Archie1208 Posted October 4, 2014 Report Share Posted October 4, 2014 Hypothetical question. If I wanted to increase the size of an existing colony, all things being equal, should I add from another trusted vendor or keep the same gene pool (assuming I know what I'm doing - yeah right) and purchase from my initial vendor. Really a genetics question... Then dollars. Thoughts and advanced thank. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
OMG Aquatics Posted October 4, 2014 Report Share Posted October 4, 2014 I read somewhere that it's best to add a new batch of shrimp from different vender to your colony every year or so. I may be wrong. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
metageologist Posted October 4, 2014 Report Share Posted October 4, 2014 Well that can depend on multiple factors. If you are interested in just increasing the colony size then you can just buy the same species from a trusted vendor. However if you like your genetics that you currently have and wish to enhance color or other trait you have two choices the first being keep your colony and cull then wait for the colony to increase in size. Alternatively you could buy higher quality stock with your desired trait and add them to your colony. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Brolly33 Posted October 5, 2014 Report Share Posted October 5, 2014 Hypothetical question. If I wanted to increase the size of an existing colony, all things being equal, should I add from another trusted vendor or keep the same gene pool (assuming I know what I'm doing - yeah right) and purchase from my initial vendor. Really a genetics question... Then dollars. Thoughts and advanced thank. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk Adding shrimp adds diversity but also risk of disease. Dukendabears 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ctaylor3737 Posted October 5, 2014 Report Share Posted October 5, 2014 In theory if you are just keeping them to keep them, generally every year or two you can trade with someone to help strengthen your genes. If you are selective breeding as in trying to make a carbon shrimp better you are hurting your breeding project by adding new blood. All the work you did will be useless with a different strain. It takes alot of years to see the genes mix that much to cause them to be weaker, and I personally believe that its a myth. I have strains I have had and I know bryce has had for years and have never added new stock to them. Soothing Shrimp 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Soothing Shrimp Posted October 5, 2014 Report Share Posted October 5, 2014 I use the deck of cards analogy a lot. While not perfect, it gets the thought across well enough. If you are selectively breeding, you are trying to get the modifiers to line up into a "deck." With each generation, you get closer to your goal. If you add new blood at that time, the "cards" get scattered again and you are back at the beginning again. If you just want to have a good colony without selectively breeding, there's nothing wrong with adding new stock. However by doing this you can increase your odds of wilds (or poor coloration) if the colors aren't the same in genes or variety, as well as risking deaths because of different bacteria being introduced. It's just a necessary risk sometimes. randy 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
randy Posted October 7, 2014 Report Share Posted October 7, 2014 Unless you start to get genetic issue (has anyone?), work on existing stock. I have a line that was worked on for about 3 - 4 years before me, and 3 years by me, so far, only thing special about them is that they are super easy to care for. It's the Fluval Flora tank I posted the video in the other thread, I'll post it here as well. So far, only one hobbyist who got it from me failed to breed them, everyone else who got these shrimp has the false impression that CRS/CBS are super easy to breed. I'm talking about 10 to 200 in 6 month easy. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=POoKmJ__uE8 Soothing Shrimp 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Soothing Shrimp Posted October 7, 2014 Report Share Posted October 7, 2014 I know one study followed shrimp for 10 generations and saw no problems with inbreeding, with plenty of genetic diversity. Thankfully shrimp are not like mammals. Nature knows they live in ponds for a loooong time, so made it possible to interbreed without any bad problems coming from it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
OblongShrimp Posted October 7, 2014 Report Share Posted October 7, 2014 If you are looking at a rare species you may want to find out where each vendor got their shrimp from, if they shrimp is rare enough they may have gotten from the same source initially so then genetic diversity wouldn't be as great anyways. Soothing Shrimp 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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