By introducing a palm-sized aquarium, Taikong Corp (邰港科技), the nation's leading aquatic biotechnology firm, hopes that ornamental fish will find homes in more households in the near future.
"Raising ornamental fish will become a more personal activity. People used to buy large aquariums and put them in the living room for the whole family, but nowadays smaller tanks are cropping up on desks at home and at the office," said Fisher Lin (
Lin spoke to the Taipei Times at the 2006 Taiwan Biotechnology Industry Exhibition, which began yesterday and will run through Sunday at Exhibition Hall 1 of the Taipei World Trade Center.
The firm's "Globe Aquarium" is a round, palm-sized tank. It has an aluminum-alloy base and boasts a contemporary design.
One of the tank's selling points is the 0.8 watt light-emitting-diode integrated into its base, which produces an impressive effect, especially if their are fluorescent fish in the aquarium.
"Taiwan is famous for its technical advances in the breeding of groupers or grass shrimp. With the Council of Agriculture now starting to encourage the breeding of ornamental fish as well as edible fish, we believe more people will raise fish in the long term," Lin said.
Taikong is renowned for its glowing fish, which Time magazine declared one of the "coolest inventions" of 2003.
The company first made a name for itself in 2001, when it displayed a rice fish of Japanese origin which glowed a neon green color.
The effect is achieved by injecting a fluorescent protein extracted from jelly fish into the nucleus of a rice fish embryo.
This year, Taikong is showcasing three new breeds of fluorescent fish: one that glows neon red, another that has had its black spots removed and a fish with longer fins that make it appear to "dance like a fairy."
The glowing fish are priced at NT$59 (US$1.8) each, and most of them are produced in Taiwan. Some 200,000 of the genetically modified fish are bred every month, according to Lin.
Taikong's sales are projected to remain stable at NT$50 million this year as a result of sluggish economic sentiment, Lin said.
"Commodity prices have gone up and this suppresses people's willingness to spend on leisure activities such as raising fish," he said, adding that the company hoped that it could increase revenues by around 20 percent next year if the economy rebounded.
The Taipei biotech expo is part of a series of events being held during the government-sponsored "Bio Taiwan Month." The exhibition has attracted 312 companies occupying 735 booths this year. Admission is free on presentation of a business card.
Chen Chien-jen (陳建仁), chairman of the National Science Council, said on Monday at a biotech conference that the government sees the sector as a vital part of the nation's efforts toward technological advancement. As such, the government has established several biotech science parks around the nation to promote agricultural, pharmaceutical and genealogical technology, Chen said.
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