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@richiep Hi I bred CRS for a very long time without adding new genes- as JayC mentioned we had limited genes here anyway. After about 3 years I wasn't seeing any great improvement in colour despite heavy culling so I introduced some high quality male CRS -on the premise that 2 or 3 really good males can breed with many females rather than slowly breeding with a few good females. obviously adding both males and females helps but a few good males is the way to go if money is an issue. Buy the best you can afford and continue to cull out any low grade males especially , once you have a reasonable colony then the lower grade females should also be culled. Over the 3 years I bred them without new genes I didn't see any deformities -initially I bred for numbers to stock a large tank but then started heavy culling and adding the new males. It only took a few months to see a vast improvement. The first 2 pictures show numbers over quality as you can see the white is very poor, the next few pictures show the improvement of adding a few good males to a low grade colony - the white and the grade improved within months

This is still a draft now final but can still be updated to accommodate new info. Please help me refine the terminology, and let me know if I have forgotten anything that has to be included. Common Terminology Tigers, Crystals and Taiwan Bees will all breed together. Here are some common terms or names that are used in the Shrimp hobby to describe various shrimp. The following picture from rah-bop will paint a better image as we go through the descriptions. Refer back to this picture as you read the descriptions. (Click to expand) What is a Tibee? A tibee is a hybrid between any Tiger (OEBT - orange eye blue tiger or also blonde tiger) - and usually a Taiwan Bee (TB) OR can also be hybrid between any Tiger and Crystals - CBS (Crystal Black Shrimp) and CRS (Crystal Red Shrimp). The preference is to cross with a Taiwan Bee. Since TBs are rarer and more expensive, you might not have enough TBs to breed. Using a Tiger as a partner to the Taiwan Bee, will ensure some genes are carried over when you cross the Tibee back with the Taiwan Bee parent. It's offspring could yield some Taiwan Bees. Crystals are more common. So a Tibee from TigerXCrystal is not as sought after. But nature can throw up some amazing colours from this hybrid too. I am working on a TigerXCRS myself to try to get some Red Tiger tibees. What is a TaiTibee? A Taitibee is a Tibee crossed back with a Taiwan Bee. What is a Pinto? A Pinto is a colour variation and type of Taitibee. There are 3 variants of patterns: Spotted Head Zebra Fancy - Such as skunk pattern and cloud patterns. The creative name for skunk pattern is derived from the black-and-white pattern, which very much resembles that of a skunk, especially due to the pattern on the head. And as the name suggests, the Cloud pattern very much resembles clouds shapes on the head of the shrimp. Colouration of pintos generally come in either black or red base. Black Zebra Pinto Red Zebra Pinto Cloud Pinto Skunk Pinto What is a Mischling? Mischling is a German word for "crossbreed" (plural: Mischlinge). A mischling (in the shrimp hobby) is a hybrid cross between Crystals and Taiwan Bees. When this crossbred mischling is crossed with another CRS, it's genetics are diluted, and you get a small % of Taiwan Bees. When mischlings are crossed with another mischling it's genetics are even more diluted. And the % of TB are even smaller to the point of never getting a TB. It's like striking Lotto. However, when you cross a mischling back with a Taiwan Bee, you get a larger % of TBs, but with the added benefit of strengthening it's gene pool when it's original parents were mixed with a CRS. BlueBolts has already started an excellent sticky thread on Mischling here: http://shrimpkeepersforum.com/forum/index.php/topic/714-minchlings/ This article is a supplement to information already on SKF. It is by no means trying to supersede any information found elsewhere. Here is an excellent explanation from Ineke as well “Taiwan Bees crossed with Crystals give Mischlings which are then crossed back to Taiwan Bees to help people get to their goals quicker in having more Taiwan Bees (TB) however on this forum we like to let people know when Mischling bloodlines appear in our breeding so more initials are added. If you get a King Kong (KK) Bluebolt (BB), Panda or any other TB from a TB/ Mischling cross we like to let people know by saying we have a KK(TBM)-King Kong from TB / Mischling. If you are lucky enough to get a TB. From 2 Mischlings it would be a KK (TBMM) or whatever type of TB you have. This just keeps people honest and let's buyers know that they will get a percentage of Mischlings from their TBM / TBMM. Nothing worse than having Mischlings showing up in your TB. Breeding program when you thought you had purebreds". What is a Tibee cross Mischling? To my knowledge, this has not been given a common name yet. It's still a Caridina Cantonensis. It's still a bee shrimp. It is just a different colour variant. Let's call this variant a "Tischling" for now (03Oct2014), unless someone can confirm a common name that pre-dates this name. This Tischling is an uncommon hybrid, possibly because the desirable genetic traits are too diluted and takes the shrimp keeper further away from achieving desirable goals. Not when there are easier and faster breeding choices that would achieve the same goal. Like for instances, using the Tibee or Mischling to be crossed back to a pure Tiger, Crystal or Taiwan Bee. A hybrid Mischling might carry recessive traits, and is unseen (like a specific colour), and crossing it with another hybrid Tibee would be like trying to get a certain colour (say red), from something that doesn't show any colour. A complete guess.

Thanks ineke that's very informative and seeing those pictures as made my mind up to go out today and get some male stock, mine are starting to colour as in your first pic, the last few photos are beautiful shrimp This was my last photo a few weeks ago Many thanks for sharing

Thanks Ineke. Pictures speak a thousand words.