Grading and Culling Cherry Shrimp: Improving Your Colony

Culling cherry shrimp is certainly not something you need to do if you are just keeping a few shrimp for fun, but if you are looking to improve your colony and select for certain traits then its vital.
Grading cherry shrimp is a fairly easy process that takes more time and patience than it does thought power. But you do need to have another tank set up and ready for your... more ugly shrimp.

[@Mplay213]

Thanks for the lovely video, just in case you didn't know, some of your shrimp have Scutariella Japonica. It's a small parasite which pokes out their head, it isn't harmful, especially in the small quantities it's present in your colony. However, if they massively multiply then they can do some damage, so something to keep an eye on. Examples: the one at 8:32 and the one on the left at 9:01

[@magnumopus9058]

How would you combat this parasite?

[@psychotheman]

Im not planning on culling my shrimp nor do i have high grade ones but im just mesmerized by how pretty they are

[@dondutch4107]

so many videos on Shrimp care, so little videos on Shrimp grading.. this video is valuable to beginners

[@rodneywalat8956]

Thank you for another great, informative video. Not only do I get to learn something, but the photography is fantastic.

[@GSAquatix]

This is a very helpful video for anyone who wants to level up in shrimp keeping. Thanks!

[@T1G3R009]

Best video I can find that shows grading well

[@br0ken86]

Very informative video! Thanks!

[@jenniferbunker2757]

Thank you

[@gryaznygreeb]

I can't be the only one who thinks they look cooler with some white and translucent spots right?

[@auntonera1xtattoo]

I agree with you

[@NewJerseyTom]

Thank you ♤♤♤Tom From New Jersey...USA

[@FeralMina]

Thank you for another beautiful video, such a pleasure! As an aside, I think I see some signs of a Scutariella infestation.

[@tinymenagerie]

Hey Feral, Well spotted! Indeed there are some scutes in the tank, they came along with the starter colony. I'm not too worried about them at the moment as their numbers are staying low and to treat the whole tank id kill off all the other worms like wire worms, detritus worms, white worms and flat worms I've been cultivating in there for a stable no filter system. When the shrimps move to their new bigger tank that I'm setting up for them, I'll give them each a salt-bath dip as they go and remove any shed skins for a few weeks. Hopefully that will stop any scutes getting in the new tank :)

[@deltoid4]

Fantastic guide, I do watch a prolific shrimp breeder, and i've heard him say he doesn't cull until he has a decent sized colony to cull, so I have not culled my colony yet. But I have been considering it for a while. At the moment in a breeder box on my main red cherry tank I have 3 red Rilli kind of females all buried, and one high grade. Been wondering what to do with them. Also for the record I never purchased any Rilli shrimp its just what has happened over a short period of time, maybe a couple of months.

[@no-knickers-emma1112]

Thanks

[@nbv1235]

new follower is here🙆🙆love ur videos☺☺i have cute sunkist orange shrimps ! and tetras!

[@tinymenagerie]

Welcome!! and thanks for the sub! I hoping to get new shrimps soon but cant decide between the orange and blue ones :D

[@tribalrhino]

Great video on quite a complicated topic. I thought I'd reduce the culling need by going with Bloody Mary, but in the first generation, I got a load of wild types :( After a couple of generations, I noticed lots of males in the cull tank... Some research was needed. Turns out, I had the heat up a bit higher than is the norm. This speeds up metabolism and increases survivability, sure, but you get a lot more males... which are generally the lower grade. Lesson learned: don't be in such a hurry/lazy... I don't cull one of my tanks any more as they are just pets now rather than the potential retirement plan :D The other tank I do cull but only because they are so prolific. Luckily (or not), Caridina are not as prolific at all, so culling might be much more of a thing for a while... Once I have lost enough hair for my colonies to establish.

[@tinymenagerie]

Hey Tribal, that's fascinating about the heat being too high. I'm certainly noticing more males than I would like in my new generation so I'll follow your suit and turn the temp down by a couple of degrees and see if that helps. Thanks for the tip. And I agree with the caridina not being so prolific, I find they will just maintain a nice steady rate of a few babies in the tank, whereas neos have a population explosion as soon as there's plenty of food around - a bit like snails only cuter :D

[@ikhairi83]

therapeutic = 100%

[@gowashhands]

hello im new to shrimp keeping and i have red cherry shrimp which are i guess of low quality. So my question is can i increase the quality of my shrimp through breeding or do i have to introduce some good quality in the group?

[@hrtripplevl5765]

Did you find your answer

[@courtneytupper6389]

@@hrtripplevl5765 You can increase the quality through breeding, it'll just take much longer than introducing a few higher grades

[@matz4k]

I am new to shrimp keeping, do I have to look out for inbreeding or is one colony enough to keep for generations?

[@chrispeters2645]

Another excellent video from the Tiny Menagerie. I started a Red Cherry colony with a dozen shop bought shrimp in November 2019 and over six months or so, their numbers grew to well over two hundred. So many in fact, that I ended up splitting the colony between four tanks. Due to my inexperience and allowing them to breed unchecked, the quality has suffered, however I do still have a few medium-high grade individuals. After watching this, I'm thinking I might try my hand at culling/selectively breeding.

[@tinymenagerie]

Letting their quality slip is easily done, you only have to be lax about culling for a couple of months and the low grades seem to just take over! At neos are so prolific that they're easy to re-establish as high grade if you have the patience :D Good luck!

[@joshuaramcharan9735]

Do you intro new genes into the group? I bought 6 and only 1 looks red and has a good size.

[@munkeyco3193]

2 seconds in.... Another Lauren!

[@gianteeyore]

How do you grade shrimp with a different colored back stripe?

[@tinymenagerie]

Hey! Depends on if you like the stripe or not. Generally it’s not really desirable as when grading cherry shrimp it’s all about the colour being as solid as possible. Personally I like striped shrimp so I keep mine 😀

[@auntonera1xtattoo]

How do you tell male from female

[@kumarawijesundara4977]

please tell me How can buy this shrimp 🇱🇰

[@borisnoone]

If you have more than two tanks, wouldn't it be easier to transfer the high grade shrimp out? That way you'd be able to prevent unwanted pairings with lower quality males...

[@kbants4063]

Also good to mention that males tend to be less colourful 👌🏻

[@gem9535]

I mean cull. I stuffed the low grades with good quality food and feed them to fish, but I... ya know, before feeding them to the fish. That's just cruel.

[@wishiwasamuffin]

Thank you for caring enough to do that! May I ask how? Euthanasia with clove? Freezing them? I want to know so when the time comes, if I *can*, I'd like my dying ones to be gently put out of their misery.

[@KevinChannelTV]

I threw them in my turtle aquarium and now I have a large colony of low grades just hanging out. My turtle eats some but usually leave them alone if I feed them.

[@Unite_the_Church]

I don’t get it low grade shrimp look so much better that high grade ones, this can’t be just me. Low grade ones have patters they look better

[@tinymenagerie]

I feel the same way about crystal red shrimp, I like the low grade stripy ones best, but the more white they are the higher the grade 🤷🏻‍♀️

[@judaspriestchild]

0:34 modern day society