# Glofish Lighting



## blickquickly (May 19, 2006)

My son wants to set up his 20g as a Glofish tank. Ive looked on line a bit and saw specific lights for glofish. "Special" blue LED lights. The prices arent high or anything, the question is do I really need to buy these or can i get a "regular" hood and put a "regular" (blue spectrum) bulb in it (if they make one)? Or would it just be easier to buy the $50 LED light and call it a day? I was thinking some day he might not want glofish anymore and a regular hood would be the better long term solution. Also, I'll have to get a glass lid for the LED light to sit on. Thoughts? Thanks in advance.


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## GraphicGr8s (Apr 4, 2011)

Just say no to GloFish.


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## lksdrinker (Feb 12, 2014)

GraphicGr8s said:


> Just say no to GloFish.


While I tend to agree in theory, kids (and lots of ill informed adults) love these things! Cant blame them really. The fish are flashy and eye catching. I see it as a great way to get another generation of people into the hobby and would never suggest saying no to that. Not to mention that the equipment needed for a glofish tank could easily be converted into whatever setup you might want/need down the line. The light is really the only special part of it all. 

My 4 year old daughter can differentiate various fish and knows quite a bit about the hobby already. She can spot/identify discus, GBR (and other similar bodied cichlids), certain tetras, and can even recognize the shape of a rainbowfish from across the store and correctly ID it. She understands why and how we do so many water changes and loves helping me use the API test kit. (Can you tell she spends time with me in the fishroom and at the LFS?!) But she wants her own glofish tank, and she'll eventually get it (actually already have a tank and the light ready to go, but no time to set the thing up!). 

As far as the OP's question, I think you'll loose a lot of the glowing effect if you dont get the correct light. But it might not necessarily need to be the "glofish" brand of light. You could probably also get the right effect with a very small glofish LED light to supplement whatever normal/regular hood/light combo you might have already. I think I've seen an 8 inch glofish LED on amazon for less than $20 and that should do the trick. I haven't done any formal tests or anything, but I believe most LED fixtures with the "moonlight" effect use the same type of blue bulb as the glofish lights so you may want to go that route as at least that light could be used on almost any setup in the future.


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## Canis (Jun 4, 2014)

Personally I have never had good luck with glofish. They tend to die quickly and for no reason. I would say stay away from them. But as for your question, the light I've found that best brings out their colors are blue actinic fluorescent tubes. LEDs don't bring out the colors very well, they make the blue and purple look exactly the same. The actinic bulbs make them very glow-like and you can tell the colors apart easily.


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## grizzly_a (Sep 9, 2014)

I started a tank with some GloFish for the kids and I put a Current Satellite+ RGB and just change the lighting with the remote (the kids do it) and put it on moonlight and the fish all glow well.

The GloFish LED are just blue LEDs, and they work well, but it has to be darker in the tank for them to really light up. I bought one of those before I got the Satellite+.

The GloFish Skirt Tetras that I've had are solid and healthy fish. I am actually amazed at how well they have done. The GloFish Danios look sickly and I would never buy those.


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## Little Soprano (Mar 13, 2014)

I had both the zebras and black skirt versions. The zebras, after three years, two had passed away from a bacterial infection, and one was a jerk, so I rehomed him. My Black Skirts? They are huge, bold, solid, healthy fish. Real characters too. I did lose one to bloating before I knew how to counteract it. Otherwise they are very healthy fish. And the zebras died from an infection that wasn't brought in by them. 

I have one of those little tiny glofish tanks (was on sale), so I just took the blue light that came with it and stuck it behind my T5s, and I have a blue LED bubble wand at night that turns on, and catches them pretty well.

Here's an older picture from a few months ago, and you can see one of my zebras and three of the black skirt versions. They are very healthy fish. My zebras were as healthy as the black skirts, just couldn't make it through the infection. And one got crushed by a rock during the re-do of the tank, yet he managed to survive with a broken back for a few months. Just didn't get tetracycline in the tank fast enough before I lost those guys during the infection.









I have one of those Aqueon bubble wands with the blue LEDs shoved in the back, and it does catch them quite nicely. Though I notice they pop a lot when I have my SW hood raised and the actinics catch them. Maybe a moon light LED, or even a T8 strip light with an actinic in it? 

I say if your son wants them, get them.

One last thing: Watch where you get them from. I got them from my LFS, but at Meijers and Petco, I noticed they were all skinny and skiddish. Mine were quite plump, active, and relaxed too. I have a pretty good Petco too, but its the one tank that is always overstocked with fish, and they don't look too hot.


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