Let me tell you the story of a great and powerful shrimper!

Once upon a time a fearless shrimp breeder was having problems with his neon yellows, they were weak and very prone to maladies. The whole Neon Yellow species was a mess and would die on the whim of the wind and so one day, the great shrimper tried his hardest to make a hardy neon yellow, trying and breeding all neon yellows he could get his hands on. Alas they died slowly one by one, under perfect parameters, Then one day in his frustration he threw the remaining few in with some common cherries. They bred and the offspring were hardier and more resilient! There were some berried yellows, and they seem to flourish. The fearless Shrimp breeder with knowledge and wisdom worked the line year after year, tirelessly slaving for the good of all shrimp kind. And then EUREKA! He then was able to produce a strain of Neon yellows that was Hardy like a cherry and still was able to give 100% yellow young! His line was stable. He became great and well known throughout shrimp breeding and genetic tinkering. He is a master breeder....he is.....I just Call him SoothingShrimp.

LOL. He would be the man to talk to. I could not resist.

See wild + wild= more wilds, but if you bred such shrimp and worked the line, taking shrimp out that have characteristics that you want and getting rid of the rest. You would eventually have a new shrimp or stronger color morph.

 

I think i found a thread about that when i was googling very nice story indeed, unfortunately i dont have the tanks required to selectively breed them. If i was able to toss a bunch of different colour strains into a tank and it resulted in hardier shrimp id be happy, colour is not too big an issue for me (sure it would be nice though) i wonder how long it took soothing shrimp to do that and how many tanks it took

 

Good story! Makes me sleep peacefully. Now i have a question. I too hear that from people everywhere not to mix them and what have you. Yet if we look at caridina shrimp pinto shrimp,and tibees arent they just mutt shrimp, results of dont do this at home. From what i have read the first couple of generations of any tibee or pinto shrimp wont be as nice as what people consider "desirable". but after refining the strains and patters you like and re-breeding them with pure blood parents the new offspring come out with the solid strain that you want. correct me if im wrong but wouldn't that same theory apply to neocaridinas? ive mixed cherries with another neo type and got a shrimp line that is now stable. my males put female painted fire red shrimp to shame regarding the intensity and solid color of the red, as a result for some unknown reason ive noticed the shrimp are also about 1/4th bigger than regular ones. when they are full grown. that was an unexpected ans welcomed result.

 

I am sure it took a long time, I know it was years. He should be on in a while, hopefully he'll see this thread. Lol. If you wanted wild shrimp, you can buy wilds cheaply on [Ebay Link Removed] If you aren't concerned about color and healthy only. Cherries are the hardiest already. You'd have to have atleast 2 tanks of shrimp, shrimp you want and shrimp you don't want(culls).
You know what hasn't been bred out yet is Malawa shrimp. They are a hardy species and no one has yet developed a stable color strain of them. Might want to try that out.

 

LOL May as well make me 10 feet tall carrying a lumber ax.

"But would it improve there genes (resistance to disease etc) by creating a larger gene pool? As i understand it shrimp have been heavily inbred to produce these colour strains resulting in a less hardy shrimp (especially crystal shrimp) hence why i wondered if this would result in stronger (genetically) shrimp"

Sure it would. No doubt about it. The red/yellow mix I did, I did with just that theory in mind- and it turned out to be correct in my case.

You said you were interested in vigor and less interested in color right off. By mixing all kinds of colors, you also mix the genetics which makes for stronger, more hardy shrimp.

Another way to make more hardy shrimp is by introducing harsher parameters. Those that survive are stronger and will carry on those genetics. A forced "evolution" if you will.

We often offer best intentions by taking all the harsh params out of the water. In my opinion this can actually be detrimental- not in the short run- but in the long run, as can be seen in shrimp strains with poor immune systems, or just sensitive in general. When keeping shrimp- especially expensive shrimp- , people want ALL babies to survive. When all babies survive, environments must be created and maintained to ensure health for the lowest common denominator, which in turn allows them to pass on genetics to their offspring and so on. But I digress...

"Also would there always be muts or could i expect the odd strange coloured individual to pop up throughout the generations?"

Absolutely you can expect weird colors to pop out. I've gotten most of my projects from cull tanks. Culls breeding with culls, weirdness breeding with weirdness. LOL If you don't mind randomness, I say go for it!

About hybrids...
Hybrids are a tricky bag. If you were to mix davidii with palmata for instance, you would get a hybrid- but not necessarily better as far as vigor or immune system. Since the genes are mixed, no telling how it would play on the internal body workings- or how fertile it is, if it would have breeding depression, etc. Time would tell.

If you do create a hybrid, I highly recommend you tell others you may be giving them to, and label them N. davidii x N. palmata for instance. It just takes one unknown hybrid to destroy a pure strain.

But have FUN! That's what this hobby is all about! Explore, test "facts", try what works and what doesn't. Test the limits of conventional wisdom!

And yep. No one has created a color strain of Malawa yet! Maybe YOU will?