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Hi, in my quest for looking for good community fish, i've sumbled over a man-made fish that im iffy about. To me it looks like a Zebra Danio with a color change.

www.glofish.com

Im going to get Zebra Danios, but my girlfriend wants me to get these Glofish because they're pretty. I have no problem with them, but I wanted to know what you guys thought of them. Its not a natural fish. They sell at walmart, but not at Petsmart and i dont know about Petco.

?

Hi Again,
There are allot of questions as to how humane it is to
color the fish. Because they are "man made" a good many
of us would not purchase them. We feel that by purchasing
the fish, we reward that kind of behavior, and encourage
the continuance of the practice.

Yes, they are beautiful and very colorful, but just not
my cup of tea.

Frank


-->>> The Confidence of Amateurs, is the Envy of Professionals <<<--

I have no issue with glofish. It's just a regular zebra danio with a bit of extra DNA. No harm done.

Dyed fish I have a big problem with.

Glofish are, as Joe said, zebra danios with an extra bit of DNA. They might not be natural but they did not suffer in order to get their coloring, they are simply an animal GMO success story. If you have personal ethical problems with GMO's then by all means do not purchase them, but otherwise the danios were not tortured or put through undue stress to become as they are.

As far as being a natural fish, no they aren't, but then again many of the fish we have in our aquariums or that we see at the LFS are not "natural" fish since they do not exist in nature outside of accidental, or intentional, human introduction. We have selectively bred them for those traits we find aesthetically pleasing and to remove those traits which we do not like. It is gene manipulation of a more archaic and time-tested manner and natural only in the sense that those desired genes happened to be naturally embedded, sometimes deeply, within the species genome. Take for example Betta splendens:
Wild Type

Aquarium Betta splendens


Anyways I am ranting now. I don't find Glofish to be pretty in any regard, well I hardly find Zebra danios to be pretty, but that is a personal taste issue and not an ethical one.

I have no problem with them, I just wanted outside opinions. I'll get one of each color just to make my Girlfriend happy. Im curious to see if they'll school with regular Zebras.

I'd try pairs of each colour or several of one colour, as fish seem to use colour and pattern as a means of communication and identification. I had some pink ones a while back (funny what turns up at the lfs, didn't think we could get them here) and they happily schooled with standard, longfin and albino zebras.

For animals, the entire universe has been neatly divided into things to (a) mate with, (b) eat, (c) run away from, and (d) rocks. - Terry Pratchett

Um, I'm a little confused now.

I was at my local Chain Pet store(one of two local ones) a few weeks ago and saw Glofish, and I asked the guy that worked there about them, and he told me that Glofish are no longer dyed. That through time, this has become a "natural" trait in them.

Did he lie to me? I didn't purchase any, but that's what the guy told me. If he did lie to me, this is yet ANOTHER reason I dislike them.

Not sure if it would count as a lie or just parroting iffy information. Many LFS workers are not up to speed on fish things and rely on other employees for information. Sometimes that can end up with many muddled people.

They aren't dyed, but I'm not sure that having your genes spliced with glowy jellyfish counts as natural. It isn't a cruel practice, it is genetic modification. They are born like it, but only because of some serious mucking around in a lab at an earlier stage. It isn't cruel in the way that dying and tatooing is cruel.

So he was half right, kinda sorta maybe.

For animals, the entire universe has been neatly divided into things to (a) mate with, (b) eat, (c) run away from, and (d) rocks. - Terry Pratchett

Oh, OK Callatya, thank you. I have no intention of getting this type of fish anyhow, but I like to learn about fish from the stores when I can.

I love having a chat to LFS workers, and there are times when you'll hit on one that knows a heap of stuff. Either way, it is great to be able to talk fish with people

For animals, the entire universe has been neatly divided into things to (a) mate with, (b) eat, (c) run away from, and (d) rocks. - Terry Pratchett

I am about to enter the colorful world of the glo-fish as well. I am nto a fan because I prefer to keep fish that at least appear to be somewhat natural. LOL Having said that, I have an 8 year old son who has somewhat lost interest in my tank set ups. He asked if he could keep the 10g in his room once I set it back up after the snail debalce. So I said yes. I even told him he could choose the fish (with my suprvision so we dont have 5 oscars in a 10g lol). He wants glo-fish so its glo-fish he'll have. We'll probably also keep a male Betta in there as well.

I am curious to see how these things look and all that but glo-fish certainly wouldn't be my first choice! At least he's interested again, and I can use them to teach him about genetics and fishkeeping, caring for animals, etc.

I might even buy a blacklight blub lol.

Does anyone know, do these glo-fish keep just like their zebra danio cousins, with regard to hardiness, etc.?

FYI-

From everything I've read in the past several days, the Glofish is the same as the Zebra Danio with regard to care and hardniess.

Their life expectancy, breeding, hardiness, feeding and general care lines up identically to the Zebra Danios.

That fellow at the LFS was probably just a bit off base in his facts. These fish never "changed over time" or were ever dyed. They were merely a "science experiment" in Singapore that was done to genetically modify these fish. They added protiens from (jellyfish that glow) to the eggs of zebra danios to create this species of fish. Their young are born glowing the same color as the parent fish, no dying, no pain and suffering.

But, ethical and moral questions abound for obvious reasons.

We picked up some green and red glofish tonite, for my son Ian's 10g and I have to say, the really look amazing! He really enjoys them and they'll be fun to watch, as will he.

Just as tough IME, treat them like your normal zebra danio and you should be fine

IF you lose any, it is interesting to note that the colour stays fairly pink, and it goes the whole way through the flesh, not just on the surface like dip dyed fish. If your son is the choppy-up-dead-things type, that could be fun to look at.

Be careful with the blacklight, they aren't that great for fish.

For animals, the entire universe has been neatly divided into things to (a) mate with, (b) eat, (c) run away from, and (d) rocks. - Terry Pratchett

lol choppy up dead things type... that's good lol

Ahh, nice tip on the blacklight. That would be for "special entertaining viewings only" anyhow. I never knew that wojld be bad for fish. We'll be sure and keep our entertaining to a minimum!

I know people have varying opinions on such things, but these glofish are really quite amazing.

I've been told that extended periods of blacklighting cause blindness and sterility in fish. In my youth I once made a "psychedelic" tank with rainbow gravel and glow in the dark plants. After a few weeks of blacklighting I noticed the eyes of my fish had small white rings around the edges that never quite went away. A few minutes a day should not hurt, but try to avoid the extended viewing. Glowfish also look pretty cool under atinic blue lighting as well, which does not harm them.

Actinic could be a goer (careful of the algae it can trigger) and those AquaGlo lights seem to make the colours pop too.

For animals, the entire universe has been neatly divided into things to (a) mate with, (b) eat, (c) run away from, and (d) rocks. - Terry Pratchett