Alright, let’s talk about this little project I got myself into a while back – trying to get some decent F1 tiger stripe bulls going. Wasn’t exactly sure what the “bull” part meant when I first heard it, maybe tougher stock or a certain look, but the tiger stripe part? Yeah, that got my attention.
Getting Started
So, I first saw some pics, maybe it was on a forum or someone showed me at a meet. These shrimp looked kinda rugged, with those bold tiger stripes but maybe a different body color or pattern than the usual tigers I had seen. Looked cool. Thought to myself, I’ve got a spare tank, why not give it a shot? Seemed like a fun challenge.
First thing was setting up the tank. Nothing too fancy. Just a standard 10-gallon I had lying around. Cleaned it out real good. Threw in some active substrate I like, cycled it for what felt like forever, you know how it is. Gotta get that bacteria colony happy. Put in some driftwood, a few mosses, nothing crazy. Wanted to keep it simple so I could easily spot the shrimp and any babies.
The Shrimp Hunt and Setup
Finding the right shrimp was the next hurdle. I needed some good quality tiger shrimp to start. Found a local guy who had some decent looking regular tigers, nice clean stripes. Got about ten of those. Then, the “bull” part. This was trickier. I ended up getting some shrimp that were supposedly from a line known for being hardy and having a slightly different look, maybe a bit more opaque or a specific pattern hint. Honestly, it was a bit of a guess, based on what another hobbyist recommended. Got about ten of those too.
Acclimated them real slow, drip by drip, over a couple of hours. Didn’t want to shock them right off the bat. Popped them into the cycled tank. Water parameters were pretty standard for Caridina – low pH, soft water. Used RO water remineralized, aiming for a TDS around 120-140. Kept the temperature steady, around 72F (22C).
The Waiting Game and Breeding
Then came the waiting. And more waiting. Fed them lightly, good quality shrimp food. Did my regular water changes, maybe 10-15% once a week, making sure the new water matched perfectly. Just watched them mostly. They seemed happy enough, grazing around.
After a few weeks, maybe a month, I started seeing some berried females! That was exciting. Saw females from both groups carrying eggs. Okay, step one, check. They were comfortable enough to breed.
More waiting for the eggs to hatch. Tiny little specks appeared, clinging to the moss and glass. Survival rate seemed okay, not amazing, but decent. This was the F1 generation, the first cross. This is where the real work, or rather observation, started.
Checking Out the F1s
As these little F1 shrimplets grew, I watched them like a hawk. Every day, checking their patterns. Would I get those cool tiger stripes combined with whatever the “bull” line was supposed to bring?
- Early Stages: Tiny specks, hard to tell anything.
- Juveniles: Started seeing some stripes forming. Okay, promising.
- Growing Up: This is where you see the variations. Some looked pretty much like regular tigers. Some looked more like the other parent stock. And a few… a few looked kinda interesting. Maybe the stripes were bolder, or the base color was slightly different.
It wasn’t some magic bullet, though. Definitely no tank full of perfect “tiger stripe bulls”. More like a mixed bag. A lot of culling would be needed if I wanted to stabilize a look. I picked out the few that seemed closest to what I imagined, the ones with strong tiger stripes but maybe that thicker shell look or slightly different coloration I associated with the “bull” idea. Moved them to another small tank to see if they’d breed true, well, truer, in the F2 generation.
Final Thoughts Back Then
Honestly, it was a lot of effort for a very mixed result in that first generation. That’s how breeding projects go, right? It takes time, patience, and a lot of tanks if you’re serious about isolating traits. I got a few interesting shrimp out of it, learned a bit more about genetics the hard way. Didn’t get the “perfect” shrimp I saw in those first pictures, not in F1 anyway. Maybe needed more generations, maybe needed different starting stock.
It was a fun process, tinkering with the tank, watching the shrimp grow. But yeah, creating a specific look like “f1 tiger stripe bulls” isn’t just mixing two types and hoping for the best. It’s a long game. Kept a few of the interesting ones, but eventually moved on to other projects. Still cool to look back on the attempt, though.
