Florecent Red Zebra Danio
- Thread starter fishyz
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Man I've been missing out. fishnutham I feel your pain I think every monster fish keeper has a weakness for little non-predatorus fish. I bet that the person on here with the most monsters has a few minows as pets not fish food. Also rallysman WHAT HAPPENED TO THE COWBELL GUY! And chad55 it would be funny if you feed these to you pike then it turns red
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.HAHA if that was the case that is all he would be getting. I would love to have a bright red pike. Also I do have something useful to contribute to this thread. I had one of these for quite a time and I remember that they are used to test water conditions in like california. The red comes out more or something when the water is polluted. All I know though is they are as hardy as a regular zebras and ten times cooler.
Chad
Chad
These are cool bioengineered fish, and while mutated, isn't nearly as cruel and is way more beautiful than dyed fish. I believe these fish were originally created for environmental purposes to determine pollution levels in rivers. That is why the color disappears in planted tanks: because there is no pollution and the water system is very healthy. In non-planted tanks, the genome is tricked into thinking that there's a problem with the water because there's no plant life so things like nitrate levels and oxygen and CO2 saturation are different than in a natural healthy water system where plants balance these things out. I'll try to find the article I read on these guys... but they were originally environmental experiments before the aquarium hobby industry got a hold of them!
i think there are differences in the aquarium type and the environmental pollution detecting type. and the aquarium industry didnt really "get a hold of them", they were kind of tossed at us as a by-product of environmentalism. i dont think the "pollution" of a non-planted tank keeps them colorful. they usually run about $7-10 and if i was paying that for a fish i would make sure my tank was clean and perfect for them. if cleanliness was the problem i think we would see more cases of problems with their color going away, not just in planted tanks.
I've had these fish for some time and played around with the lighting / tank environment quite a bit. First, I can confirm that the fish do not in any way respond to pollution in the water. From www.glofish.com/about.asp: A non-fluorescing fish will signal that the water is safe, while a fluorescing fish will signal trouble. Although these fish are not currently available, scientists hope to complete this work soon.
That being said, here's whats most likely going on:
If you have the older glofish (which has stripes) the color loss is most likely the result of a natural camouflage effect, which causes the stripes to become thicker and darker in a planted tank, or even a tank with dark gravel. You will see the same camouflage effect with a non-fluorescent zebrafish.
The newer glofish are in a golden zebra background and dont have this problem. If you have these fish, and still see a decrease in color, it is probable that the plants are blocking light from reaching the fish. The more light that hits the fish, the brighter they become; the less light that hits the fish, the darker they become. Of course, you would have to have pretty densely planted tank for this to be an issue.
That being said, here's whats most likely going on:
If you have the older glofish (which has stripes) the color loss is most likely the result of a natural camouflage effect, which causes the stripes to become thicker and darker in a planted tank, or even a tank with dark gravel. You will see the same camouflage effect with a non-fluorescent zebrafish.
The newer glofish are in a golden zebra background and dont have this problem. If you have these fish, and still see a decrease in color, it is probable that the plants are blocking light from reaching the fish. The more light that hits the fish, the brighter they become; the less light that hits the fish, the darker they become. Of course, you would have to have pretty densely planted tank for this to be an issue.
the glofish lost their red when in with plants, not blocked the light, not less intense, it was gone, and SLOWLY came back over weeks after being put in an unplanted tank.
