grade doesnt effect the offspring??

[imi_sky]

hey guys, sorry for posting so many things at one just i got lots of newbie questions.

ive read on alot of the websites and heard from alot of the breeders that the grade of the parent CRS doesnt effect the grade of the offspring CRS, is this true?? if it is...then could i possibly get SS grade form a C?? or is that only doable with selective breeding

[NanoDave]

From my fishkeeping (not shrimp!) experience , high grade fish produce high and low grades, however low grade doesn't produce high grades. If you are lucky, a very small percentage will produce something slightly higher grade from it's own grade.

[imi_sky]

ive kept fish before myself, just was wondering if shrimps are the same, can anyone confirm??

[dissident]

its basic genetics. Because you breed two grade C doesn’t mean all offspring will be grade C. The majority will have the Dominant traits of the parents. Some may be higher and some will be lower. If the parents of your current stock were of a higher grade you will have a better chance of having a few more of that grade.

Best thing to do is start with a high grade and cull the lower grade offspring. By breeding lower grades to get a higher grade you are just polluting the gene-pool future generations have to pull from.

I'm not sure if there is enough research done into CRS and what traits are dominant and if there is a pure strain yet. Guppy breeders may take 10yrs or more to get a pure strain of a paticular guppy.

[retardo]

Grade doesn't play a role in offspring? lol That's a new one. Everything involved in breeding is about genetics and the breeder's tastes. If that were not the case, we would not have all the purebred varieties of animals out there. As others have said, you will get a mix of desirable traits and undesirables traits. You pick the traits you like, put two parents exhibiting those traits and you solidify the trait over several generations. You can continue keep the undesirables together (as opposed to culling them :cry: ) in a tank together and allow them to breed. Then perhaps out of some fluke, you'll get a new trait you've never seen before due to recessive genes. You can then selectively breed this new trait and introduce a new variety. :D

[imi_sky]

ive been trying for the past 2 days to figure out which is male and which is female, ive read the post on how to tell them apart..just i cant seem to tell them apart, i can see that there are a few with longer noses...but not longer antennas, the back of all the shrimps doesnt look very round, but some do at times...if there a better way to tell them apart?? maybe i just need to work on it

[retardo]

Look at the area where the pleopods (abdomen area) are located. If the carapace protecting the pleopods are further away from the body, it is a female (convex shape). If the carapace is closer to the body, it is likely a male (more concave in shape). Unfortunately, I don't have pix to demonstrate. I'm sure one of the other members on this forum does tho.

[imi_sky]

hm.. i think i might get everything except the concave and convex part of the reply :embarasse i know what they mean but isnt convex bending outwards?? haha confused i know the females have an extended carapace to protect the eggs when they appear, but how do you tell the males convex?? :embarasse sorry if i sound so newb

[retardo]

Think of convex as the arc you'd see in a rainbow... It's not entirely accurate, so I do apologize. Just look for shrimp with a much smaller carapace as compared to the females. Here's a pic of a male from this forum's gallery... http://www.shrimpnow.com/mygallery/showimage.php?i=292 See how the carapace does not hang down low like the female?

[imi_sky]

thanks retardo, so when the shrimps are young around 1-3months you cant really tell them apart right?? other then by guessing.

[retardo]

Yep. Unfortunately, they all look the same when they're young. BTW, another way to tell when they are at reproduction age and if they're are clear/translucent, look at the back "neck" region. You can usually see eggs developing in this region. Depending on species, the color of the eggs will be different.

[imi_sky]

those are the ovaries like the cherry shrimps ne, but the color of CRS seem so much more intense then that of teh cherry shrimp, is it even possible to spot the ovary on a grade C to A grade??

[silane]

Spotting of ovary on higher grade CRS (A and above) is more difficult as the color is very thick, the same case for pregnant female, thick body color block the eggs at sideway.