. Doesn't bother me really. I normally purchase fish from them just to help out, only get fish at Petsmart if they have a good sale.


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## trenac (Jul 16, 2004)

My Petsmarts carry the natural Glass fish also. I've made quiet a few fish purchases from them and have been very satisfied.


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## ringram (Jan 10, 2005)

Script404 said:


> Just curious but. I haven't seen dyed glassfish in the UK for years, might just be where I shop though, are they still common in the USA?


Very much so. I used to work at a LFS around here and they sold everything from purple, red and green parrots to painted glassfish and a few others. It's so sick and I usually didn't recommend them to people. People used to ask me things like, "oooh! that's pretty! How did they....that's not natural coloring is it? And, of course, I would be dead honest with them..."nope. it's just a dye. it will wear off in about 6 months or so. maybe less." Maybe if people stop buying them, they'll stop injecting them.

I've been to one of the local petsmarts before; once, to buy fluorite and the other looking for something that they didn't have. Never bought fish there, but I've bought fish from Petco and its usually been a gamble. Like the other guy said, either no deaths or 50% dead in the first few days.


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## Burks (May 25, 2006)

Just got back from Petsmart here. No painted glass fish! They didn't even have a tag up for them, but there was glass fish. Good to see. They even price matched my filter off the website (saved $5) and I bought 4 Long Finned Blue Danios (for the girlfriend's tank she "adopted" from me). Would have bought Kuhli or Dojo Loaches but they were sold out of both.

What surprised me even more was they carried a Black Ghost Knife fish! While I was standing there someone bought him right away. $20 wasn't bad, he was about 3"-4". Very pretty fish.


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## JanS (Apr 14, 2004)

Hats off to the Petsmarts that don't sell them. 

Unfortunately, there are quite a few other stores that still keep them in stock because of the demand from inexperienced hobbyists who think they are "cool" or "pretty", so until the stores decide to do the right thing and not carry them, it's going to go on and on....


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## raven_wilde (Nov 16, 2005)

Script... I think the reason you haven't seen painted fish in the UK recently is because there was a movement among hobbyists in the last few years to have them all but banned in that country. I remember reading about it a while back... basically a group got together and successfully petitioned most suppliers to stop selling them while simultaneously edjucated the public about the fish dying process, thereby eliminating the demand for them. Good work in my opinnion.

And yeah, of all the chain store Petsmart at least does not stock dyed fish, and their tanks are usually immaculate. However, an entire batch of tetras I got from them about a year ago was infected with either TB or NTD... I finally had to euthanise the remaining ones a few months ago... so I've sworn off purchasing fish from them.


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