developing strain question

582 Views 4 Replies 3 Participants Last post by jasonpatterson, Jul 14, 2012

Soothing Shrimp

Discussion Starter · Jul 14, 2012

Okay, so I've been working on a cherry strain and have it producing what I want maybe about 70%.

I have perhaps 200- 300 shrimp including those I'll have to cull in my 20g.

I'm thinking that with such a large colony already, all kinds of culls will keep popping up for many more generations because there are so many recessives being carried.

Would I be better off at this point picking out my 10 best or so, and continue the project moving forward with them, while not using the others?

My reasoning is limiting the gene pool (although not too small with around 10) will also increase the progression of breeding the required trait.

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GeToChKn

· #2 · Jul 14, 2012

I did the same thing a while ago. I had started with cherries, got sakuras, then fire reds, then pfr's all in the same tank. Culled about 90% of them and only kept the best 10 or so to start over with.

You should take your best 10 or so females, 2 best males and put them in a tank. Anytime you want to add some new genes, to the mix, remove the males and take 2 new males from the other tank and add them in, same with any females that show the trait you're working on. Better to have 50 realllly nice looking shrimp with a new trait than 300 meh ones.

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Soothing Shrimp

Discussion Starter · #3 · Jul 14, 2012

Good to know I'm on the right track. Thanks

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GeToChKn

· #4 · Jul 14, 2012

Soothing Shrimp said:
Good to know I'm on the right track. Thanks

Ya, starting off with the best of the best and removing and adding new males along the way to get new genes in seems to be the best way to go, especially if you have a new strain that you can't buy new shrimp to introduce new genes, so keeping 2 isolated tanks and adding new ones from time to time will help with new genes getting in. By only limiting the males and removing them and adding new ones, you are at least controlling a bit on who breeds with who and that will help when the offspring breed with each other.

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jasonpatterson

· #5 · Jul 14, 2012

In the long run either approach will work, but by culling more shrimp you're increasing the selection strength for the desired trait, and thus the shrimp will move more rapidly toward your goal.

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