WaPo Article on New Glofish Study

Greengirl

Greengirl

Members
Great article. I always thought that the Glofish creators rendered their stock-for-sale sterile so no one could breed them at home and sell them. I guess that is not the case.
 
JLW

JLW

CCA Members
They used to do this by following the Jurassic Park model -- they sold only males (ok, JP was all females). However, pretty soon, some females managed to slip out, and I think they just gave up on this altogether, as it's really, really hard to sex 10,000 zebra danios per day. People have bred them, and they breed true. Some people have even done some interesting experiments crossing the different colours to see what they get (hint, they're brown).

However, GloFish, like all genetically modified organisms, are Trade Marked and Patented. As such, the purposeful reproduction of these organisms for profit is illegal, as is their resale without permission. This does mean that if I breed them at home, I cannot legally sell their offspring, and it also means that if I have a dozen of them, I cannot legally sell them again.

With that being said, Yorktown Technology isn't Monsanto, nor are they in the music industry. :) Provided you aren't setting up a hatchery, they're not going to come after you, and have said as much.
 
JLW

JLW

CCA Members
What colour do you want? :)

I am a licensed retailer, *I* can sell them. LOL.

I think Les has heard my GloFish story, and a lot of people have, too. I used to take care of the tanks at a Hospice for very sick children. This place has three fish tanks, one of which was a 45-hex in a play room. It was stocked before my time with assorted mollies, and had become overrun with exactly what you'd expect of 5-years of uncontrolled breeding of them. Ugly, grey fish. It was an out of the way location, and this tank was pretty ignored. I was walking up the stair case to this tank, and from 50 feet away, I could see this glowing pink thing moving in the tank. Someone had taken their kid to the fish store, and the kid wanted a GloFish, so they bought it, and put it in this tank.

Well, I wasn't about to flush some terribly sick kid's fish, and I wasn't going to let it languish without a shoal. I took money from my own pocket, and bought a dozen more assorted GloDanios. That tank GLOWED, and got a lot of attention from then out.

I feel the same way about the Purple Parrot. When you walk into a place and see that fish, and it sees you... it builds interest. They get attention like nothing else will. And that's not a bad thing. You don't start out knowing the difference between a Highland a Speyside -- you start a little lower down the totem.
 
dogofwar

dogofwar

CCA Members
Hi Josh - I totally agree about the appeal of glow fish (and parrots)! The library in Potomac has a pair of massive parrots and kids LOVE them - interactive, colorful and goofy looking.

Matt

JLW said:
What colour do you want? :)

I am a licensed retailer, *I* can sell them. LOL.

I think Les has heard my GloFish story, and a lot of people have, too. I used to take care of the tanks at a Hospice for very sick children. This place has three fish tanks, one of which was a 45-hex in a play room. It was stocked before my time with assorted mollies, and had become overrun with exactly what you'd expect of 5-years of uncontrolled breeding of them. Ugly, grey fish. It was an out of the way location, and this tank was pretty ignored. I was walking up the stair case to this tank, and from 50 feet away, I could see this glowing pink thing moving in the tank. Someone had taken their kid to the fish store, and the kid wanted a GloFish, so they bought it, and put it in this tank.

Well, I wasn't about to flush some terribly sick kid's fish, and I wasn't going to let it languish without a shoal. I took money from my own pocket, and bought a dozen more assorted GloDanios. That tank GLOWED, and got a lot of attention from then out.

I feel the same way about the Purple Parrot. When you walk into a place and see that fish, and it sees you... it builds interest. They get attention like nothing else will. And that's not a bad thing. You don't start out knowing the difference between a Highland a Speyside -- you start a little lower down the totem.
Click to expand...
 
JLW

JLW

CCA Members
Being in maintenance, I deal with this all the time. Our tastes as aquarists mature and change. I set-up tanks with beautiful selections of fish, and get asked, "When are we getting pretty fish?"

Those are pretty fish. "No, no, we want some with COLOUR." And, at the end of the day, I wind up supplementing Apistos or Kribs or tetras with "red brick sword," and "sunset variatus." Bright, primary colours attract people.

And, then 6 months later, "Is our female kribensi pregnant? She's got a big round belly...."

It has to start somewhere.
 
dogofwar

dogofwar

CCA Members
Give the people what they want.

My standard tank (when I did aquarium maintenance back in the day): red or gold platies, giant danios, rainbowfish and a clown pleco or two. I'd probably add a parrot to the mix now...

Matt

JLW said:
Being in maintenance, I deal with this all the time. Our tastes as aquarists mature and change. I set-up tanks with beautiful selections of fish, and get asked, "When are we getting pretty fish?"

Those are pretty fish. "No, no, we want some with COLOUR." And, at the end of the day, I wind up supplementing Apistos or Kribs or tetras with "red brick sword," and "sunset variatus." Bright, primary colours attract people.

And, then 6 months later, "Is our female kribensi pregnant? She's got a big round belly...."

It has to start somewhere.
Click to expand...
 
Localzoo

Localzoo

Board of Directors
Def true it has to start somewhere. Cool thing is there are knowledgeable ppl out there helping end educating while providing a service. Some lfs won't even offer proper advice


Sent from my iPhone using MonsterAquariaNetwork app
 
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