Aquarium luminous fish: types, description, maintenance and care

2024 Author: Priscilla Miln | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-16 00:21

Unpretentious and colorful fish have long been decorating the homes of many fans of the underwater world. And no wonder, watching a small body of water calms, relieves stress and encourages you to choose new pets.

Most recently, fish have become popular, whose radiant coloration was created thanks to human scientific experiments. Let's try to find out which fish glow in the aquarium, why it happens and whether it is difficult to care for them.

How did they come about?

At the end of the 20th century, experiments were conducted in many countries to study the DNA of various animals.

In 1999, scientists at the National University of Singapore studied the genome of a species of Pacific jellyfish that fluoresces in the dark. They managed to isolate the gene responsible for the synthesis of a green shining protein. It was he who became the reason why the fish glow.

Then scientists introducedisolated gene into a small aquarium variety of zebrafish. Not immediately, but we managed to bring out the fish, which, by changing the color, signaled a deterioration in water parameters and the appearance of foreign toxins.

For the first time such individuals were presented at a scientific forum as an example of successful genetic engineering. However, the creatures, created for purely research purposes, have attracted the attention of representatives of a large company that sells products for aquarium hobbyists.

Project GloFish

Already a few years later, in 2003, zebrafish were bred, fluorescing with scarlet and yellow light. Scientists were able to achieve this by "mounting" in them the gene of the sea coral responsible for red radiation. And successful experiments with the DNA of jellyfish and corals gave the world orange glowing fish.

Foreseeing the commercial success of these studies, scientists and business representatives signed a contract and created a new trademark - GloFish (from glow - "luminous, shining" and fish - "fish"). The company is headquartered in Hong Kong, and unusual luminous fish, which have become in great demand, settled in many aquariums.

Not only zebrafish

Further experiments on hardy zebrafish have produced blue and purple genetically modified zebrafish.

The next fish, glowing in the dark, were larger creatures - blackthorns. For several years, more than five colors of these funnyrounded lanterns. Following them came the turn of cocky barbs, more picky about the conditions of the aquarium content.

By this time, many aquarists fell in love with bright fish and GloFish began to develop and produce new decorations to help make the small underwater world more colorful.

The names of the luminous fish were also beautiful and memorable: Starfire Red (red star fish), Sunburst Orange (orange ray) or Galactic Purple (galaxy purple).

Unusual angelfish

The first successful experiments on changing the genome of fish were carried out on small schooling species, characterized by active and successful reproduction. Therefore, within a few years, new generations of luminous fish successfully passed on the altered DNA to their descendants.

Things got more complicated when scientists decided to change the gene structure of one of the types of aquarium cichlids. These majestic fish with tall, sail-like fins have long been a fixture in the homes of many underwater lovers.

Scalars do not require special water parameters or temperature to keep, and they spawn quite willingly, so the scientists decided to continue the experiment on them. And we ran into some problems. These large fish during spawning throw out a very small amount of eggs (compared to the same zebrafish), and the process of preserving and transferring the altered genome was slow. But in the end, science defeated nature and a new kind of luminous individuals successfullywent on sale.

Fish care

Despite the external unusualness, taking care of such modified pets will not tire the owner. The changes almost did not affect the behavior and habits of the fish, they can be fed with ordinary food, and even kept together with the usual inhabitants of aquariums.

Due to the fact that the gene of tropical organisms has been introduced into the body of the fish, they prefer warmer water, 28-29 ° C.

You can feed both dry and frozen food (bloodworm, brine shrimp, daphnia). As with ordinary fish, it is better not to overfeed the glowing fish and do a water change in the aquarium every two weeks. It is desirable to have live plants in which pets can hide.

Content & Compatibility

Three types of modified luminous fish are schooling. Once alone, species such as zebrafish and thorns become lethargic, lose their appetite, and may even die.

Therefore, it is better to settle pets in small flocks, 6-8 fish of each variety. Moreover, the difference in color does not affect the comfortable coexistence of the fish.

You should not put small luminous individuals and larger predators in one aquarium. For example, cichlids are always ready to hunt conspicuous colored lights.

With age, the color of luminous fish becomes brighter and richer. When breeding in artificial conditions, babies inherit the color of their parents.

In nature, the color and shape of the body of females and malesdiffers, so it is not difficult even for an inexperienced aquarist to determine the sex of a fish. Things are more complicated for GloFish instances. Artificially added coloration is the same for both sexes. You can still distinguish - females have a more rounded abdomen.

How to set up an aquarium?

The demand for glowing fish is constantly increasing. Therefore, specifically in order to highlight their unusualness, manufacturers offer a lot of decorative ornaments. These are bright artificial plants, soil of unusual shades, even neon-lit containers.

However, experienced aquarists do not recommend getting carried away with such decorations, in such an aquarium, luminous fish can simply get lost.

Very beautiful multi-colored pets look against the background of light soil, snow-white sand and a dark background are best. The saturated greenery of underwater plants also sets off unusual "highlights" of individuals well. Of course, these fish are very unpretentious, but they will appreciate natural plants and good food.

The only thing that the owner of new species will additionally need is special aquarium lamps. Under normal lighting, the bodies of the fish do not glow, all the beauty is revealed by lamps with ultraviolet radiation.

Not only experiments with genes

Even long before the creation of luminous fish with a modified genome, a small pet shone in home aquariums - blue neon. This tiny beauty was first discovered in the waters of a tropical river in South America back in 1935. Since then, these fish-lightsfirmly established in home aquariums. But not all neon glows, a bright fluorescent blue stripe runs along its body.

There are also red varieties, which are somewhat larger and with a more pronounced burning line. But they are less popular among aquarists due to their difficulty in breeding.

In addition to neon, there are several types of aquarium fish that can glow under certain lighting conditions. These are tetra-flashlight, cardinal and gracilis. The latter has an almost transparent body, along which a bright red luminous strip stretches.