I have an abundance of CBS some have high grade patterns but no depth of colour. I have S, SS, SSS patterns but I have to accept that technically they are culls. My best colours are probably S grade where the black and white have good coverage and reasonable depth of colour.  I probably have in excess of 100 CBS. Today I caught out all the shrimp in one of my CBS tanks and tomorrow I will pick out a few of the best to breed with. I still have another tank full of SS & SSS pattern to sort through. So do I go by pattern or go by depth of colour and coverage? If I go by depth of colour the majority of shrimp will be S grade. Some of the SS & SSS are very nice shrimp and probably better than a lot of shrimp available in LFS but if I'm honest I guess they really are mostly cull grade. It's such a shame to see so many nice shrimp that don't make the grade. This is what happens when you breed for quantity and not for quality. I don't generally sell my shrimp so I wasn't worried about quality although I did start out with mostly A grade shrimp and in essence I guess I have improved them to higher grade but in actuality I haven't gone far enough. I think I will take the best S grade and start again picking shrimp that have nice crisp black and white . I might have a few higher grade patterns that will pass as acceptable but I'm going to have to be tough - I probably will have to end up finding new homes for the majority to make room but it's very hard for me to let go.

anyway any thoughts on culling ? What would you do? Go for pattern, go for depth of colour and coverage of colour ? It's something we all need to think about and then what do you do with the culls? Sell them to cheaply beginners to see if they can keep the Crystals alive ? Take them out of circulation completely - I can pick out the females either by sight or as they become berried and keep the sexes separated so eventually they die out. I can't come to giving them up as fish food - as I said I've seen much worse in aquarium shops- but then I can't spare too many tanks to culls. It is a dilemma and in my case I have to go through it with quite a few different varieties in the near future. Time to cull all my projects especially as the breeding season approaches. I will be taking it tank by tank over the next month or so but its so hard to decide what to keep and what needs to go. I NEED MORE TANKS! 

Sounds like me in the Shrimp Paradise game lol

@Gbang, you should have some good advice for ineke?

I've been in a similar position lately with my CRS. I decided to cull based on the thickness of the colour first, then pattern second. Its been paying off as my latest shrimplets already have much better colour. 

Sell your culls off. Always good to have some money returning in to help pay for running costs or even new stock. 

+1 to culling on depth of colour first. Crisp lines between the white and black. No blending. No black dots in the white areas. And no milky, washed out whites.

Patterns will come naturally, you can't influence that very much. For example - Two "no entry" CRS wont necessarily guarantee you offspring with "no entry" patterns.

But a strong, deep coloured CRS or CBS will be pleasant to look at no matter what pattern.

 

As for culls, give them to meeeeee !!

I've got a new 2 foot tank that's waiting for something to go into it.

Thanks guys you have more or less reinforced  what I was thinking. It helps to hear others opinions. I like the look of the good old candy stripe crisp black and white or red and white banded shrimp. Luckily I have a few I'm reasonably happy with. Tomorrow I will be sorting my main CBS tank which has some promising juvies in it. It's just a bit hard to look at SSS pattern and think of it as  a cull but I know it's all about the depth of colour. Gbang has offered to find a few nice males for me for another project but I might put a few CBS girls in with them as well. 

@ineke I 100% agree with Jayc and Fishmosy. Pick the colour first especially in the legs. Getting solid colours in the legs is my holy grail.

But saying this I would like to add beautiful is in the eye of the beholder. If you like something go for it.

My tip is be really harsh on the males you choose. Think of what you want and find the males that match. In my experience and what i have been taught is males are important.

Its also just as important what you add to your colony to help improve it. 

I know its a huge debate about getting rid of culls. I know when i just started i would have taken any shrimp to try. I agree with fishmosy sell them cause for them it will help them improve their colony. You can then use that cash to buy something that will improve your colony. Do you research when buying though.

Edited August 21, 201510 yr by Disciple

just play ini mini miny moe with the shrimp :P

 

ive never done, but id go colours first

@ineke I 100% agree with Jayc and Fishmosy. Pick the colour first especially in the legs. Getting solid colours in the legs is my holy grail.

But saying this I would like to add beautiful is in the eye of the beholder. If you like something go for it.

My tip is be really harsh on the males you choose. Think of what you want and find the males that match. In my experience and what i have been taught is males are important.

Its also just as important what you add to your colony to help improve it. 

I know its a huge debate about getting rid of culls. I know when i just started i would have taken any shrimp to try. I agree with fishmosy sell them cause for them it will help them improve their colony. You can then use that cash to buy something that will improve your colony. Do you research when buying though.

good reminder about picking the best males. IME It is better to have a few really good males breeding with average females than average males with good females. Hence I'll always remove crappy males when I see them, but leave the females until I get a chance to do a proper cull. 

good reminder about picking the best males. IME It is better to have a few really good males breeding with average females than average males with good females. Hence I'll always remove crappy males when I see them, but leave the females until I get a chance to do a proper cull. 

why is this?

Yes, good reminder. The quality of the male is very important to the quality of the offspring. More so than the female really, so as fishmosy suggests good males with average females can produce good shrimp - not so the other way. 

so the babys follow the dads colours more? you speaking from experience or is it proven somewhere?

 Well that sucks - should I say I suck at culling. I spent yesterday and today catching out all my CBS -there's quite a few! I culled and culled and thought I kept out only the best but when I finally went to put them into their respective tanks I realised I had way too many keepers. They looked good in the foam boxes -the black good and the white reasonable but now they have settled I can see that I will need to do it again and be much harder this time. The youngest are the best so I will keep a few of them but I definately need to go through the process again until I have maybe a dozen- I like a reasonable number in the tank as they are too shy when there are only 2 or 3. I never used to have this trouble with the cherries-I culled hard with them but somehow it was much easier. Never mind I will leave them to settle for a week or so and then start again but only in the keeper tank this time- I won't go back and check the cull tank if I thought they weren't good enough then that's where they stay but I will be much harder this time!

so the babys follow the dads colours more? you speaking from experience or is it proven somewhere?

In a worst case scenario, a single bad male could fertilise multiple females (potentially producing lots of poor offspring).