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My husband has fallen in love with Glofish in a local fish store and it has forced me to come and learn what I can about them... So in doing a little reading on them, I would like to find out what opinions others might have about these questions...

If possible to do, how many could be happy in a 20g tall running two filters (a regular one for a 20g and a Penguin bio-wheel 125)?

Any ideas for bottom dwellers that would work well with these fish? (I would like to see if there are any options other than Cories since I am honestly having a hard time even finding any around here to begin with...)

Any other suggestions/comments would be greatly appreciated as well. Thanks so much guys!

Glofish are Genetically modified Zebra Danios. In all aspects they are Zebra Danios. So look up the profile on them here, and it will have all the info that you need.

As for what people think that is up to the person. Personally I wont have them due to the fact that they are Genetically engineered to have the coloring. Also just because they have them at your LFS, doesn't mean they are legal. You might want to check the laws in the state you come from and be sure. I have not heard of them being illegal in the US so you are probably in a good position to get them. However if you and your husband are overseas, it might get you in trouble.

I do know that in the UK they are illegal.

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illegal in the UK? No mate.
If this was the case parrot fish would be illegal too as they are GM. It'd be better to have dyed fish (with a laser) made illegal, but atm, all the fish come from abroad, mainly singapore and the czeck republic, and its not illegal over there, so nobody cares.

I can vouch for the fact that Glofish are legal in California (although I've only seen them for sale once).

Personally, what's been done to them doesn't strike me as being half as horrible as a lot of the things that humans have done to other fish (and to animals of all types) through genetic manipulations carried out by the Classic Olde Tyme technique of selective breeding rather than by direct gene-splicing (although I fully expect the latter to produce a huge crop of horrors in the coming decades). Indeed, I thought they were rather pretty, and THEY certainly didn't seem to be bothered by the fact that they were living neon signs.

It seems to me that parrot fish aren't exactly genetically modified but are a hybrid fish created by breeding two different species together. Glofish were created by injecting a fluorescence gene into zebra danio embryos. I did find that you won't be able to get glofish in california on this page]http://www.glofish.com/california.asp[/link]. As far as what people think of them, thats up to the individual. I don't think I would keep them but I don't really like zebra danios either. I would certainly own a glofish long before I would own a painted or dyed fish. You can find a lot of information about glofish on the page linked here. [link=Glofish

EDIT: Forgot to mention that a good bottom-feeding fish for a 20 gallon aquarium would be some kuhli loaches. Five or six would be a good number for that size aquarium.

Glofish are banned in California, but that doesn't stop everybody. You should hear about how many restricted/prohibited plant species make their way into states where they're illegal...

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Yes, I will definitely check to see if I can find some kuhli loaches for the bottom; they sound like a great idea.

So, back to these Glofish...

I have been reading about the special lights that people use to accent their colors and everything, but I am wondering if any special light is truly needed for the happiness of these fish? (Just wanting to make sure.)

Ok, so with 5-6 kuhli loaches... What kind of room does that leave me for the Glofish? Would I be able to add in any other fish as well that would look nice?

Thanks again everyone!

They arem as stated, the same as the original zebra danio and can go with most fish that won't eat them(if they can catch them) or be bothered by their high energy. They were created with good intentions, although took over and now they are commercially sold. Their original design was to flouresce (or not flouresce.. I can't remember) in the presence of polluted water samples from different bodies of water. This was done by injecting a jellyfish or coral protein into an embryo, but the flourescence stayed on all the time. They are capable of breeding between all the colors, but a study presented that the courtship behavior of the flourescent males showed to be less attractive to the females and produced less offspring. The genes are carried on to the offspring, although I don't know how crosses between different colors will turn out. A lot of the information about GloFish are a couple years aged (a lot from 2000-2004), they seem to have lost a lot of their hype.

I would keep them without hesitation and thought about buying some a few times. They just don't fit into my stocking situation or themes. I did manage to write a college research paper about them, so they did manage to help me in some way .

As far as the questions go: You could go with 6-10 and see how they do, they are pretty active fish and other members here would have a better idea how many would work best. You could try one of the small plecos, ottos, corys, basically anything that stays relatively small to fit into your tank.

What does that mean, Bob? "Till the cows come home." Where have the cows been?

6-10? Wow, I didn't think I'd be lucky enough to be able to keep that many in there. Sounds great!

So, so far the survey is suggesting 6-10 Glowfish and 5-6 Kuhli loaches... Would there be room for some Cherry barbs? (Just curious because I really enjoyed having those guys before.)

I thought of another question... It may be one of those "common sense" kind of things, but I just want to be sure... If I got about 6 Glofish, I could get a couple regular Zebra Danios, correct? If the Glofish and the Zebra Danios are almost one in the same then they would be fine schooling together, right? (I don't want to get the couple regular Zebras and them not be happy schooling with the Glofish...)

Also, while looking around a local fish store today, I noticed they had a label for "black Kuhli loaches"... There weren't any in the tank at the time though... But what are the differences (size wise) between the "black" Kuhli loaches and the regular ones?

Thanks!

I think the black ones are a separate species, I'm pretty sure I have Pangio oblonga whereas the banded yellow and black one is Pangio kuhlii. From reading loaches.com P. oblonga grows to three inches and P. kuhlii grows to 4. Go to this page (species index) and scroll down to "Pangio" and you'll see several different species.

I don't have any issue with glofish. They breed and live their lives the same as regular danios. They aren't constantly tortured. A special light is not neccessary and potentially even harmful. Blacklights give horrible sunburns and eye damage with too much exposure. Usually blacklights come with a warning of only using them for an hour or 2 and not sitting directly under them for that time. You'd be better off using normal lights and if you want adding a simple actinic tube to run by itsefl in the evening. That would make the tank look interesting without doing the fish any harm.

I'd go slightly on the lower end with the danios if you want to add other fish. Being really active fish danios take up a fair amount of swimming room. 6-8 danios and then around 3 cherry barbs with the kuhli loaches should be fine. I'm not sure if regular zebra danios would mix ok with glolights. Technically they are the same species and can even interbreed normally but oftentimes fish don't school with different colors even if they are the same species. I'm not sure if glolights are different enough to cause problems or not. Maybe someone has some experience trying it.

Ok, well, unless someone says they would be fine... What would be the minimum amount of regular Zebras would you think be comfortable together?

I really like the contrast of the Glofish and the Zebras... However, I definitely want everyone to be happy and healthy, so if I cannot have both then that is that.

As for the loaches... Reading over the website you provided, it says that both the Pangio malayana (the regular Kuhli) and the Pangio oblonga (the black Kuhli) grow to 3 inches... So I would be fine to get a school of either one for my tank then, correct?

Thanks again for all the info you have shared.

Evidently the Glofish I saw for sale (several years ago) were before California banned them.

I just saw some glo danios in a pet store in Missouri. They were selling for $10 each. If I was rich I might have bought some.

They say 6 is the minimum number of fish you should have in a school.

Yes, I would think a small school of either loaches would be fine. If you get the glo danios & can post a picture of them in your tank, that would be great.

As for Mixing with other danios I have the pink ones with Blue, Leopard and Long Finned and they all schooled together just fine. There was a slight tendency to stick closer to those of their own color. They were in a 29gal with some swordtails and a cherry barb trio.

I just saw some glo danios in a pet store in Missouri. They were selling for $10 each. If I was rich I might have bought some.

FP I have seen them as low as 4.99 at a couple of LFS around me still 4 bucks more than a regular danio


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