# All about culling shrimp



## DogFish (Jul 16, 2011)

Or, maybe the title should be tell us, "All about culling shrimp".

Actually, I already know why to do it. I could use some tips of the "how' part. In my case my cherry's are in a 20L. I put in 40 from two separate sellers here on Swap. I've got a dozen nice red young adults. I also have sone clear bodied adults. 

Other tan catching one now & then. What is a smart way to cull? I've seen DIYs for traps.


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## chad320 (Mar 7, 2010)

I cut a small (dime-sized) hole in a jar and sink it with an algae wafer in it and wait about an hour. Culling is up to you and what you like to see. Dont forget that some shrimp will color up with age AND they can lose some of their color when they molt, only to be regained later on in the month as it hardens. I now look for shrimps about to molt a kull the ones with bad color.


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## DogFish (Jul 16, 2011)

chad320 said:


> ....Dont forget that some shrimp will color up with age AND they can lose some of their color when they molt, only to be regained later on in the month as it hardens.....


That's a good point to keep in mind.


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## mordalphus (Jun 23, 2010)

use a small sorting net, or a net made for shrimp. they are small and agile, and it's easy to cull a whole tank pretty quickly. i fill a dip'n'pour with tank water, then start pulling them out and sticking them in the dip'n'pour. When I feel I'm done, I bring the dip'n'pour full of shrimp over to my 50g and let my oscar and gouramis eat like kings.


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## 10gallonplanted (Oct 31, 2010)

mordalphus, instead of feeding your oscars. Send them to me, ill be happy to pay shipping.


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## mordalphus (Jun 23, 2010)

but then my oscar would be sad


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## 10gallonplanted (Oct 31, 2010)

But then I would be happy!


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## DogFish (Jul 16, 2011)

Oscars make the best Quality Control mgrs.

Mordalphus, is there any reason that I shouldn't set up a 10gl. breeder type, bare tank, with heater, sponge filter, some moss & hornwort for shrimp?

Right now I've got them in a 20L plant grow out tank until I set up my display tank. It might be easier to pull the best cherry adults and put then in the 10gl. until I'm ready to set up my display tank in Nov.


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## jasonpatterson (Apr 15, 2011)

As long as the tank isn't very heavily planted I go with what mordalphus suggested. Net them and place into a holding container to sort. It can be difficult to sort them from this point, but they're not going to die if you touch them, so I wind up draining almost all of the water before doing the actual sorting. I usually sort my keepers and culls into new containers so that I have a chance to review my decision before I feed the culls to my native tank.


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## mordalphus (Jun 23, 2010)

If it's for cherrys that's no problem. If it's for crystals I wouldn't do a barebottom.

Cherry shrimp will breed in a tupperware if you let them, so a 10g would be absolutely no problem. Now as for culls, I actually do have a 10g just for my culls, I let everyone sit in there usually. Well, I should say it's just for my culls and a breeding pair of betta channoides. When I put the channoides in there for breeding, I remove the female after the male is holding eggs, and he doesn't touch the culls. Even if I leave the pair in there for a month or two they dont eat anything but bloodworms (spoiled rotten wild bettas). But the cull tank is something I don't ever look into for shrimp, I just let the shrimp be, and what happens happens


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## CuLan (Sep 25, 2008)

Be careful with the jar with hole DIY trap. I once forgot about the trap for 2 hours, I lost 60+ shrimps. I think there was not enough oxygen because there was no water circulation with 2 little holes. If using the trap, keep an eye on it and don't leave it in there too long.


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## Martin_G (May 26, 2011)

I'm curious about culling shrimp too. I also have red cherries, and a number of males don't have as much color as other males. In fact just going by pictures I've seen of the wild version of cherries I wonder why I have what appears to be two color varieties or something close to it.

Have any other members noticed similar colors in their red cherries?

Should I still keep the odd cherries for breeding, or are they unable to pass the "red gene" to fry now?


Thanks,

Marty


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