neon rosy barbs???

[Magnum Man]

these were beside the glo fish tanks, but I don’t think they are a glo gene fish…

 

[Innesfan]

Not glo fish and purportedly not hybrids but rather the result of selective breeding of the Rosy Barb, Pethia conchonius. I have my suspicions that it goes beyond that.

 

[Magnum Man]

the bulk of the fish were lemon yellow, I bought the only one that had rosy red in it…

 

[Innesfan]

the bulk of the fish were lemon yellow, I bought the only one that had rosy in it…

They claim the color difference is indicative of gender, which is also true of the wild-type of the species though not as exaggerated. Rosy = male. Golden = female.

 

[Magnum Man]

my male long fin rosy, that is in that tank is most interested in goldie…

 

[GaryE]

I'm a skeptical sort. Yes, there is skilled line breeding out there, but there is also gene splicing technology that isn't just good for glo fish. Other genes can be manipulated. There's good money in the freakenfish trade, but openly gene manipulated fish are banned in some major, big money markets, so it isn't waved around. Glofish were developed for industry and were openly copyrighted, and that cost the pet trade a lot of profits. I suspect they learned that lesson and have kept their processes on the low down since. It doesn't take a conspiracy. The fish can be produced in one installation by very few people and then will breed true, more or less as a linebred fish would once the mutation was set. Not many people people have to be in on it.

We had that explosion of 'electric blue' fish a ways back, and that did very well for sellers. It still does. It's remarkable how so many popular fish from radically different families developed the same mutation in the same short time period.

Coincidence? Maybe. Trade secrets? Probably.

I'm no fun. I stick with wild type fish and buy no artificially selected fish. Aquarists who think like me are a minuscule percentage of the hobby, so let's see what shows up in the stores next.

 

[gwand]

Toy poodle or Saint Bernard. Thoroughbred or the old gray mare. Orange flash or triple red. Line breeding for a particular phenotype has a long checkered history.

 

[GaryE]

Toy poodle or Saint Bernard. Thoroughbred or the old gray mare. Orange flash or triple red. Line breeding for a particular phenotype has a long checkered history.

It does and I think if we are "wild type purists", we still have to respect the breeder's skill that goes into the creation of genuinely linebred strains. It takes a lot of work, and can lead to a great understanding of genetics for aquarists who aren't trained scientists.
It can also create some very pretty fish.
The petrie dish selectors seem a different story to me. It's a different process, also requiring technical skill, but in a technological context. A relative of mine used to gene splice zebra danios for cancer research, and I respect his skills and how they were applied. But using them for a commercial product that buries what nature has created in the fish? I'd still prefer wild sourced zebra danios to anything he could create as a commercial product. I think the appearance of a wild fish tells a story we have to learn to read, and that a petrie dish fish is an ornament to look at.
It's all part of the same hobby, but with a different focus.

 

[Magnum Man]

I saw a particularly nice looking tank in a care facility one of my buddies was moved into recently… long fin cherry barbs, a few glo skirt tetras, rosy’s… a generally colorful, and well planted community tank I’d be curious who maintained it… nicest looking cherries I’ve ever seen…

then I went into the pet store / dog groomer, I’d not been in there in more than a month…their tanks were well stocked and the best looking I had ever seen them… I actually bought a couple neon rosy’s and a plant, as well as my feeders…

killer ( my bichir ) has been on pellets for a while… I bought 20 small comet gold fish, and he had them all eaten in 2 hours, when I came back to that tank… he really prefers to kill his food…

I noticed my long fin Male rosy, paying a lot of attention to the lemon yellow new one… guessing the bright yellow, is like putting red lipstick and high heels on a beautiful woman… because he was smitten at 1st sight, and at 1st light this morning he was doing his best to keep the other pink rosy away from her… the bitterling are in that tank, and I’ve been rarely seeing them anymore, but they were all out with the extra activity in the tank this morning…

so we suspect the “neon” was done similarly to the electric blue cichlids???

 

[GaryE]

If we start seeing other species showing a similar mutation, then I get suspicious. It's when the colour forms come in clusters, across different fish groups that my ornery skeptical suspicious nature kicks in.
You know, electric blue gouramies, electric blue rams, acaras, dempsies - all looking the same as far as the blue itself goes... that makes me wonder what's up. I'll never know, and it doesn't matter a lot. They'll always sell, but not to me.
It doesn't harm the fish. It just means I can't look in my tank, with all its natural decor, and imagine I'm looking at something a bit like the fish in nature. That's all.

 

[Magnum Man]

ok, an hour later and the new “pink rosy” has a much deeper red color, but still a lemon yellow back half, and he is running with the lemon yellow fish… assume the long fin is too much of a disadvantage, and he just couldn’t keep up… the yellow one I chose yesterday, was the largest one in the tank… these guys are in a 55 gallon, so just assume the long fin couldn’t go the distance???

 

[Magnum Man]

I also like the natural wild type, and my rio swords are doing excellent with baby’s in the tank, and they are awesome looking enough, that they don’t need any help from man…

But I have had electric blue rams and acaras, but neither one seemed as durable as the natural colors, and now I have no electric blue fish, except one very large cardinal tetra…

 

[GaryE]

I think that with the factory fish, production can weaken them. I don't think it's the colour, but the rush to market.

 

[raylove]

Those neon Rosy's have been around for decades in the UK. There was a time when they were all you could get. I had a bunch back in the day (perhaps six?) and I recall going for half yellow and half red because I thought the colours indicated gender. In my case I believe that is how it turned out; though it was a long time ago.....

 

[Innesfan]

I'm no fun. I stick with wild type fish and buy no artificially selected fish. Aquarists who think like me are a minuscule percentage of the hobby, so let's see what shows up in the stores next.

I think there are more who share your view than you might think. And if you include folks like me who will widen the lens a bit to include the occasional blue platy, single-tailed shubunkin goldfish or wild-colored swordtail guppy that number increases dramatically.