GloFish... Unethical or awesome???

livebearerfreak said:
what ever you do.. dont use black lights.. they can harm fish eye sight.
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This is what I was going to comment on, and it's really the only thing I see wrong with having these fish. I was at a pet store a few weeks ago, and I remember seeing a couple of peacock gudgeons along with some glowfish under a black light. Both of these fish had white eyes, though I'm sure if that was an effect of the black light or damage from long term exposure.
 
Imo, they're a bit like clear heels. - N
 
platytudes said:
Right, but there is a difference between genetic modification so that we can feed more people or produce fuel, vs. genetic modification so that we can make a fish that glows in the dark and looks like a bag of Skittles.

This kind of reminds me of the whole animal testing debate. I'm not sure how valuable animal testing actually is (not being a scientist, myself) but I assume it has some validity. If that is the case, then I am all for animal testing if it is for a medical reason. Cancer drugs? Yes. Cosmetics? Not so much.

Again, even though I feel it is unnecessary and promotes irresponsible fishkeeping, I do not believe it is unethical to have/make Glofish. I just shudder at those "Glofish tanks" much the same way I shudder at the tiny betta hex receptacles, or whatever.
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Glofish were not originally created with the intention of being a psychedelic gimmick, but to actually aid humanity through animal testing of sorts.

From Wikipedia:

In 1999, Dr. Zhiyuan Gong and his colleagues at the National University of Singapore were working with a gene that encodes the green fluorescent protein (GFP), originally extracted from a jellyfish, that naturally produced bright green fluorescence. They inserted the gene into a zebrafish embryo, allowing it to integrate into the zebrafish's genome, which caused the fish to be brightly fluorescent 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 constantly fluorescing fish was the first step in this process.
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Is trying to keep our water safe a worthy cause? I think so. Then once the strains were created and the fish could breed naturally with future generations retaining the color, why not breed them and make a business out of it?

I hate the thought of any fish kept in a tiny tank. But I think that if glofish didn't exist, customers would just stick some other fish in a tank the same size, just like they did prior to 1999.

In a way, glofish managed to be scientific testing fish for me when I started in the hobby. Not that I'm proud of it, but one of my first tanks was a 5 gallon with 3 glofish, a betta, a couple corycats, and 5 neon tetras, with blue gravel and colored bulbs for lighting, and rare water changes. Had glofish not existed, I'd have probably gotten a rainbow shark instead. That's how clueless I was. Like so many others, a fish tank had always seemed like a cool art piece more than a habitat for living creatures. Tacky, overstocked, and full of ammonia, the tank quickly became lethal, and all of the fish died. At that point, the reality that they were not just disposable decorations set in. It was through early experiences like that, that I learned from my mistakes, researched how to properly care for fish, eventually becoming an educated responsible fishkeeper. Now I have hundreds of fish in hundreds of gallons worth of tanks, all happy, healthy, and thriving, all due to the sacrifice those brave glofish made in that 5 gallon pit of despair.
 
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I tried a batch of glofish, but they turned out to be not very hardy. They were significantly outlived by the normal zebra danios. I would not purchase them again. However, they were colorful, active fish. I did not have a problem with the genetic manipulation. Nature experiments with new genetic combinations every time two gametes meet.
 
I have danio and the electric green tetra glofish. Guess I'll have to run out and pick up some velvet paintings too, since everyone thinks they're so tacky :)

I agree the danios are not as hardy as I expected. They are the only fish that have just died on me for no reason I can figure out. I won't get more danios, but I look forward to tetras in more colors.

I have to admit that I like the bit of glow after I turn out the light on the tank, but I do also live in a trailer, so perhaps my taste is just off.
 
Hahaha - N
 
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