# My new fish is mating with everything...



## cause121 (Aug 11, 2008)

I just added this new fish (A black&white Marble Molly) to my fish community yesterday, however within 5 minutes of his addition he started mating with every other fish boy or girl, he was focused on a little tattoo balloon molly we have at first but then he started after everything else, to include our male catfish! He's been doing it non-stop for over a day now and I am just starting to worry that he might either hurt another of my fish or stress them out. I am also curious to know if when he mates with a different type of molly can they get pregnant since he is a different type? Any help would be much appreciated.


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## emc7 (Jul 23, 2005)

most mollies are the same genus so hybrids are possible.


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## lohachata (Jan 27, 2006)

have you ever seen how many different kinds of mollies there are..or angelfish...all the same species;just different colors..kind of like humans.


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## Guest (Aug 11, 2008)

tattooed molly  thats sad


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## cause121 (Aug 11, 2008)

*Tattoo Molly...*

It may be sad, but in reality the amount of attention that tattoo mollies get from people feeling sorry for them is ridiculous, we dye and tattoo all sorts of other fish and you may even have one or two you don't even realize is. Besides if someone wants to argue a real issue why not argue salt water fishing and how it is destroying our corral reefs... you could be pretty accurate saying that close to 95% of all the salt water fish you may find at a fish store are caught in the wild and not breed. A good example would be the clown fish which actively supports the corral reefs, but we seem to like them a lot so they are way over fished and that hurts our beautiful coral reefs. That is why I don't have nor support a salt water aquarium. Besides, if you feel so bad for those little fish why would you be okay with someone feeding live fish to fish eating fish? Why should we decide which fish get torn to shreds violently by other fish? Personally I don't care, but hypocrites bother me. There are much bigger issues in the world.


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## Obsidian (May 20, 2007)

*** Passing out popcorn ***


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## trashion (Aug 24, 2007)

Um, I'm very sure I have no dyed or tattooed fish, thanks. Little fish being eaten by big fish is natural and provides the nutrition that some fish need. I would not feed a fish in captivity live food if it was able to adjust to accepting flake.

A fish in a river eating smaller fishes because that's what it needs to survive is a natural behavior, injecting a fish with dye is not at all. Your argument is completely invalid.

By the way...I believe that most clownfish are tank-bred.


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## cause121 (Aug 11, 2008)

You have the right to believe what you want...


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## trashion (Aug 24, 2007)

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Clownfish#In_the_aquarium

Just throwin' it out there...


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## cause121 (Aug 11, 2008)

Good research... I am glad to hear that they are starting to breed them, I just don't like when they are taken from their natural habitat in turn destroying the corral reefs as I am sure most people will agree. However many salt water fish are very hard if not relatively impossible to breed in an aquarium environment and that in turn results in many people over fishing for them due to the demand not being met. That's sad.


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## Guest (Aug 11, 2008)

I'd be more likely to consider your argument if you made use of proper spelling and grammar. Corral reef? Oh..._coral_.

Anyway, an argument made in ignorance is no argument at all. Coral reefs are not being destroyed by the aquarium trade...try pollution and global warming. In fact, captive care of many organisms is beginning to aide reefs. There are many programs dedicated to propogation of corals and reproduction of fish to help wild populations. You should look into SECORE. They specifically focus on the sexual reproduction of reef building stony corals in order to help the conservation of our reefs.

Oh, and those wild caught clownfish you say are being ripped from their habitat...yeah, they're bred pretty wide scale now. There have been huge advancements in aquaculture for the saltwater industry, in fact. Here's an interesting aquaculture company that breeds a wide variety of saltwater fish for aquaria. One of few, in fact. http://www.proaquatix.com/index.asp

And guess what? It would not be possible to breed any of these fish had they not been kept in captivity. 
The aquarium trade really does not spell impending doom for wild fish. The real destruction, as I said, comes from pollution from us humans. Some reefs are being destroyed by unsafe fishing practices such as cyanide poisoning and dynamite in the Philippines, but I don't buy fish I suspect were caught with cyanide. 

I'd like to hear what else is in your tank, actually. I'm willing to bet you've got some wild caught fish in there that were torn from their natural habitats. Man, you're destroying our natural aquatic ecosystems.

By the way, you can't compare feeding a live fish to a predatory fish vs. dying a fish. Dying a fish is painful, torturous, and usually ends in the fish suffering and leading a much shorter life than one that was not dyed. Most of the time, a fish that is eaten doesn't suffer long.


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## Guest (Aug 11, 2008)

cause121 said:


> It may be sad, but in reality the amount of attention that tattoo mollies get from people feeling sorry for them is ridiculous, we dye and tattoo all sorts of other fish and you may even have one or two you don't even realize is. Besides if someone wants to argue a real issue why not argue salt water fishing and how it is destroying our corral reefs... you could be pretty accurate saying that close to 95% of all the salt water fish you may find at a fish store are caught in the wild and not breed. A good example would be the clown fish which actively supports the corral reefs, but we seem to like them a lot so they are way over fished and that hurts our beautiful coral reefs. That is why I don't have nor support a salt water aquarium. Besides, if you feel so bad for those little fish why would you be okay with someone feeding live fish to fish eating fish? Why should we decide which fish get torn to shreds violently by other fish? Personally I don't care, but hypocrites bother me. There are much bigger issues in the world.




Excuse me.... you know NOTHING about my fish keeping. in fact, chances are i know more about fish than you do. Between me and a friend of mine, we happen to own several endangered species, and we are doing breeding projects to keep them around thank you. The friend of mine owns the most ethically run aquarium store that i know of. Don't EVEN begin to call me a hypocrite. And next time you decide to put your 2 cents in where it is not needed or wanted, maybe you should do your own research first. There are much more important issues in the world to deal with, which is why i will stop here cause you aren't worth my time.


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## pog0 (Jun 29, 2008)

I had no idea that people tattooed or dyed fish. I don't think I've ever seen one in my fish store - I imagine they must be pretty easily identified?


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## Guest (Aug 11, 2008)

Yes. Usually they are called something like tattooed, dyed, colored, etc. Usually flourescent and unnaturally colors and sometimes designs like hearts. Its pretty disgusting and really inhumane.


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## Obsidian (May 20, 2007)

Scuba, you missed one of your own: "unnaturally colors." I am sure you meant "unnatural."


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## Guest (Aug 11, 2008)

Yay for pettiness


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## lohachata (Jan 27, 2006)

if people didn't buy it;nobody would make it.there are a great many fish today that are being dyed and tatooed.a few of the botia species are being dyed.mollies,gouramis,tinfoil barbs and a couple of others are tatooed.glassfish and tetras are being painted with fluorescent colors.as ugly as they are to many;others find them attractive.not any different than other things such as clothes,jewelryand such..there is some really ugly stuff out there and you wonder why somebody would make it..but there are people out there buying it.
geez mike..why don't you just take the guy to court and sue him..heck;you could even put him away for a couple of decades....maybe even the chair.
the saltwater scene has changed tons in the past 20 or so years.as was stated earlier..all kinds of fish are being bred.the same with corals.more humane capture programs.capture limits and licensing(sp?)and scuba kid is right about pollution and global warming being the largest destroyer of our reefs.
cause...you were right up there telling it like it is..why all of a sudden did you start to backpeddle?


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## Guest (Aug 11, 2008)

lohachata said:


> geez mike..why don't you just take the guy to court and sue him..heck;you could even put him away for a couple of decades....maybe even the chair.


*retracts*


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## Guest (Aug 12, 2008)

Obsidian said:


> Scuba, you missed one of your own: "unnaturally colors." I am sure you meant "unnatural."


Thanks for your important addition to this thread.


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## Obsidian (May 20, 2007)

Well Scuba you pointed it out to him, so I pointed it out to you. The major point being, don't be petty yourself. Say what you wish to say without being insulting because WOW lookie there, you do it too.


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## justintrask (Jun 29, 2008)

Ok children. Lets calm down. Whether you want to buy and/or support the dyed, tattood, painted, etc fish or not, no cause for an argument. Is it right? Not IMO. Should they stop selling them? Yes IMO. Will an argument on a fish forum stop it from happening? absolutely not.

Just like many things in this world, if there is any sort of demand for it, they will sell it, humane or not. Look at petco and petsmarts recommended tank sizes. They cant say that a full grown pacu needs a 400+ gallon tank, because nobody would buy it. They say full grown will be fine in a 30G. Is this humane? No. Will it hurt and maybe even kill the fish? Yes. Will they stop selling them? Absolutely not, because people buy into it.

The best thing to do if you disagree with it, is if you see a fish at a LFS that is dyed, painted, tattooed, whatever, make a fuss about it. Tell other people about it while you are in the store. Make them think twice about it. Thats what I did, and there arent anymore painted tetras in my LFS, and they also trust my word a lot more than before.

Sorry. Rant ends here. Don't get mad at me.


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## Guest (Aug 12, 2008)

Won't get mad at you, because I agree with you on it. But part of making the world recognize that its wrong is telling people, which is all we're trying to do here.

So everyone, don't buy or support dyed fish. Bottom line, its a gross practice that should be stopped, and the best way to stop it is to stop supporting it and to inform others about it so they also stop supporting it.


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## justintrask (Jun 29, 2008)

Thank you. Thats what I meant, but didnt know if I got my point across, thought I just came off as bad haha


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## COM (Mar 15, 2008)

Most people have tattooed fish? No. I believe that tattooing is cruel. Do you know who tattooed animals against their will? The Nazis.


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## akangelfood (Jun 26, 2008)

COM said:


> I believe that tattooing is cruel.



I'm designing another tat for my body. *punches herself in the eye*




Sorry, couldn't resist  I'll get tatoos on myself, but not my fish or my kids.


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## COM (Mar 15, 2008)

Hey, if you want to decorate your body and you know the risks of tattoos (ie hepatitis), that's your game. I was referring to the cruel numbering of prisoners during the holocaust, sort of different, especially since it is not tolerated in the religion if practiced strictly.


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## akangelfood (Jun 26, 2008)

Right. I understood. I'm not three. ;-) But thanks for clarifying anyway. 

I was just trying to lighten the thread up a bit.


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## sneasle (Jun 25, 2008)

My glo-lie tertra's aren't dyed, are they? What about neon's? If so that is the last of them I plan on buying.


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## Guest (Aug 13, 2008)

Nope, glo lights and neons are most certainly not dyed. I think the only tetra I've seen dyed are the white skirt tetras labeled as "tattooed" or "dyed." They're usually pink or blue...or a combination of the two.


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## Obsidian (May 20, 2007)

There are also zebra danios that have been genetically altered to glow neon colors. This is not a case of dying or tattooing. They are bred this way. They have a name but I am currently forgetting it. I am sure someone knows more about it than I do, I just know they exist and that it is not a harmful thing.


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## Guest (Aug 13, 2008)

Glofish. The originals were genetically altered using flourescent genes from anemones and corals, however the gene is carried through generations now, so all they have to do is breed them. They also glow under a black light, which is pretty cool to see.
They're sold in green, red, and yellow, and no, they are not dyed.


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## Guest (Aug 13, 2008)

COM said:


> Most people have tattooed fish? No. I believe that tattooing is cruel. Do you know who tattooed animals against their will? The Nazis.


have some class...


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## lohachata (Jan 27, 2006)

scuba..they have also done them in blue and orange.not all offspring will have color;but will still bear colored offspring.i like the red ones best..and the more you breed them,the redder they get.


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## justintrask (Jun 29, 2008)

im having a hard enough time breeding my regular danios


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## Guest (Aug 13, 2008)

lohachata said:


> scuba..they have also done them in blue and orange.not all offspring will have color;but will still bear colored offspring.i like the red ones best..and the more you breed them,the redder they get.


Yeah, I know that not all of the danios bred will have the flourescent color, but they will still carry the gene for it.

I didn't know they had blue ones now. That's pretty cool...I'll have to check into it. At the store I work at, we order them just by "glofish" (not by color) but we only get them in red, yellow, and green.


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## redpaulhus (Jan 18, 2005)

cause121 said:


> Besides if someone wants to argue a real issue why not argue salt water fishing and how it is destroying our corral reefs... you could be pretty accurate saying that close to 95% of all the salt water fish you may find at a fish store are caught in the wild and not breed. A good example would be the clown fish which actively supports the corral reefs, but we seem to like them a lot so they are way over fished and that hurts our beautiful coral reefs. That is why I don't have nor support a salt water aquarium. ... Personally I don't care, but hypocrites bother me. There are much bigger issues in the world.


Actually - alot of work is being done to show that a steady commercial (aquarium) fishery, properly managed, based on knowledge of the local fauna and their life cycles, can be more beneficial to the natural environment than many other money-making options for the local population.

For instance, fisheries in Fiji for liverock that allow the local fishermen to collect naturally occuring live rock rubble (the rock that storms break off of the reef) - which otherwise has no economic value to them - and sell it to folks in other countries, mean that those fishermen are able to feed their families without resorting to other methods (such as harvesting huge %'s of the reef fishes for the food fish market, or harvesting live corals to be dried for the shell and curio trade).

In freshwater, an ongoing study (Project Piaba) has shown that collecting wild cardinal tetras can provide a better income for Brazillian fisherman than the previously popular "slash and burn" aggriculture -- right now the fishermen fight to protect the rainforest, because that protects the tetras, which are their livelyhood. And by collecting the tetras AFTER they spawn every year, they are making that livelyhood on fish that would normally die during the "dry season" - fish that would not live to spawn again -- so the impact on the reproductive population is nil.

Various marine groups are looking at ways to use the same type of model in the reef environment - mostly by looking at the collecting of post-larval stage fishes before they reach the stage where they settle on the reef. In the wild, something like 2% of those fry will make it to the reef - so if we collect from that "other 98%" we are making zero impact on the breeding populations on the reef. This has already been done with a number of angelfish and tang species -- they are usually listed by wholesalers as "captive raised" as opposed to "captive bred".

As far as captive bred fishes - I'd guess that something like 95% of the clowns in the hobby are captive bred now - its been ages since I've seen a wild clown in a store, in large part because the captive clowns are cheaper and usually healthier (I haven't seen nearly as much Brooklynella as I used to). Most of the dottybacks and the various "neon gobies" are also captive bred. 


A larger part of the problem when talking about reef ecology is the condition of the land masses near the reefs - for example, the changes in the Everglades to support the population boom in Florida (over the last 100 years) are what killed off huge portions of the Florida reefs, not people collecting fish with nets. Also, the removal of mangrove habitat to build ocean-side resorts is causing a larger problem with reef fish populations than most people realize - the mangroves are the nurserys where many juvinile fishes spend time before moving out to the reefs.

Runoff (whether from agricultural fertilizers or simple suburban lawn care chemicals) has cause major turbidity problems along most inhabited coastal areas - and that also means death for large portions of the reef, fishes included.

When talking about all of the problems affecting all of the fisheries in the world, freshwater or marine, aquarists are usually the first one blamed but the least responsible...


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## Guest (Aug 13, 2008)

Well said red... THAT is the kind of knowledge that makes someone's 2 cents worth something


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## redpaulhus (Jan 18, 2005)

GoodMike said:


> Well said red... THAT is the kind of knowledge that makes someone's 2 cents worth something


aww shucks


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