This is taking it way too far

Post by **Rusty** » 28 Jun 2003, 01:40

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/science/nature/3026104.stm

Disgusting.

Rusty

colin · Post by **colin** » 28 Jun 2003, 07:25

It is a worrying trend , but remember the market dominates. If no one buys - they will not be made

Post by **Dinyar** » 28 Jun 2003, 16:16

colin wrote:It is a worrying trend , but remember the market dominates. If no one buys - they will not be made

Bizarre hybrids DO sell, and this fluorescent fish could well be a marketing sensation. If they didn't expect it to sell well, they wouldn't have spent the money to commercialize it.

Mark my words, in another few years, we'll be seeing pictures of glowing hybrid catfish in the "What's my Catfish?" forum!

Dinyar

König Löwe · Post by **König Löwe** » 28 Jun 2003, 17:45

Can someone explain to me how this could ever be a zebra fish (which i assume is Danio rerio)? It doesn't look remotely similar...

IndefactorX · Post by **IndefactorX** » 28 Jun 2003, 22:44

if anyone were to get that fish i'd hope they dont keep any cats or oscars in the tank with them, they make for an easy target

IndefactorX · Post by **IndefactorX** » 28 Jun 2003, 22:46

Aquatic industry specialists are worried TK-1 may be the first of many GM pet fish destined for Britain. In particular, some tropical fish are being bio-engineered to tolerate cold and could colonise UK waters if they escaped, disturbing the present ecosystem.

How exactly do fish "Escape" ??

Post by **Rusty** » 28 Jun 2003, 23:37

Irresponsible aquarists let them go. How do you think Clarias propagated throughout Florida?

S. Allen · Post by **S. Allen** » 29 Jun 2003, 01:36

Hmm, I saw that article a few months back somewhere else... it is, indeed disturbing. however I don't see it any differently than any other crossbreeds, other than this one is truly man made, and could not have come into existance by accident.

Fish escape all the time, florida is hit bad for other reasons, lots of fish farms out there, and lots of places that just import and sell, with outdoor ponds/cement vats for the fish... fish flop over a side into an inhabitable water source, bingo, you've got an alien.

Let us not be too terribly hard on hobbyists, I believe it was fish and game that intentionally introduced oscars to some of the southern waterways in the 50's-60's, for game fish.

Allivymar · Post by **Allivymar** » 29 Jun 2003, 18:18

These guys were initially used for scientific study. I guess someone got the bright (heh sorry) idea that they could be marketable to consumers as well:

http://www.zygogen.com/science.asp

I read about these guys on a couple of different articles. Apparently they are able to sterilise 90% of them, which they thought was great. Personally, I think that means 10% are possible candidates to mess up our waterways.

S. Allen · Post by **S. Allen** » 30 Jun 2003, 01:40

another Thompsonism... "I have great faith in the natural processes, but in this case, I find no precedent."

I'd think they'd be too easy of a target for anything... it's not even like they can hide in the reeds at night when they're most vulnerable... a neon fish is gonna be attractive and will at very least create an interest in any predator. I would believe they wouldn't live long outside a tank, as, say, albinos seem to be severly disadvantaged in any species that has to worry about predation at any life cycle. I'd say glowing is 10 times as noticable... and, i would imagine they'd be picked off like fish in a barrel.

Err... of course there are said to be discus living in geothermally heated springs out here in colorado... which I would have said was impossible... I just wanna find a location and go stomping around with a collecting net scaring tourists and getting me a genuine colorado discus. Nature seems to have an odd sense of humor in dealing with introduced species.

Kostas · Post by **Kostas** » 30 Jun 2003, 09:14

Hi,
Disgusting fish

I dont like neither hybrids,dyed fish and GM fish.They are not natural.What sick humans make to earn money.

They think that animals are money.Like some FS dealers which keep fishes in wrong ph, tempratures and them inovercrowded tanks.Some of them sell fishes too big for even a BIG aquarium to people with small aquariums liing to them saying "It will not grow much.Sorrubim lima is perfect for your 20g tank".That was my case when i was new to the hobby and i didn't knew nothing about fishes.Fortunately i didnt bought it because he costed around 200euro and i desided to search the web first.The same he told me when i saw a 1" Platydoras costatus spiecemen." Its perfect for your 20g tank.He will grow to less than 4" ".But this time i didnt did research before because he didnt told me his name.After 2 months he was 4.5",he has biten badly my clown pleco and he has eaten all the other tankmates inclouding the very pricy Bourengerella latestringa

.
Most aquatic dealers in greece lies to clients.Only three good lfs i have found in greece.Most of the lfs in greece sell dyed fishes,which they are very stressed and they soon die.Their point is to earn money by selling fishes for which they dont care for.They want to spent as little money as they can carying for their fishes.All this people drives you mad

Allivymar · Post by **Allivymar** » 30 Jun 2003, 11:49

Just to clarify S. Allen, these guys don't actually glow in the dark. They flouresce (yeah, I know, tis what they say in the articles, but thats more to hype them up and sell copy), which means they probably won't be as visible to predators as, say, an albino.

Unless, of course, the predator is hunting with a blacklight *grin*

coelacanth · Post by **coelacanth** » 05 Jul 2003, 09:09

KÃ¶nig LÃ¶we wrote:Can someone explain to me how this could ever be a zebra fish (which i assume is Danio rerio)? It doesn't look remotely similar...

Although the article talks about Zebra fish (Danio rerio), the picture used is actually of a Medaka (Oryzias latipes) that has had the same gene inserted.

pudstah · Post by **pudstah** » 06 Jul 2003, 18:43

just look what they do now with HUMAN dna!!!! it only follows...

Sid Guppy · Post by **Sid Guppy** » 07 Jul 2003, 17:45

Well, if they inserted ME with "Glow in the dark-genes" it sure would save on electricity in the evening when reading books.

And I can rip the lights off my bike!

Now were's that gene.....

S. Allen · Post by **S. Allen** » 07 Jul 2003, 20:37

oops, sorry, I was running off a previous article that stated the glow gene was taken from bioluminescent bacteria from the bodies of deep sea fish... didn't read this one in it's entirety yet. Or maybe that was the glow in the dark bunny rabbit that they proposed making... jeez, so many glowing critters... so few brain cells....

This is taking it way too far

This is taking it way too far

if you're surprised and disgusted,