effect of overcrowding on shrimps

[VishaalDalal]

Rajiv Ji,

your observation is correct but if the bright colouration indicates health, where are we going wrong, also it becomes difficult to cull the juveniles as the colours are not so strong. so the wait for adulthood gives the shrimp more time to breed ad spread the inferior genes.

confusion galore

when to cull for selective breeding.

[Romi]

Rajiv Ji,

your observation is correct but if the bright colouration indicates health, where are we going wrong, also it becomes difficult to cull the juveniles as the colours are not so strong. so the wait for adulthood gives the shrimp more time to breed ad spread the inferior genes.

confusion galore

when to cull for selective breeding.

Simple. Cull the confirmed uglies first. But try and make sure you dont give me one

[VishaalDalal]

Rajiv Ji,

your observation is correct but if the bright colouration indicates health, where are we going wrong, also it becomes difficult to cull the juveniles as the colours are not so strong. so the wait for adulthood gives the shrimp more time to breed ad spread the inferior genes.

confusion galore

when to cull for selective breeding.

Simple. Cull the confirmed uglies first. But try and make sure you dont give me one

[Abhishek]

Personally I have noticed this also that shrimps where population is less tends to grow faster and also getting good coloration.

I counter the over stocked shrimps setup by doing weekly 20-30% water change and (touchwood) never faced the loss of coloration, growth issue after that.

Just try a small experiment, in your small overstocked tank do weekly religiously water change of upto 30% or more and lets see

[VishaalDalal]

am already doing a 20% water change every week. but you are right

[Abhishek]

Simple thing and one basic rule -

Keep good flowing aerated and clean water, and enjoy..

Rest job they will do

[bmukh]

In a close small setup, I think they are likely to go dull. The three most common reasons why most species are colourful in the wild are (a) signal to predators that they are not to be touched and/or (b) attract mates and (c) exposed/access to different parameters and food.. In a tank, we deliberately take care of (a) and (c) and for (b), given there are finite number of males and females, what would one do? There is no longer a competition as severe as there is in the wild (in wild if one is spurned by his/her lover (s)he travels to attract someone else) . Subsequently the newer generations start losing the colour pigment.

All that said above is a mere untested hypothesis, but what the heck, tried to make it sound convincing . Bottomline, in captivity, species may look dull and colourless over generations!

[VishaalDalal]

agree Bappa Da,

this is why I have Badis (2 species), Rams, apistos in one tank. copied from your Tank stocking where all your fish are in one tank.