We have been receiving this question from many hobbyist from around the world, and today we like to discuss about this.

Our Galaxy Stardust from SL-Aqua have won numerous championship in different shrimp competition and we have been bragging about it. And the question from hobbyist would be so what?

Now let’s just put our Galaxy Stardust aside and discuss about a specific shrimp type that have won numerous competition from the same breeder.

So assuming we have a fictional shrimp breeder named Penn. Penn have won several championship for his “Red Devil” in different competitions. It actually means a few thing.

These days, in terms of buying hybrid shrimps, we would like to buy hybrid shrimps of a stable gene pool. The two questions here would be, what is hybrid shrimps and also how to determine a stable gene pool?

Hybrid shrimps are shrimps that have been crossbred between different variants. For example, a Black King Kong shrimp cross with Orange Eye Blue Tiger shrimp, the offsprings would be termed as hybrid shrimps. Therefore, hybrid shrimps do not usually breed true in the first few generations, or rather the breed true rate is very very low. Possibly out of 1 out of 20 shrimplets would be the desired one.

A stable gene pool would mean that the desired offsprings are high. An example, breeding galaxy shrimps together, you would have a portion of the shrimplets that are not like the parent. Offsprings like blue bolts, fancy tigers or even taiwanbees would appear. In a good gene pool, you would see very little of such offsprings and a high percentage would look like the parent.

So to determine a good gene pool, before purchasing the shrimp, I would usually take a look at the breeder’s breeding tank to see if the offspring breed true percentage is high. You can tell by the amount of shrimplets that the breeder have. A breeding tank with little offsprings could be signs that the breeder have removed the cull offsprings to another tank.

So, if Penn have been winning competitions of the same category consistently for a couple of years, it would mean that his colony of shrimps are of good stable genes as he is able to consistently send in shrimps to compete and win the championship. Penn’s shrimps are able to produce quality shrimps through the years, which means his offspring percentage is high.

That being said, SL-Aqua champion lineage of Galaxy Stardust have been winning numerous championship from various competition around the world. I have personally seen their breeding tank and the breed true rate is close to 90%!

Another point to take note is that, if you have purchased shrimps from a specific lineage, unless you look to carry certain traits of the shrimp to your offspring, DO NOT cross them with another lineage. Reason is that crossing with another unknown lineage, you would mess up the bloodline and the offsprings may not be as what you desired.

It’s good to invest in a good lineage these days and work from there because breeders have been fine tuning their lineage to be perfect.

So in summary, shrimps that have won championship usually sells for a higher price as the breeders have put in lots of hard work in breeding their own champion lineage. I would say that it’s every penny worth as not only the appearance is close to perfect, the gene pool is also breeding true.

To maintain a a strong gene pool, a lot of culling have been done and that process is not a 1 month process. I’ve known of many hobbyist who have purchased shrimp trying to perfect the gene pool but to no avail because of the patience and time needed to do that.

So the next time, if you ever purchase shrimps, these are some points to look out for! If you have any feedbacks on this article, feel free to drop me an email at demin@madshrimp.com