Genetically modified vs dye injected fish

[bobtan9219]

Hi,

May I know if it just generally accepted for fishes to be genetically modified as opposed to dye injection? As in, does serious hobbyists see them as unnatural and should be boycotted?

[gemo82]

This is a serious topic that will fetch you an array of debates, and some extreme ones. It would be useful if this question can be posted as a poll.

Personally, I would definitely reject the idea of injecting dye to fishes for ornamental purposes. Although similar to humans having tattoos, these fishes are unwilling victims and the process is definitely cruel considering their small size and reduced lifespans. Furthermore, to me, they do not even look good to begin with....

But then again, it is a cruel thing to keep wild fishes in artificial conditions in our tank too, often killing or reducing their lifespan with poorly maintained tanks. My justification would be that, at least to serious hobbyists, we learn to understand what is in our tanks, and try to give them the best possible environment to live in, at the same time raising our awareness of the importance of the natural habitats of these fishes. In dye injection, I see no purpose, or no lesson learned....


Genetically modified fish is more tricky. I guess I'll say it depends on what kind of modification has been done to the genes, and what the purpose of the modifications is. By selectively breeding shrimps for certain colour or pattern, we are already restricting natural selection and creating a strain of dominant genes of shrimps we feel look better. By selectively breeding traits in dogs, we created toy dogs that are more suitable in urban conditions and will not survive in the nature. The scientists are merely taking a short-cut and doing the selection at the source by altering the genes as compared by traditional methods of isolating traits in genes. And by doing so, they learn more about DNA, try to manipulate certain traits for some useful applications, as compared to us doing selectively breeding for aesthetic purposes and for our humour.

All in all, I feel that genetic modification in fish is still a very debatable issue. What is important though, is NOT TO RELEASE THEM INTO NATURAL WATER BODIES!! The general rule we hobbyists should follow is not to release foreign species into the wild, and genetically modified fishes are definitely foreign to any water habitats anywhere. I believe this rule applies to selectively bred shrimps or fishes, just like we do not release toy dogs into the wild.

[bobtan9219]

Wah thanks for the long reply. I agree that this is an issue that is hard to have an absolute right or wrong answer. Hopefully the authority can have a firmer stand and stricter control over what the LFS are selling. Often, we do not know the origins of fish we buy, choosing them only because of their "cute" look or colour.