Fish: Re: [tropical fish club] Breeding glofish

Yes, it's really nuts that such fish are even in the aquarium trade, as it
exposes the unsuspecting hobbyists to lawsuits if they sell any of these
fish that they happen to raise. After all, who would expect that an aquarium
fish, sold in most any fish store we would go into, to have a registered
patent on it.

If the developer (Yorktown Technologies) didn't want these fish to be
reproduced and sold, they should never have released these fish to the aquarium
trade. They should have restricted them solely for the purpose for which
they were developed -- to determine levels of water pollution in waterways.

That they're now commonly available as an aquarium fish -- due directly to
poor control by Yorktown Technologies -- it would seem that they're at least
partially responsible for any GloFish now being reproduced, as so should
bear any responsibility for these fish's continuation by hobbyists.

Just suppose that a hobbyist has GloFish and one other unrelated species
(perhaps a Tetra) in their aquarium, and that the GloFish breed without being
observed to do so by the hobbyists, and without the intent or purposes of
the hobbyist. I might assume that any GloFish eggs should be destroyed so as
not to become illegal, but if the hobbyist doesn't know which species
spawned, it's resonsible to assume that they'll raise these fish at least to a
point where their identity becomes apparent. Is the hobbyist then expected to
destroy these fish at that point, once it's seen that they're GloFish? It
wouldn't seem fair, when their was no intent of breeding them, and when
Yorktown Tech allowed this to happen when they released their fish for sale.
After all -- what else should Yorktown have expected when they acted so
irrational; any fault should lie with them.

Ray

P.S.: Of course, there are ways around the patent issue in dissallowing
the fish's sales -- just as there are with any other fishes that are legally
not allowed to be sold. With the agreement of both parties, only the other
contents of the fish bags are being sold, including any plants or snails and
the fish are "given free," with the fee (for the plants or snail) that of
course covers the fish's value.