Glofish.

[tmack]

my own personal view is that its just another example of man taking the p*ss out of fish, just another thing that will appear on You Tube soon, perhaps not as cruel as some of the other sh*t that goes on.

So whats wrong with just keeping "normal fish"? How far do you want to go?

Its peeps wanting more "exitement" from fish keeping, which is fair enough (in a way) but when's all the nonsense gonna stop?

I reckon if peeps want fish like this, they better off downloading a good screen-saver and saving their money LOL

I agree. I just wonder what this success will lead to, and where it will all end? Glow in the dark people? People engineered for hard labor or as wasteable military weapons? Brightly colored cats & dogs? Science fiction becomes reality more each day.

 

[fry_lover]

my own personal view is that its just another example of man taking the p*ss out of fish, just another thing that will appear on You Tube soon, perhaps not as cruel as some of the other sh*t that goes on.

So whats wrong with just keeping "normal fish"? How far do you want to go?

Its peeps wanting more "exitement" from fish keeping, which is fair enough (in a way) but when's all the nonsense gonna stop?

I reckon if peeps want fish like this, they better off downloading a good screen-saver and saving their money LOL

I agree. I just wonder what this success will lead to, and where it will all end? Glow in the dark people? People engineered for hard labor or as wasteable military weapons? Brightly colored cats & dogs? Science fiction becomes reality more each day.

Well said tmack, the question really is..."where are we going with this???"

why dont peeps stick to normal fish and get "glo in the dark" stuff for their living room?

Let fish be fish

Let glow in the dark things be glow on the dark things

 

[Jozlyn]

I think they're amazing! I would love to get some, does anyone know if they're available in Australia?

I really don't see any problem with the GM, although it is substantial as the fish and jelly fish would never normally breed together so you would not normally have this occur in nature.

I've shown the pictures to my kids and they love them just as much as they love the Guppies, because they are bright and colourful. If I can interest my children in fish keeping and the responsabilities involved then I can only see it as a plus for my family.

Many plants are GM modified perhaps not under a microscope, but everytime a botanist cross polinates a plant for a specificly desired outcome, bigger flowers or fruit or whatever then that plant is being genitically modified.

And of course the other form of GM is selective breeding, crossing two animals to get a bigger meat or milk or whatever yeild. We're surrounded by it and can not avoid it.

And I have to say that the outcome of this GM is visually appealing and that's all the scientist were hoping for, they've successful created controversy which is better than any advertising campaign thus ensuring that they will get the highest possible profit from their product.

Just like your LFS generally doesn't tell you that the fish you're buying are not compatible or that the tank you've just bought wont be big enough for them when they're full grown or that all your fish will most likely die because you haven't cycled it yet etc etc etc They're only out to make a profit, if your fish die, great for them, 'cause you'll go back and get more.

So anyway that's just my 2 cents worth. Of course life wouldn't be worth living if everyone agreed with each other all the time, how boring!

 

[tmack]

Hi. I've already put in my 2 cents a few times - I may be up to 10 cents or more now! And I flicker back & forth on the ethics of what they did with the zebras. Cross pollination and selective breeding are things that theoretically could have happened in nature, but man just helped things along a bit. And it's done between similar species or nothing would come of it (in a lot of those cases the resulting plants & animals are sterile & incapable of reproducing themselves). But in the case of the glofish we've very unnaturally created a new creature that is a cross between 2 totally different organisms - a fish and a jellyfish (which isn't really a fish). It's on the scale of crossing a dog with a turtle - which could never happen in nature. Sure the fish are beautiful, and if they weren't still so expensive I just might have bought some. The whole method or the way they were created is what sort of bothers me. Not so much these fish, but the implications that it could have on the future of all life. Anyway - I think I've used two many cents on this. I would guess they'll eventually show up in Australia, if they haven't already. Some countries ban genetically engineered things - I'm not sure if it's the case there or not.

 

[nckate]

Genetic engineering isn't all bad. Techniques learned from making Glo-Fish might one day help us save lives. Cystic fibrosis, Tay-Sach's disease and Huntington's disease all result from one defective gene in a person, and all are fatal. If we can make a fish glow in the dark, we might be able to inject altered cells with a working gene into a patient and cure -- or at least treat -- a devastating illness.

Plus, the fish help raise awareness of genetic engineering and screening (for things like defective genes linked to breast and ovarian cancer.)

And they're pretty

Sorry if I'm getting preachy, but i've been taking a genetics-heavy course load these past few semesters, and the subect is fascinating!

 

[tmack]

Genetic engineering isn't all bad. Techniques learned from making Glo-Fish might one day help us save lives. Cystic fibrosis, Tay-Sach's disease and Huntington's disease all result from one defective gene in a person, and all are fatal. If we can make a fish glow in the dark, we might be able to inject altered cells with a working gene into a patient and cure -- or at least treat -- a devastating illness.

Plus, the fish help raise awareness of genetic engineering and screening (for things like defective genes linked to breast and ovarian cancer.)

And they're pretty

Sorry if I'm getting preachy, but i've been taking a genetics-heavy course load these past few semesters, and the subect is fascinating!

Very good point and it had crossed my mind a few times too. Let's just hope we put the genetic engineering knowledge to a good use. I had a couple genetics classes also and it really is a fascinating subject. The professor I had was a bit on the weird side though - very eccentric and a strange dresser, but very knowledgeable.

 

[szacherau]

I don't like too much genetic tinkering but this one I can buy. Just dont touch my food.

They were created for use to cheaply and easily tracking polution. Once they were made someone thought that perhaps aqurium keepers would like them. The colors are pretty neat and give another option to us.

 

[SJ2K]

This thread is over a year old, how'd it get brought up? lol