JK:
I got the impression from "nonames" post that disposing of fry that
didn't meet color specs wouldn't be "OK" either ... perhaps she didn't
know that this was common pracice ....

NoName:
IMHO,
I think that your idea of letting the LFS know how you feel about these
practices is "spot on" the right thing to do .. however ... if you truly
have the interests of this particular little fish at heart .. why not
keep him/her .. and give it the best chance at a "normal" life as you
can ... realize though that "fish keeping" inherently .. subjects these
creatures to "unatural" conditions .. for the sake of our own enjoyment.
personally, I make myself feel better by absolutely spoiling them


jk wrote:
"noname" wrote in message
...

My husband came home with what our LFS called a Blueberry Oscar Friday.

It's

about an inch and a half long and such a pretty blue. After watching it

for

awhile I googled on it to see what I could find out. (it stays around the

top of

the tank near the air bubbles and acts like it's uncomfortable or

something)

What I've found is that this is an albino oscar that has either been put

in a

dye tank or injected with dye. I'm guessing that could be why it acts a

little

sickly...not much of an appetite, swims like it's off balance and keeps

charging

the sidewall.

Is this a common practice or is there a possibility they didn't know what

they

were on about when they called it a Blueberry Oscar? (if you look closely,

you

can see the same markings and spots that a lot of the albinos have, or the

red

ones for that matter) It sickens us to know anyone would do this just to

be able

to charge double the price for them. What I've read says they usually live
around 2-4 months with some lasting as long as 6. *If* they make it to a

year,

they are no longer blue. We're thinking about taking it back to the store

today

and telling them what we think of this practice and why we feel it's

wrong. I

doubt it'll do any good, and they will probably sell Frankensmurf (the

blueberry

oscar) to someone else.

Are there any other types of blue oscars that are naturally blue and would

do

well in a fresh water tank suited for the S.American (reds, tigers, ...)

Oscars?

Two of my kids favorite color is blue and they've been SO excited just

watching

this one. Kinda sucks that now we have to tell them how he got his color

and why

we're taking him back...will probably confuse them.

noname
--


It's OK to selectively breed fish for their color only, but not OK to
artificially color them? Flushing millions of undesirable babies down the
toilet, because the color isn't quite right to go to market is OK with you?
Isn't that how they eventually got red, tiger, red tiger, albino, and other
Oscars that we see now? I'm not being judgmental here, only asking your
opinion Noname. We are all forced at some point to draw the line on what is
OK, and what goes too far with fish.