Sakura Shrimp Breeding - Genetic Div & Interbreeding Grades

[PlantedTanker]

About a year ago I purchased around 20 Painted Sakura Cherrywood shrimp. Since that time I've begun to cull and breed for color. Two questions:

 

1) How often do you need to introduce genetic diversity into your colony?

 

2) I've found it difficult to find shrimp marketed as Painted Sakura for sale. Are there any concerns if I purchase Fire Reds or Bloody Marrys to breed with my Sakura? I've heard rumors that Bloody Mary's can throw off strange colors if bred with other grades. Anyone have any experiences like this?

 

Thanks

 

 

 

[aotf]

I don't have any personal experience with PFRs but I can tell you that Bloody Marys come from a very different lineage and may produce wild-types. If you're going to introduce new blood into your line, stick with shrimp that have been bred from cherry lines. Bloody Marys are bred from a Chocolate line (where you will fine Blue and Black Diamonds).

As far as nomenclature goes, one potential reason you cannot find Painted Sakura shrimp for sale is that it's not a term anyone uses. The grading goes Cherry > Sakura > (low grade) Fire Red > Fire Red > Painted Fire Red. Breeding Fire Reds to your Sakuras will likely increase their grade (depending on where it is now, given your selective breeding), although PFRs will be a bit more expensive than Cherries or Sakuras. It's worth noting that nomenclature with shrimp is always loosely enforced, so what some may call "Painted Fire Reds", others may call "High Grade Cherries" or "Super Reds". It sucks, I know.

If you'd like to find more high-grade cherry-lineage to add to your breeding tank, check out Aquabid and take a look at the pictures. Nomenclature is often fuzzy, just make sure that what you're buying is high-grade based on the pictures and is cherry-lineage.

[PlantedTanker]

Thanks so much for your reply, and apologies for the delay in mine. I hadn't realized that Bloody Mary's stemmed from the chocolate lines. 

 

So the question that stands is, when and how often does one need to introduce genetic diversity into a colony??? I'm sure variables like original colony diversity, colony size, etc play major factors. Anyone have thoughts/ideas/experiences??

 

 

 

[Aquatic Athlete]

I recently read that you can go though dozens and dozens of generations without the need for genetic diversity, with shrimp. It seems sketchy to me and I'm sure you won't kill your colony by adding new blood, but apparently you can go for long periods of time without. 

 

 

Can anyone confirm or deny that?

[PlantedTanker]

Thanks for your response! I'm hoping we can generate a lively  discussion here and share experiences/knowledge

 

It seems logical that you could go quite a while before issues occur. (My comments below are only my thoughts and not based on data/articles/etc)

 

The danger of not introducing fresh blood is that genetic abnormalities (inherent in your line) will become more common.

 

That being said, many of us cull our colonies ....which likely removes those individuals from our population. (Assuming the abnormalities can be observed).

 

That being said...there has to be a limit to that logic. Just as a "mutt" is *usually hardier than a purebred dog.

 

I love the idea of regularly introducing new blood into the line...but we also accept some level of risk, each time we do.

 

Would love to hear additional thoughts on the topic.