Science project: Can you change the color of goldfish with food dye?

Question

I'm trying to come up with a hypothesis to test on goldfish (since they're cheap) for my college biology lab project. Has anyone ever heard of a goldfish changing its color due to the water it lives in being dyed, or it's food pellets being dyed with food coloring. I am not trying to kill the fish. If anyone can suggest a better experiment using goldfish - that would be great too.

If you object to experimenting on animals try not wearing make-up or taking medications, etc. I don't have time to grow goofy bean plants or whatever. I'm just curious.

Answer 1

You need a hypothesis before you test it silly. I say my hypothesis is....Yes a goldfish will change color. Now go test it!

Answer 2

If you must get a goldfish - keep it as a pet not an experiment.

I don't know what age range your science project is aimed at, nor do I know how much time you have to develop it On one hand I appreciate your enthusiasm, but be aware that the concept of harming a defenceless animal that some would consider a pet is very controversial.

Personally I feel that those who consider that any life is cheap are very dangerous individuals and require close supervision.

There are a lot of potential research topics - all it takes is a little imagination. Why don't you try to grow a tomato plant (out of season) and possibly run your food dye experiment on it. Or even provide an analysis of the properties of green and red tomatoes,

You might produce some fairly unique and interesting results - given the high level of care needed to sprout and grow a healthy specimen. There is also the associated possibility of changing the colouring of say one leave with food colourant - how will this affect the absorption of sunlight within the chlorophyll?

Remember that something that we humans can metabolise may be poisonous to other animals - a case in point is that (human-edible) chocolate contains theobromine - a compound that is toxic to dogs in sufficient quantities. (Could you use this as a research topic?)

A lot of lab-based research is progressing on the anti-ageing effects of high-carotenoid plant materials (another possible topic?)

Answer 3

I don't think this is going to work. Please don't torture even cheap goldfish for this. If it could be done some idiot would have already done it considering the price of a goldfish is directly related to what colors it has. You are in college you think you would have thought this through a little more. What do you plan on doing with the cheap goldfish after your experiment on it? Do you know how to keep goldfish? What their requirements are? Do you know a common goldfish can live for 40 years? The result of your tests will be dead goldfish I can tell you that right now, its not worth doing. Think of something else that doesn't involve torturing animals. You won't get any good feed back from anyone here.

Answer 4

That would depend on how the chicken digests the food. I think injecting into the egg would just cause the feotus to either die or suffer so I really wouldnt reccomend that, the dye is - after all - not going to stay in the system of the feotus - it would be rejected or just kill it. Some birds, like flamingos, get coloured feathers from their diet - however that's due to the way they digest the food they eat - specific to their genetics. It's not automatically going to make a chicken blue by feeding it blue colouring. The only real way to do it is to just dye the feathers - like you would for your hair. But again, you're just going to stress the poor bird and possibly cause the other hens to pick on it. Pictures on the Internet can be very easily faked, I have a pic of my ginger cat looking like I've dyed him Pink, it's very believable but its faked. Ask an authorised breeder - AND a vet before undergoing anything else you could get fined if you mistreat your lil chickies!

Answer 5

Unfortunately this won't work. In order to dye fish scientists inject them with coloured dyes. This is incredibly cruel as they first must strip away their slime coat by putting them in a chemical (can't remeber the name as of now) that burns it off. Then they use needles to make them prettier, and even after all this stress the fish is then put into another chemical that encourages a fake slime caot to grow on them.

The colour usually fades or completely disappears after about 5 months and the fish die within a year.

A better experiment would be to test the theory of the goldfish in a bowl (I did this once before but would have liked to test it further, but I ran out of time).

He is what I did...

I bought three of the exact same size and breed of goldfish (I used black moors but you can go with something a little more cheap like comets).

I put one in a ten gallon tank (let's call him A) with a light, ac mini filter, air pump, and two amazon sword plants for oxygenation. The tank was also bare bottom. I changed half of the water every week and gave him a varied diet consisting of brine shrimp, bloodworms, vegetables, fruits, live food, freeze-dried food like tubifex worms and frozen food.

Goldfish B, I put in a One gallon bowl, put an amazon sword plant inside, left it barebottom, and put a light right beside it to shine into the water. I changed half of the water everyday (what you should do when you place a goldfish in a bowl...never change all the water because that is their environment). I fed Goldfish B the exact smae diet as Goldfish A.

Goldfish C I also put in a One gallon bowl but I put a few inches of gravel in, a fake plant purchased at wal-mart and changed ALL the water every week (as per real goldfish owners). I gave him only a diet consisting of flakes 3 times a day.

Each week I measured them and recorded the results. I won't tell you what happened as you can find out for yourself. But a lot of variables can be played around with in this type of experiment. You could even introduce a few more goldfish to see if socialization actually helps a fish stay healthy.

Answer 6

I would not suggest dying the ater that the animal lives in because of the sensistivity of goldfish water conditions. They do sell colour enchaning food at fish stores but that usually has natural ingrediants. There is a process of dying a fish but it involves injecting the dye into the fishes skin. This is a cruel process that ends up killing alot of fish. Get a 30 gallon tank and 3 fancy red capped goldfish. Get a good filter "penguin bio wheel" and your specimiens will stay alive during the testing process. i suggest red capped goldfish because they have a white body so colour change wil be easier to see. A fantail goldfish runs you about 3.50 at a pet store!
Good luck with your project sounds cool!

Answer 7

I do know that fish can be dyed/colored. I do not think it is carried out with simple food color. Also, for anyone thinking they want their pet fish to be a "neater" color, doing so does stress the fish, and can harm them. However, I am not saying scientific experimentation should "never harm poor wittle animals" but rather advising against people doing this to their pets to see what colors they can get. As a science project, it would be very interesting to see what your results with food coloring would be, and how temporary.

Answer 8

goldfish coloration is generally photo-reactive. Meaning that the color of goldfish is directly correlated to the ammount of sunlight they get. Outdoor (pond) fish are brighter in color than indoor (tank) fish. I highly doubt that food coloring will have any effect on them. There are "color enhancing" foods available, however it is difficult to notice the "color enhancement" If you want to do an experiment with fish & coloration, try keeping one out doors & one indoors, compare finage & coloration.

Answer 9

Afraid not. Just as you can eat all the food dye you want and you won't turn colors. The fish might get tumors or die from organ failure though. It would take a lot of time for even that to happen. Why not experiment with fish and fishless nitrogen cycling?

Answer 10

i dont think it would work, you would need special foods with certain ingredients that will trigger the color.

i mean if dying the water can change goldfish color then a whole bunch of rainbow colored fish would be on the market

Answer 11

Ummm..... NO! Why even try an experiment on living things? Dying a goldfish?! Try experimenting on yourself and see if you like being colored blue. No offense of course, but that is a bad idea.