I was in the pet store the other day and saw a Silver Arowana that had been dyed red. WTF, the fish looked so unhealthy I wanted to punch the store owner in the face for getting the fish. Obviously I didn't because I dont know about how they dyed the fish or if it is harmful to the fish but it sure didn't look good to me. Is this process harmful to the fish?

I don't know any specifics, but I can't imagine it could be. One of my locals had some of them a while back.

One pretty scary statistic that I've heard a lot when it comes to dyed fish is an 80% death rate during the dying process. It's an incredibly harmful process, usually consisting of stripping off the slime coat of a fish, dipping in it dye to get the general base colour, then using a large bore needle to inject more concentrated dye in various areas. I know the process more from dyed Oscars than any other species, and I've heard many, many stories of ppl buying dyed fish only to lose them within 6 months to disease. Its a death sentance, even for those that survive the dying process.

Yes youve im sure heard of a hybrid blood parrot cichlids.. the jelly beans parrots are dyed they take slime off them as juvys then dipp them in color dye mixed with a sligt salt then they put stress coat to put slime back on the fish. the arowana was probrably dyed as a fry cause there easier to handle this will take maybe 8 years off the arowanas life span