I was told by the wife of a popular local fish store that Glowlight Danios are injected with dyes to give them their color and appearance. I hope that's not true. Can anybody help me with this?
Answers:
No. They are genetically altered - their DNA has been altered to mess with their colors. They are not dyed fish, as many people seem to believe.
From http://www.timstropicals.com/inventory/g.
"Does the fluorescence harm the fish?
No. The fish are as healthy as other zebra fish in every way. Scientists originally developed them several years ago by adding a natural fluorescence gene to the fish eggs before they hatched. Today's GloFish鈩?fluorescent fish are bred from the offspring of these original fish.
Do you have to add a fluorescence gene to every fish before it hatches?
No. Today's GloFish鈩?fluorescent fish are bred from the offspring of fluorescent zebra fish that were originally developed several years ago to help fight environmental pollution. Each new GloFish鈩?fluorescent fish inherits its unique color directly from its parents, maintains the color throughout its life, and also passes the color along to its offspring."
EDIT: On second look, I see you're asking about glowlight danios (sheepish grin). These are not dyed or altered in any way. From http://www.fishpondinfo.com/fire.htm.
"After many e-mails, she said they were called 'glow danios' which lead me to figure out that the fish in question were the new 'glofish' which are zebra danios with genes implanted that make them glow under the right light. There is a site on the glofish at glofish.com. These fish are NOT glowlight danios which are beautiful naturally."
Here's another link for more info about them (Live Aquaria does not sell any dyed fish - and they sell these guys): http://www.liveaquaria.com/product/prod_.
Yes, it is very true. :(
They absolutely are! I had purchased quite a few of them one time, and after several months, they all lost their colours. Originally, they were blue,orange,pink and green, and very bright and attractive. A great contrast of colour to the aquarium. After several months, they faded and I lost all the beautiful color to my tank. Talk about disappointment!
glowlight danios are a genetic hybrid. Their color, like many fish, can often fade if they are unhealthy in their tanks.
Not to my knowledge, but it's possible that some is taking the standard danio and dyeing it to look like one. The species name is Danio choprae, and the are pretty rare.
Also she may have confused them with glolight tetras which is natural. Of course the albino breed of this tetra is favored by dyers.
Then there are glofish which are genetically modified zebra danio. There are no dyes involved as the fish's added color genes do all the work, and fish are bred normally.
yes sadly it is true--dont buy these fish and encourage others not to buy them
I don't know about glowlight fish but there are many fish that they do inject dye inthem to enhance thier color or to make it look as if there is a different breed of that particular fish such as Oscars some have been dyed many of colors
the first glowlight danios were injected with the 'glow gene' from a jellyfish i think, into their DNA for scientific purposes. Since danios breed easily (their children glow too), they were used in eperiments and the glowing helped scientists keep track of whatever they were looking for.
And then some pet dealer though this would be cool pet. At first people were freaked out about these modified fish. They've never existed before. I guess things are ok now..
and stay away from fish that are dyed.. you can tell. Don't support this by not buying.
Glowlight Danios occur naturally in the wild, but they are very difficult to find and expensive; I think they only live in one river in Myanmar. Likely, what you will find at your fish store are glowlight tetras, which are also natural; or GloFish, which are Zebra Danios that have been genetically modified for artificial coloring. There is a possibility that some petstores are selling GloFish under the name Glowlight Danio. If you know what they look like, you should be able to tell apart Glowlight Danios and GloFish, plus Glowlight Danios only grow to about an inch in length (the size of a Neon Tetra), while GloFish will grow 2-3 inches (the size of a Zebra Danio). Here is some information on Glowlight Danios http://animal-world.com/encyclo/fresh/cy. and here is some information on GloFish http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/glofish.
No. Glowlight Danios do occur naturally in the wild, although it is rare. this site has info on glowlight danios
http://www.fishpondinfo.com/fire.htm.
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