genie

Does anyone know anything about these GloFish? They say they are genetically altered. What do you all think?

inuyasha_lover_21

They look like they are all natural


http://www.liveaquaria.com/product/p...fm?pCatId=2536

genie

Nope-- not what I am talking about-- try www.glofish.com

inuyasha_lover_21

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/GloFish

i still wont buy them

Terry

Genetically altered - not dyed & they supposedly breed true to their colors. I guess it's an ethics thing whether you buy them or not. I'm still not sure whether I like them or not. I've seen them on sale now. but so far passed them up. It's just not natural to be messing with mother nature IMHO.

inuyasha_lover_21

Its still not natural. YOur adding things to it. Its kind if like playing god I guess.

Lucy_kk

Arent they modified using a section of gene from the fluorescent jelly fish in the pacific or something? I have seen this done in a rabbit on tv, it is amazing. I dont think it ethically too bad either, much worse things...They are quite cool but i havent seen them in the UK

boff

Hi ,they use a gene from coral which contains Red Flurescent Protein which gives the fish its bright pink colour and causes them to fluoresce under UV lighting.Have a look at this from PFK .
http://www.practicalfishkeeping.co.u....php?news=1228

Terry

Yep - they used genes from both jellyfish and coral to get the different colors. Check out the Wickipedia link above:

Quote: "In 1999, Dr. Zhiyuan Gong and his colleagues at the National University of Singapore took a gene from a jellyfish that naturally produced a green fluorescent protein and inserted it into the zebrafish genome. This caused the fish to glow brightly under both natural white light and ultraviolet light. Their goal was to develop a fish that could detect pollution by selectively fluorescing in the presence of environmental toxins. The development of the always fluorescing fish was the first step in this process. Shortly thereafter, his team developed a line of red fluorescent zebra fish by adding a gene from a sea coral, and yellow fluorescent zebra fish, by adding a variant of the jellyfish gene. Later, a team of Taiwanese researchers at the National University of Taiwan, headed by Professor Huai-Jen Tsai, succeeded in creating a medaka (rice fish) with a fluorescent green color."

Pretty interesting.

Richard

First off folks, several of the fish you have in your aquarium/s, regardless of species, bear little resemblance to their kin in the wild.. for a start, many of the fish we have are more colorful than their natural counterparts because of diet, breeding etc. .. so if you're absolutely against genetically enhanced fish, I'd suggest you research the differences between the fish you already have in your aquarium/s and the same species in their natural habitats, and you'll soon realise a lot of the fish we have go against the natural grain.

Secondly, having bought several of those particular Danios on impulse, I can tell you that after a couple weeks owning them, I think they're vastly overrated, and plan to give them away as soon as I can find someone with a tank who knows what they're doing looking after fish.

VertigoXLR8R222

and to really boggle the minds of those who smoke cigarettes the gene from the jellyfish that was used for the zebra experiments is the same one that was added to tobacco plants have you ever looked at a cigarette in a blacklight the spots on the paper that glow are from the oils produced from the plant the gene made the leaves of the tobacco plant grow wider and thicker, as to produce more cigarettes from each plant so next time you light up and take a drag think about the jelly fish Lee

darkwolf29a

Seeing as how I quit smoking in Feburary...I can handle reading this...now. LOL

I have seen several reports on TV about these fish, and I won't buy them, but they do look kind of neat. Personally, I don't agree with genetic altering of any type, dying or gene splicing, what ever. To me, it just sounds wrong. Also, I put myself in the situation of the fish...would I want anyone doing that to me?? I wouldn't, that's for sure.