The See-thru Controversy

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The original See-thru guppy. He has a little yellow, indicating he is heterozygous for the Asian Blau gene.

There have been a lot of posts about the See-thru guppy around the world. I would like to address the most common questions and issues swirling around it.

First of all let me say that I chose not to profit from this guppy (or any guppy for that matter). I still stand by my offer to ship it free to anybody in a country that allows the importation of guppies without a vet's license or import document. So why is it being sold by ATFG?

About ten months ago I sent half a dozen of my F2 generation of See-thru guppies to Prasertsak, a seller of guppies in Thailand. Here are my reasons for shipping the strain to him:

  • I wanted to distribute the strain to the rest of guppy community. Because I do not have a vet's license to ship guppies, I cannot ship guppies to most countries in the world.
  • I chose ATFG in Thailand because they ship all over the world.
  • I did not want to profit off this strain so I merely gave them to him with no restrictions other than giving credit to me for creating the strain.
  • I did not place any restrictions on ATFG as to the price he would sell them for. I repeat that I do not get any monetary benefit from him.

 I created the See-thru from three mutations that genetically remove the color cells from the skin.These are:

  • the albino gene (aa)
  • the Asian Blau gene (AbAb)
  • the glass belly gene (GbGb)

Creating the strain was actually quite easy once I had the most important ingredient, the glass belly gene that renders the belly and head transparent. (See my description of its creation in this published scientific article: http://www.bioflux.com.ro/docs/2009.2.137-145.pdf). I used an Albino Blau strain from Luke Roebuck (male) and a female Glass Belly Panda that I sourced from a breeder in Taiwan. In the F2 generation of the cross 1 in 16 guppies were See-Thru. These formed the basis for ATFG's stock. He has apparently outcrossed them to strengthen them, although I suspect the combination of recessive genes makes this a somewhat delicate guppy. I raise them in five gallons tanks without grey siblings. They do not do well mixed with other guppies. Currently I am developing a blond See-thru strain that I believe will be stronger than the albino version.

I should note that the strain is in fact not completely devoid of color cells. It has a few iridophores in its caudal fin, which you can see in the picture above.

My reasons for creating the strain are as follows:

To create the first guppy genetically transparent. Other people have had the glass belly gene, but nobody combined the three autosomal recessive genes that render the guppy transparent.

  • As a first experiment in a new color type made possible by the glass belly gene.
  • As an outstanding example of what you can deliberately create with a little knowledge about guppy genetics
  • As an encouragement to others to become engaged with guppy genetics

Reading the various forums on the Internet, I see that some people think the transparent guppy is cool and others feel somewhat revolted by it.

I am not surprised by that. The anatomy lesson provided by the mutant is a little revolting to me as well. But I see the potential for creating beauty out of the base mutation, the glass belly. And there is something very beautiful in the concept of the guppy. It has the elegance of science.

Currently I am using the glass belly gene to create other new and unusual strains, including glass belly metal pingus. I am creating a glass belly IFGA Green to hold the gene in a neutral strain. I have also distributed the See-thru strain to the scientific community (SFU).

I never really expected Prasternak (I hope I am spelling his name right) to sell the guppy for $365 USD for a trio! My first reaction was that this was counter to my original intentions, which was to make this marvel of guppy genetics available to as many people as possible. There were people who howled with indignation at the price.

But wait a minute. When I entered the hobby about ten years ago, I heard that guppy fanatics in Japan regularly paid these sums of money for rare and beautiful guppies. So who is right, the Walmart crowd who thinks a guppy for $5 is a good deal? Or the fanatics like me who paid $350 for the Glass Belly Panda that formed the basis for the strain? What is the price of a guppy anyway? They are regularly sold for $20 to $70 on Aquabid, with the sellers of the expensive strains touting their show winning heritage. I suppose the price of a guppy is whatever people are willing to pay for it, just like everything else in the world. A house cannot be valued according the size of the land it is located on or the number of bedrooms it has. Certainly a well made house is worth more than a cheap bungalow when the price of the land is subtracted away. But nobody is really setting the price of houses. A house is what people are willing to pay for it.

So it is with guppies. In the past I have paid as much as it took to get a guppy that is simply not available at Walmart. Such was the case with the Glass Belly Panda. The surprise is that I bought it from a guy who advertised it on Aquabid for $350, and failed to receive one bid for it. I think he was very disappointed and never renewed the auction. Obviously nobody at the time saw the value in the guppy.

You know, I am hoping some day that the $350 will seem like a bargain for a rare and beautiful guppy. It happened in Japan, why not here? Or we will be always held hostage by the Walmart guppy and the $70 Best of Show guppy? I hope not.

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