When do you start culling?

[Kinection]

I've been trying to get my fire red males to "look" better, but they aren't improving, actually going down grade. I wanted to know when do you guys cull, I might not be giving them enough time to develope. I've noticed that if they are born solid red, they stay like that, and that's always the deal with these males. I've only gotten 2 PFR males, after 5 generations. I cull the splotchy ones at about 1/4 - half an inch, and they all go into the 75G. It might be because I have Rilis/ Blue rilis in the tank? I'm starting to get some juveniles that look orange, or is it just me? I also have some brown babies, they have those "sparkly dots" on them, but look very solid. Wouldn't it be better to keep a low number of males, since they can injure the babies?

[MABJ]

Neos will interbreed and you'll further muddy the genes you want to achieve..

If you have rillis plus fire red, you'll get some odd looking offspring on both sides eventually.

[A.D.D.i.c.t.]

Ditto, Rili's are essentially selectively bred Neo's, so there's no question they will interbreed. You could strengthen your Rili population( if they were red Rili) with PFR genes, but the PFR lineage will suffer. I'd separate them and cull out all the shrimp you don't want breeding together.

[Kinection]

Originally Posted by A.D.D.i.c.t.

Ditto, Rili's are essentially selectively bred Neo's, so there's no question they will interbreed. You could strengthen your Rili population( if they were red Rili) with PFR genes, but the PFR lineage will suffer. I'd separate them and cull out all the shrimp you don't want breeding together.

Ok! I still want to know when you guys cull yours though.

[MABJ]

There's no beginning or end.

If I see a shrimp that doesn't genetically fit my build, I remove it and give it away. Simple as that. I have a few CRS that I'm about to cull.

[Kinection]

Originally Posted by MABJ

There's no beginning or end.

If I see a shrimp that doesn't genetically fit my build, I remove it and give it away. Simple as that. I have a few CRS that I'm about to cull.

Oh ok, I might do that. Any other breeders out there?

[wicca27]

you might get a tank for culls cause some times they darken as they get older

[Kinection]

Originally Posted by wicca27

you might get a tank for culls cause some times they darken as they get older

Yup, that's what my 75G is for, they usually don't darken up, just get fatter.

[randyl]

I've been culling my fire reds for 3 generations now. I started with 10 very nice painted fire reds and one so-so male. The F1 I culled about 50% of the male, F2 was a bit less, now I think I will still cull 30% in F3.... all because of 1 bad male.

How big you ask? I cull any male that is close to sexual maturity (i.e. very small), for female, I cull at first berry. Reason being, if I miss a bad female, I might have to cull 50% of that clutch, if I miss a male, I might have to cull 100 shrimps in the next month or so.

As mixing them with rilies, I think that's a bad idea if you want to have higher grade PFRs. A few of my culls look just like rilies. Such as this one,




BTW, if I know how to catch all the shrimps in that tank, I'd just restart with all nice ones.

[Kinection]

Originally Posted by randyl

I've been culling my fire reds for 3 generations now. I started with 10 very nice painted fire reds and one so-so male. The F1 I culled about 50% of the male, F2 was a bit less, now I think I will still cull 30% in F3.... all because of 1 bad male.

How big you ask? I cull any male that is close to sexual maturity (i.e. very small), for female, I cull at first berry. Reason being, if I miss a bad female, I might have to cull 50% of that clutch, if I miss a male, I might have to cull 100 shrimps in the next month or so.

As mixing them with rilies, I think that's a bad idea if you want to have higher grade PFRs. A few of my culls look just like rilies. Such as this one,




BTW, if I know how to catch all the shrimps in that tank, I'd just restart with all nice ones.

Nice Rilis you got there! My Red rili line has gotten a LOT of red from the fire reds, I just want my male fire reds to look as dark as the females, that's my goal.

[randyl]

Originally Posted by Kinection

Nice Rilis you got there! My Red rili line has gotten a LOT of red from the fire reds, I just want my male fire reds to look as dark as the females, that's my goal.

Me too, that's also why I didn't just get another breeding group and restart. I want to do it myself. I started with 1m+10f, I've sold/given away hundreds and I still have hundreds ;-)

I started to have pretty nice male in F3, I'm sure I'll get there in F5. Cull the male sooner is the trick I think. You can't afford to have a bad male at large for too long ;-)

I pretty much gave away those rilis, like 15 for $10, because I don't have another tank for them.

Oh, and another thing I do is, I always have an in-tank breeder box. I grab the net when they are eating, and net the culls in the breeder box. Sell them when there are like 40-50 in there.

[Kinection]

Originally Posted by randyl

Me too, that's also why I didn't just get another breeding group and restart. I want to do it myself. I started with 1m+10f, I've sold/given away hundreds and I still have hundreds ;-)

I started to have pretty nice male in F3, I'm sure I'll get there in F5. Cull the male sooner is the trick I think. You can't afford to have a bad male at large for too long ;-)

I pretty much gave away those rilis, like 15 for $10, because I don't have another tank for them.

Oh, and another thing I do is, I always have an in-tank breeder box. I grab the net when they are eating, and net the culls in the breeder box. Sell them when there are like 40-50 in there.

I just netted out 20ish males, left 2 of the best in there. The rest are living in the 75G now!
I would sell them, but labeling them "RCS" would be kinda shady.

[randyl]

I just mark them as Fire Red Culls with a picture. Not sure if you noticed, the above two pics were my culls in the internal breeder box. Look at the shrimp just below the rili, that shrimp was pretty red except maybe a small dot on the back that's a bit translucent. Don't be shy when culling, either cull hard or you'll cull long.

[Kinection]

Originally Posted by randyl

I just mark them as Fire Red Culls with a picture. Not sure if you noticed, the above two pics were my culls in the internal breeder box. Look at the shrimp just below the rili, that shrimp was pretty red except maybe a small dot on the back that's a bit translucent. Don't be shy when culling, either cull hard or you'll cull long.

That makes me feel better about ruining 20 shrimp lives. lols

[thelub]

Don't ruin shrimp lives! Send them to me!!!!!!! lol

I don't care what they look like. I just want shrimp and do not want to pay 6 bucks a piece for them. Plus I feel better about paying a forum member for shrimp than my lousy LFS who sold me lousy grade CRS for a premium.