Glowfish - What are they/how do they get the colour ? Are they only in USA

[Jellybean123]

Hi Guys,

Been watching YouTube and I see something called glowfish ? I am from the UK and have never seen them over here only in USA . I have researched and found you can have tetras, betta and a few other types . But how do they do it ? Are they dyed or what ?

I am just intrigued ?

Many thanks

 

[DoubleDutch]

Those are genetical altered fish which aren't allowed in Europe / the UK.

 

[GaryE]

They are copyrighted fish. A luminescent gene from a jellyfish has been spliced into them. originally, with glo-zebra danios, this was a water treatment experiment - the colour would change if the water they were in was not good. The commercial application was obvious, and gene splicing has been performed on a number of species now.

Because of copyright laws and the ethical question of cosmetic genetic manipulation, they are banned in many places. They were illegal in Canada for a long time, and when the restrictions were lifted, I feared for their popularity. It's hard enough to get the kind of diversity of choices in fish that was common even 20 years ago in stores now, as centralized purchasing restricts our choices. The business wants cheap fish and I thought glofish would take up a lot of space. They are popular, but for some reason, their popularity has thankfully stalled and dropped.

Be careful what you wish for...

 

[TwoTankAmin]

I would add to the above that I really dislike the whole concept of Glofish. It bothers me to the extent that I will not buy anything from any store that sells them. I feel the same way about those tanks busters they sell as babies which 99% of keepers should never own.

Stores sell them because it is profitable. Kids find them interesting and it is hard to resist a 7 year old pleading for mommy or daddy to get them.

Hopefully, as the ones who genetically engineered these fish claim, they are sterile and cannot reproduce. So maybe this means when some people dump them into to the wild, something nobody should ever do, they won't reproduce there.

My attitude on this stuff is mine. You will have to decided for yourself if these fish are something you want to keep or your want to avoid.

 

[Uberhoust]

They are popular, but for some reason, their popularity has thankfully stalled and dropped

Their popularity hasn't appeared to slow down on the Pacific side of Canada. I was looking for a small tank to raise brine shrimp a week ago and stepped into our local Petsmart. The only small tanks I could find were ones with neon silicone and about a quarter of the fish in the back were various types of glow fish, with a number of people actively looking at them. Looks like they are selling "Glow Fish Kits".

I am just intrigued

I actually find them interesting too, especially when they were first developed. A whole automated system was developed around them to monitor the water quality as others have mentioned. Now I am kind of on the fence with, them on one hand they are genetically modified animals that can get into the environment (according to a number of internet sources they can breed (so it has to be true )) which would be bad. On the other hand, at least in my area, they could not live if released here so the contamination to the gene pool here is not a concern. I wouldn't have them in my tanks normally but if my grandson showed interest in raising Glofish I would set him up with the fish, just for the opportunity to teach him about living creatures, genetics, and the concerns about the natural environment. We do as much damage in some cases with the improper release of unaltered or hybrid fish, the plecos in Texas comes to mind, but that typically doesn't create the same response as the thought of a genetically altered fish in the environment.

The following paper is about a lesson to teach the scientific method. It is the best I could find in a short time that discusses the actual genetics of the fish if you are interested, I haven't fully read it yet, but a quick skim makes me want to read it further when I have time. https://www.liebertpub.com/doi/full/10.1089/zeb.2012.0758

 

[GaryE]

I know people who smuggled them when they were illegal, and who bred them very easily. There was an entire black market in these things for years. Under copyright law, you could be sued for breeding them, but one consistent feature of the fish they chose to modify is that they are very easy to breed in large numbers. The farms want that

Hopefully, as the ones who genetically engineered these fish claim, they are sterile and cannot reproduce. So maybe this means when some people dump them into to the wild, something nobody should ever do, they won't reproduce there.

My attitude on this stuff is mine. You will have to decided for yourself if these fish are something you want to keep or your want to avoid.

We can debate the concepts of biodiversity and of learning about nature being the basis of our hobby, but it won't change market forces.

 

[emeraldking]

There are already a number of fish species that are sold as being glow fish. But as DoubleDutch has already stated, they're not allowed in Europe. But despite of this restriction, there are still stores who sell them. Just because people ask for them. But those stores are risking a fine. At our relevant aquatic events, we are not allowed to sell them or even show them.

 

[Sgooosh]

I just don't like them because they are overpriced and that I prefer the normal or albino varieties of the fish instead.
id rather have a dull gray fish than those, it seems more natural

 

[sharkweek178]

I just don't like them because they are overpriced and that I prefer the normal or albino varieties of the fish instead.
id rather have a dull gray fish than those, it seems more natural

Plus, you don't get the full effect unless you put them under black lights. And that's bad for their eyes.

 

[sharkweek178]

I know people who smuggled them when they were illegal, and who bred them very easily. There was an entire black market in these things for years. Under copyright law, you could be sued for breeding them, but one consistent feature of the fish they chose to modify is that they are very easy to breed in large numbers. The farms want that

We can debate the concepts of biodiversity and of learning about nature being the basis of our hobby, but it won't change market forces.

It goes to show that there are two kinds of fishkeepers. There are the kind who go out of their way to learn about fish. Like people here, who learn about cycling and live plants and consider things like water parameters and shoaling size. And then there are people who basically keep them as living ornaments and don't go to the trouble of learning very much about fishkeeping. The kind of people who run the filter for a couple days and then throw some fish into the tank. Of the former group, in my experience, glowfish are universally unpopular. But there is obviously a market for them because stores devote an entire section to them. And that market is the latter group.

 

[Sgooosh]

Plus, you don't get the full effect unless you put them under black lights. And that's bad for their eyes.

yeah, I wouldnt even stare at a black light illuminated room all day either as a human

 

[DoubleDutch]

I just don't like them because they are overpriced and that I prefer the normal or albino varieties of the fish instead.
id rather have a dull gray fish than those, it seems more natural

albino = leucistic

 

[Nuttawet]

I can't believe that betta also can become glow. The shop owner of fish said that the color that are glowed are true color for them for some type.

 

[Fishmanic]

I do not presently have glofish. But at one time about 13 years ago, I did own skirt tetra glofish. I have also owned regular white skirt tetras and black skirt tetras. In my experience, the regular skirt tetras lived longer and grew larger than the glofish tetras. I will never ever ever buy glofish again.

On another note, I notice they are now selling betta glofish. Bettas are naturally beautiful; glowfish betta is a sin in my opinion.
Why do they sell them?....it's all about the benjamins $$ .

 

[FranciscoB]

I don’t like them at all. In my mind (I don’t want to impose this on anybody), they are together with the short bodies, balloons, long finned, and even albinos. And hybrids. I fully appreciate this is against the grain of many people, but it is how I perceive it.