shrimp1989 Posted May 16, 2018 Report Share Posted May 16, 2018 Hi All! Just received my first group of RCS. Been looking at grading charts and reading threads here. Would love some advice on breeding and culling! Are these blotchy whiter stripes on these females bad? Pictures of painted fire reds look so much better online, are these ones ok? Is this bright red one on the right a female? I was hoping it was a male. This for sure looks like a male, but I'm worried that the small area of clear on the bottom would make this male not a good choice for breeding stock. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JSak Posted May 17, 2018 Report Share Posted May 17, 2018 Hi @shrimp1989. How many RCS did you get with this batch? If you ordered a lot you could start selecting for the shrimps with the patterns and colors that you like the most, however, if you're starting with a relatively small colony (less than 20) I would suggest you let them breed and start culling as your colony grows. If you don't mind waiting longer for your colony to grow you can select the best looking ones you have out of your group, but I'd recommend breeding up a large sized colony and then culling and selectively breeding when you know the colony is healthy and of a good size. If you only select the best of the group you'll start with fewer shrimps and it'll take longer for the colony to grow and there's higher risk of the colony being compromised if a single or couple shrimps die. If you got the shrimps from a reputable breeder/seller all the shrimps will carry the same genes. Shrimps tend to become duller and lose color if you don't cull them for multiple generations, so it'll take some time before your shrimp become less desirable. The shrimps you find online will almost always look better than the shrimps you order because sellers and breeders will tend to take pictures and display their nicest looking shrimps, so I wouldn't compare yours too much to what you see online. Personally, if I order a batch of shrimp that I've never had before I don't cull them at all until there's at least 50 shrimps, which usually takes 1-2 generations of babies depending on how many I started with. Honestly, those look like fairly high grade RCS to me. They have red coloration throughout the entire body and their legs even have very good coverage which is indicative of high grade RCS. The white on the back seems to develop in the higher grade painted fires as a result of the backline. Personally, I like the backline look in my RCS and I'm hoping to selectively breed for more prominent backlines as my colony gets larger. As for the 2nd picture, I'd guess it's a female because of the bright coloration and coverage. Females tend to be more colorful than males. The 3rd picture looks like a male and quite a high quality one at that, but it looks pretty small based on the picture so it's hard for me to tell. I started with about 30 or 40 RCS and didn't cull them until they reached into the hundreds and even when I culled them I didn't take out too many. As long as the stock you got them from is high quality the genes will carry on into the babies. May I ask where you got the shrimp from? From what I see they're all fairly high grade considering you ordered them online (sellers and breeders will rarely sell ones that look like the best ones you see online as they're usually part of the breeding stock that they use to produce the babies that're eventually sold). But the fun of the hobby is that it's totally up to you. If you don't mind being patient and waiting a little longer for your colony to grow you can start selectively breeding now. Personally, I try to get a new group of shrimp breeding ASAP to give me peace of mind in case something catastrophic happens that could kill the majority of my shrimp. I only start culling when I feel that the population is large, healthy and breeding well, unless I start with lower quality shrimps or if I'm mixing shrimps together. Hope this helps! They look awesome IMO! shrimp1989 and Shrimporama 1 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
shrimp1989 Posted May 22, 2018 Author Report Share Posted May 22, 2018 Hi @JSak! Thank you so much for your in depth response. You have answered so many of my questions and saved me a lot of trouble! I got 40 RCS and separated them into 2 tanks, higher quality in one and lower quality in the other. I'm not so good at grading yet though(obviously) so I am hoping by continually separating the new babies based on their looks my high quality tank will be quite successful soon. I am curious to see how the supposed lower quality tank does with it's first round of babies! I'll post up some progress pics once we get some berried ladies 😁 JSak 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JSak Posted May 22, 2018 Report Share Posted May 22, 2018 5 hours ago, shrimp1989 said: Hi @JSak! Thank you so much for your in depth response. You have answered so many of my questions and saved me a lot of trouble! I got 40 RCS and separated them into 2 tanks, higher quality in one and lower quality in the other. I'm not so good at grading yet though(obviously) so I am hoping by continually separating the new babies based on their looks my high quality tank will be quite successful soon. I am curious to see how the supposed lower quality tank does with it's first round of babies! I'll post up some progress pics once we get some berried ladies 😁 No problem! I tend to type a lot because I find it hard to explain what I'm trying to say most of the time 😅 That's a great idea! As both of the colonies breed you'll get a few lower quality ones from the high quality tank, but I'm sure you'll also get some high quality ones from the low quality tank as well. As I said before, the fun of the hobby is that everything's up to you. I hope to create my own patterns of shrimp by mixing them. Some may prefer to keep the lines pure, but the excitement of shrimp keeping for me is that there are numerous patterns and colors, and the hobby is still constantly growing. Good luck with the shrimp! Definitely keep us al posted 👍 shrimp1989 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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