Red Danios - Legal In The Uk?

[sussexgirl]

Hi

I'm confused...... My LFS who has a fantastic national reputation has some beautiful fish in that took my breath away. They are being sold as 'Red Danios' and when I asked about them the sales assistant said they had imported them from their regular supplier in Vietnam but that he was worried they may be dyed and not the purebred fish he was led to believe they were. As far as I know they're selling them to the general public.

I've done some research online and found that these Danios are infact GLOFISH, genetically engineered fish bred to detect poor water quality.

http/www.theaquariumwiki.com/GloFish

As beautiful as they are, the articles says that they are illegal in the UK and strict penalties may be enforced.

What do you all know about their being sold in the U.K and as someone who has seen them being sold where should I stand ethically?

Sussexgirl

 

[Robot_Rooster]

i think they are legal but i don't approve of it. i own danios and if you compare them to the "red danios" the red danios look ridiculous.

 

[Davo86]

Special Note

These fish are illegal to import or sell in many countries (such as the United Kingdom) due to the restrictions of genetically modified animals. However a few irresponsible pet shop keepers are attempting to sell these GM pets and if caught the fish owners will find their pets confiscated and destroyed. The shop owners will be fined and possibly given a prison sentence.

says it all really,

 

[catxx]

yep - illegal - that pet store is breaking the law and the only they can do is put those fish down before DEFRA catches them - illegal to own, sell and breed. they should probably have words with their supplier too!

 

[OohFeeshy]

Honestly, I'm not sure DEFRA would care terribly. I know there have been a few horror stories about them taking fish away, but similarly there have been plenty of times when they've blatently ignored things.

So illegal, perhaps, but killing them seems a bit OTT.

 

[Behold]

Im taking it offspring are also colours as it is not just a dye but modified DNA

I know its wrong but still a bit better than dying....

 

[Corleone]

Im taking it offspring are also colours as it is not just a dye but modified DNA

I know its wrong but still a bit better than dying....

They are. Initially they were created to as alarm fish in industrial water systems - instead of using sensitive fish that die at the first sign of pollution, they'd use glofish that would change color and fluoresce at the first sign of pollution. The commercially sold fish are an intermediate form - they always have the special color. They're sold as pets to fund the development of the final product.

They do breed true, to some extent. Apparently there's a lethal factor, and having multiple different color genes results in inviable eggs, but I've also heard of ugly brown offspring from crossing different color glofish.

 

[Behold]

That trully show that people see fish as disposable....

 

[peter22UK]

Hi

I'm confused...... My LFS who has a fantastic national reputation has some beautiful fish in that took my breath away. They are being sold as 'Red Danios' and when I asked about them the sales assistant said they had imported them from their regular supplier in Vietnam but that he was worried they may be dyed and not the purebred fish he was led to believe they were. As far as I know they're selling them to the general public.

I've done some research online and found that these Danios are infact GLOFISH, genetically engineered fish bred to detect poor water quality.

[URL="http/www.theaquariumwiki.com/GloFish"]http/www.theaquariumwiki.com/GloFish[/URL]

As beautiful as they are, the articles says that they are illegal in the UK and strict penalties may be enforced.

What do you all know about their being sold in the U.K and as someone who has seen them being sold where should I stand ethically?

Sussexgirl

just buy some and give them a home?

how many times do defra come round and view your fishtank?

 

[OohFeeshy]

They do breed true, to some extent. Apparently there's a lethal factor, and having multiple different color genes results in inviable eggs, but I've also heard of ugly brown offspring from crossing different color glofish.

From reports I've heard of people with them in the UK, the red form seem to produce red offspring, although I haven't seen anything about the different colours yet (probably because only the red variety has made it over; not entirely sure why though, you would have expected a few of the others). Someone also said that a cross between a glofish and a 'normal' zebra gives a mixed bag of offspring, but whether that's correct I'm not sure.

 

[helterskelter]

They do breed true, to some extent. Apparently there's a lethal factor, and having multiple different color genes results in inviable eggs, but I've also heard of ugly brown offspring from crossing different color glofish.

From reports I've heard of people with them in the UK, the red form seem to produce red offspring, although I haven't seen anything about the different colours yet (probably because only the red variety has made it over; not entirely sure why though, you would have expected a few of the others). Someone also said that a cross between a glofish and a 'normal' zebra gives a mixed bag of offspring, but whether that's correct I'm not sure.

If you breed two GM fish then they will produce 100% GM fry
If you cross with normal you will only get normal fry, but then breeding fry together with 50/50 gene's you get about 50% GM
If you cross an 50% fry with a normal you only get normal, but 25% carring the gene so it's possible to gene to show at a later date.

Azoo have the patant and licence for these fish but their site is down but i dont no for how long.
So if you breed them and try to sell them Azoo can prosecute. The only fish allowed to be sold of these are breed by Azoo

The TK-3

 

[sussexgirl]

Blimey - controversial stuff. I'm planning on going back in at the end of the week to pick up some fish food so it'll be interesting to see how many of them are still there.