What are glow fish

[mom2reds]

My lfs is selling glow fish are these thought fish that have been dyed or are they natural? My boys thought they were cool but I don't want them if they are dyed like I suspect.

Thanks Tess

 

[Blazeherd2306]

Wow, I didn't know they're still being sold. They first came out a couple of years ago.

I believe they are genetically modified to glow in the dark.

http://www.glofish.com/

 

[cinnastix911]

I beleive they are a cross between the genes of a danio (obvisouly) and they a sqiud or something. their colors are bright but look best with a white substrate with a black light. So they aren't dyed but also aren't particularly natural either lol. They were outlawed in a few states for awhile....

 

[mom2reds]

Thanks for the replies They are selling them here for 7$ apiece and they are the res ones. I still don't know if I am going to buy one.

 

[DanD]

Yes, glofish were originally developed by a jellyfish gene for a green fluorescent protein into the danio genome. Other colors from other organisms.

Interesting thing is that the original goal was to have the fish fluoresce only in the presence of specific toxins, making them living pollution detectors. The first step was to produce a fish that is "always on", and that's the one that is being marketed to the hobby trade. I don't know if they've continued their work on a toxin-specific glofish.

You can go to http://www.glofish.com/

 

[Acer]

& i know they breed true... just thought i'd throw that fact in

 

[theotheragentm]

Yup. They are genetically modified so offspring show the same glowing colors. They glow under a black light if you have one. It's kind of cool, but it's almost too tacky for my tastes.

 

[WaterPond]

Alot of people don;t agree with glofish, but personally, i think they are great (i would never want them) but they do show that there are btter ways to modify a fish without dying them. This way a the fish can still live a healthy life, but can also attract people seeking those really interesting looking fish.

 

[Blazeherd2306]

You can see the ethics page here: http://www.glofish.com/ethics.asp

They aren't dyed fish. There was good intention in creating them.

 

[WaterPond]

Alot of people don;t agree with glofish, but personally, i think they are great (i would never want them) but they do show that there are btter ways to modify a fish without dying them. This way a the fish can still live a healthy life, but can also attract people seeking those really interesting looking fish.

 

[theotheragentm]

Glofish aren't dyed. They are genetically manipulated to have different colors in their genes.

 

[HitTheRoadJack]

I've come across these before. Yesterday when i went to purchase some Zebra Danios for my tank I saw them right next to the regular danios. They came in these colors called Fire Red and Sunburst. Orange and Red Danios. I was tempted to buy a few, but I decided against it mainly because they were $5 a piece. They are quite beautiful though!

 

[WaterPond]

Glofish aren't dyed. They are genetically manipulated to have different colors in their genes.

I know they aren't dyed, my whole post was about how they aren't dyed which is a good thing.

 

[Marconis]

Dude, I want some!

 

[cinnastix911]

There was a whole case of the yellow/red at wal-mart. Wasn't there blue and green too? Or purple or something...

 

[Blazeherd2306]

They come in green, orange/yellow, and red colors.

 

[bra_van_drakh]

owhhh. . .i got quite plenty of em, i even bought them fr my school's tank. ..

these fish are very atractive and full of agile besides being rather agresive. .

they're being known as red or yellow danio in my town, and they 're sold at the same price as the common danios... .here in jakarta they're sold only for about 10cents, hwa444^^. ..

very2 strong for a tiny fish, i'm not having any problems keeping them. ..but i've just known that they can create a bioluminesence. ..T _ T.. .

 

[Alshain]

$7 a piece is way too much, they sell those here for about as much as guppies.

 

[Reefmonkey]

They are zebra danios that have been genetically modified by having a gene spliced into their DNA. The gene is from a ctenophore, also called a comb jelly (though not a true jelly), which are capable of bioluminescence.

Though I don't want any for my tanks, I don't really see anything wrong with them as an interesting oddity. Lord knows I did all sorts of genetic modification to zebra danios as an undergraduate research assistant.