Glo Pristella’s…

[Magnum Man]

@GaryE … has mentioned these before, and while the local pet store has Glo Fish, they have never had the Pristella’s before… had 2 colors tonight… they are much nicer natural… they don’t make as nice a Glo Fish ( if that’s even a thing ), than the others, they seem to have a heavier spine, or at least a dark lateral line… anyway, I guess I can say, that I’ve seen them now…

They also had just restocked on baby bichirs, and had about a dozen… sounds like they sell that many every week… that’s probably not a good thing…

 

[Colin_T]

Please stop buying fish and breed the ones you have. I mean this in the nicest possible way. You have some really interesting and unusual fish and you should focus on them rather than getting more species.

You will end up overstocking the tanks and one day they will get a bad protozoan infection because you miss a water change or something else happens and then you lose a heap of them. I did it, other people do it, please don't let it happen to you.

I understand the need to collect fish, I had over 600 at one stage, but if you keep adding fish to the tanks you have, they will become overstocked and it will go bad, it always does. If you want to get more fish, set up a fish room and get more tanks, invest in water holding tanks so you can do big water changes, and have single species tanks or a few species in a tank, but don't overcrowd them.

 

[GaryE]

I've seen a red glo pristella that was impressive. I wouldn't keep it because of my preference for wild types. Pristellas have silver flanks that show the glow gene insertions, are easy to breed in huge numbers and are hardy. For the fish GMO novelty market, they're perfect - not nippy like skirt tetras, small, etc.

For a long time, locally, all I saw were linebred 'blushing' pristellas, a novelty form with a gill colour deformity that were popular, then vanished. For 2 or 3 years, I looked for wild colour Pristella, and couldn't find them. They're back now, but could soon be replaced by the glofish product. Since I like fish that show their natural history and not someone's labwork, I bred up about 50 of them so I won't be dependent on the trade for one of my favourite fish. I like little signal dorsal tetras, and have kept Pristellas off and on since I was around 10. I think they were the first tetras I ever bought, along with neons.

I was concerned the blushing gene would be in my normal looking Pristellas, but there are no signs of it, which makes me happy. They live at least 5 years, so I can breed a few every few years and escape the market.

 

[Magnum Man]

@Colin_T … a bit of insight, on me… when I had tanks before ( 25-30 years ago ), just about all I had was species tanks, albeit most were larger fish that could handle our areas hard water… I didn’t have any community tanks, and at one time I had as many as 40 tanks… most were 10 gallon tanks, but I had the tanks I have currently, as well as a custom 220 gallon I built, that I let go, when I shut down…

When I started up my tanks again, a few years ago, I wanted community tanks, as I had never had them… the RO filter made it possible to have fish I couldn’t keep 25 years ago, so like a kid in a candy store, I wanted to see what was out there…

Running a farm, and working full time, I don’t have time to dedicate to breeding fish… as I get closer to retirement, I’m starting to think about it ( someone keeps bugging me about it )… but that comes with a lot of questions… why breed??? I don’t want to breed something, just to do it ( I am breeding Tilapia, to eat ) but if I breed something, it doesn’t make sense to breed something I can’t get rid of, that is already being farmed globally… so my community tanks housing unusual fish, are letting me find fish that are interesting, and teaching me how to make them thrive… they need to thrive, before they can breed… and there needs to be a market for them… just breeding fish, just to flush down the toilet, would be dumb… I used to breed Molly’s to feed the babies to Sea Horses I used to raise ( coincidentally my Bichir is now in my old Molly breeding tank, that is only visible from my work area ) breeding feeder fish for the Bichir makes sense, and maybe breeding Rosy minnows makes sense, but I’m not ready to dedicate a tank to Rosy’s right now… if I’m going to breed a fish, it has to be something that makes sense, and that I have figured out how to make them thrive… I have a lot of unusual fish, but they are unusual for a reason ( most people aren’t buying them ) , so I wouldn’t want to have a tank full of a fish no one would buy…

There is more to breeding fish, than just breeding them, to flush down the toilet… I still have 2 - 30 gallon longs I plan to use for breeding, when I have the time, and find a fish I can make thrive, and that there is a market / use for the offspring…

BTW, I was in the pet store last night, because I didn’t want to wander around the women’s store with my wife… I don’t buy Glo Fish, and rarely buy pet store fish anyway… I was just making comment, that they had Glo Pristella’s, which @GaryE … had mentioned before, and I had never seen…

 

[Magnum Man]

So, back on topic… the Glo Fish section, at the local pet store ( yeh, they have a whole section dedicated to Glo… not sure if that’s a pet store commitment, or part of the Glo marketing??? ) but those tanks have black lights ( UV ), so all the fish glow at maximum… I didn’t think UV lights were good for fish??? An old aquarist tale, or they don’t know or care???

 

[GaryE]

It becomes a question of networking. If we can develop networks of hobbyists within our own countries who want to work with rarities, then breeding is worth it. A lot of the fish @Magnum Man has been buying aren't globally available. In a country of over 330 million, like the US, there are maybe 4 or 5 dealers who will bring in 30 to 100 of them every few years. I think that's where we the jealous get to thinking it would be great if everyone could get these interesting rarities at affordable prices.

Plus, my experience has been that many of those fish vanish from the hobby, especially the tetras. So if you, magnum, want to see them for a while, you may never be able to buy them again.

I bred Pristellas because it was fun, but I had an ulterior motive. As surface fish to distract dwarf Cichlids and Corys, they are ideal. They make Corys comfortable to come out in the open. They do the same with small Cichlids, but also provide a harmless threat to eggs and babies. Pristellas are so fast and agile they never get hurt by brooding Cichlids. Add that a big group looks fine in my 120, and it's a win win.

But if I had one tank for them, I might have had to use them as feeders.

If I were on a farm out there where the winds whistle, there would be little incentive. I'm in a small city out of the way for shipping, and fish are expensive. If I can breed common tetras for the fun of it, I can undercut the farms because shipping adds so much to the cost. If I sell cheaply (I consider the main store guy as a friend) I get free food for fish. That's all I want.

A whole lot depends on where we are. If you have 100 auriantacus, having bred a super difficult fish at great effort, and all your local hobbyists want to know is if there's a glofish version, you are stuck.

 

[GaryE]

So, back on topic… the Glo Fish section, at the local pet store ( yeh, they have a whole section dedicated to Glo… not sure if that’s a pet store commitment, or part of the Glo marketing??? ) but those tanks have black lights ( UV ), so all the fish glow at maximum… I didn’t think UV lights were good for fish??? An old aquarist tale, or they don’t know or care???

My guess is a UV sterilizing light, which is intense, would be harmful if not enclosed. UV lights over a tank, probably not.

Back in the early 1970s, a lot of pet stores were black walled with glolighting. They had definitely decided to have a nod to the drug scene, and you'd see a lot of stoners bumbling about but not buying fish in those stores. The fad didn't last.

The first time then 13 year old me saw black neons was in such a set up. It was far out, man.