Hi Mustafa and everyone,
This is just out of curiousity. I understand that Snowball shrimps (Neocaridina cf. zhangjiajiensisis "white") is a mutation of the Neocaridina cf. zhangjiajiensis. Do Snowball shrimps get weaker after inbreeding over several generations (like the Crystal Red shrimps)? Or do we need to breed the Snowball shrimps back with their wild-type (Neocaridina cf. zhangjiajiensis) once in a while to strengthen their strain? Thank you very much for any insights.
When it comes to shrimp, I don't believe in the "breeding back to the wild type makes my mutant shrimp stronger" theory. Just like you don't have to cross in wild type Neocaridina denticulata sinensis in RCS populations, you don't need to use wild type snowball shrimp or wild type bee shrimp in their respective mutant strains. I have never observed any weakness due to inbreeding in my RCS or snowball shrimp populations. My RCS population is almost 4 years old and never had any other RCS mixed in. It started out with only 15 animals and has produces thousands and thousands and the animals still look vigerous and produce just as many eggs as the first generation.
I think it's funny how some people actually mix in highly inbred bee shrimp into their highly inbred CRS populations to make their CRS populations "stronger." Even if they mixed in actually wild-caught bee shrimp, it would not make a difference in vitality and vigour in my opinion. After all, you don't see dog breeders constantly mix in wolves for vigour and strengh in their dog breeds (unless they want to develop a wolf-dog hybrid breed).
I have yet to see an example of weakening (such as deformaties etc.) in CRS or any other shrimp population, that would indicate problems with inbreeding. In the absence of such evidence, every attempt to mix in any wild-type animal to its mutant color variation population is just a needless and unnecessary endeavor. Of course I reserve the right to be proven wrong over time.
Kenshin
Thank You , for asking that Question.
That one has been on my mind.
Alot of sellers on Auctions sites, State just what use asked.
They say it is a better Breeding line.
Mustafa
Thank You
For Your for the information.
It helps to answer a few questions.
One more question.
Is it a good idea to have 2 or more, different colonies of the Same "grade"Shrimp from different sources.
And breed those offspring together.
Or, is this just another way of asking the original question ?
If you read Japanese, you can find a lot of information about CRS in many .jp sites. Many articles talked about what problems they had observed and explained why and how they used diamond (black bee) shrimps to correct them.
I, too, have not noticed any inbreeding problems with my cherry red shrimps. But it may be because RCS is not expensive and I do not keep count of them. And RCS is not sold because a shrimp is more red or has special pattern or feature (I admit that I use a 10x magnifier to look at CRS 99% of the time and less than 1% on RCS).
If, like them, I am breeding a shrimp that costs hundreds or thousands of US$ each. I will keep count of every single shrimp, will closely examine every shrimp, and will try to find out why a shrimp dies.
With cherries, I will not notice a few (or even a few dozens) disappeared in a tank with population of 2000+ shrimps in it.
I am sorry to say that I cannot read Japanese.
I wish I could, and also German.
I could probably learn alot.
I like to have a few of the easier to sell Shrimp.
Like CRS and RCS.
They help to support my hobby, and pay for more of the Non-color Morphs, Wild Type.
I am not to the part, where I can spend $100.00 per Shrimp. For now I will Just have to look at them on the Auction Sites.
I will never put anybody down
For looking at there Shrimp
With a 10X magnifier.
Newjohn wrote:
One more question.
Is it a good idea to have 2 or more, different colonies of the Same "grade"Shrimp from different sources.
And breed those offspring together.
Or, is this just another way of asking the original question ?
John
It's kinda like the origina question. However, I'll answer it differently. It's a good idea to have two or more different colonies of the same shrimp variety so you don't have to start all over again if one of your colonies gets wipe out for one reason or another. I'm speaking from experience here.
I quess I will have to tell my wife, She will have to move more of her things out of the basement and into the garage 
I think She will understand 
