Boa Shrimp: Starting 2021 on the right track!

A shoutout to those out there who have given me very good feedback on the post and i’ll continue to pen down my thoughts.

Ben enjoys spending time browsing through online restaurant reviews and take down notes on which restaurant he like to visit. He called up a restaurant reserving a seat for himself on Friday for one. He told himself for this Christmas day, he will treat himself for once. As the day approaches, Ben was very excited as he knew that the quality will be top notch. The Christmas decoration of the restaurant and the table setting is immaculate. As he enters the restaurant he was greeted with finest and then the waiter came over and shared the menu.

Ben loves his steak so he browse through the selections and different cuts, all were very tempting. He narrowed down to two choices either a Wagyu beef from Japan or the same cut but from another country. However, the price difference is quite substantial at the higher grade. Eventually he went ahead with the Japan Wagyu selection. When he was done with dinner, he told the waiter to book him another seat next week as he wanted to try out another steak but from another country. A few good steak wrapped up his Christmas celebration!

so what am i driving at?

There are plenty of restaurant in the world like there are plenty of shrimp breeder globally. There are some breeders who does very well for a certain type of shrimp as they created the shrimp whereas for some they take on others to create their own line. If we take an example of the Japan Wagyu, the prices could be 3-4x higher compared to other country beef but does the price difference justify the quality? if you ask me personally, it does. Anybody who have tried it will understand. However, everyone have their own budget and it is perfectly fine to work within it. What is more important is you enjoy the hobby and when you see that prize shrimp collection that feel good feeling is like a foodie having a ‘mouth-gasm’. https://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=mouthgasm

There is really no short cut to success, even given a colony of high grade shrimps does not guarantee success. Ignorance and short cut only result in the demise of the shrimp hobby. The root cause in my opinion is the sharing of knowledge and information where truth become twisted. If every breeder and hobbyist are on the up and up with each other, i believe this great hobby will be even greater. I have personally experience hobbyist dumping poor grade shrimp to enthusiastic hobbyist who have just entered the hobby and eventually calling it quits when they found out the truth. This also stems from unethical shops where shrimps advertise were not actually from the source they claim they are from. Hence, the source (a detailed explanation in another post) of where the shrimp comes from far outweigh the benefit of low prices. The bitterness of poor quality remains long after the sweetness of low price is forgotten.

Boa shrimp

As i sink in deeper to further understand this the more i learn about where misconception can arise. Boa in itself is a selective bred shrimp and while anybody can ‘copy’ or create Boa from Stardust it is however important to note the selection process, starting shrimp used, culling process, tank parameters, food, etc far differs from breeder to breeder. The original shrimp to create Boa is already different and any slight deviation would result in strikingly different outcome. Hence, it is safe to say that i wouldn’t be receiving a mouth watering Japan Wagyu A5 steak if i order another country Wagyu A5, they may look the same (at least to me) but the grading, keeping, etc are all different. Even at grade A5, there are a wide band to the quality of wagyu.

While everyone has the right to deem how their grading is based on their shrimp, relying on a reputable grading system based out of a renowned lineage is my preference. Taking guidance from a reputable breeder is far better than spreading rumors of how grading should be done just because you want to sell your shrimp. For example, if i’m going to keep Boa from a reputable breeder than certainly I’ll use their grading as a benchmark to determine the different grade. Grading is tricky as it take time and experience to learn how to grade and a point system will help with it. For example a Grade 2 or Grade 3 shrimp would mean a certain criteria to be met and if it falls within the band it will be graded as is.

However, within a grade, there is a continuum which allow the breeder to grade two different shrimp that may look slightly different but having the same grade. This can either be done through descriptive or point system or both. If descriptive, it can mean that a check box of criteria once met will be assigned to the grade.

S Grade for Golden Boa. Thin facial lines, very few to no body spots, slightly transparent at certain parts. Spider legs.

SS Female Boa. Colors on this may have bluish hue to it however in this grade there is a possibility that the colors are not fully display yet. These are young female and will grow up stunning (note the body pattern) it is important that the body have some spots in this grade. Having a lot of spots on the body are usually more desirable compared to fewer spots. Facial spots and pattern are big instead of thin lines and rather numerous. Spider legs coloration. This will generalize the grading for SS especially having heavier weightage on body spots.

SS Male Boa on the other hand due to the smaller body area results in fewer of the criteria being met at a given grade. Within the same grading methodology a SS male will not look as nice as a SS female. Reason being is the lower part of the male body doesn’t have sufficient area to have a lot of spots. A nice male is very difficult to come by and people are willing to shell out top dollars to get their hands on them.

A SSS Female Boa. The blue coloration resides ontop of the base color fishbone pattern with the blue tracing around the patterns on the body and face. Body spots are more obvious with abundant sprays of spot throughout the belly area. The facial pattern on this is modest with distinctive differentiation between the base color and face pattern. Spider legs with bluish tinge, swimmerets are colored as well.

A SSS (Competition grade) Female Boa. Color on this is uncontested where the colors illuminate the pattern on the shrimp. The golden hue mix with the metallic blue accentuate the overall shrimp coloration. The numerous body spots sprays across the mid section of the shrimp with high intense coverage. The facial pattern large but not overpowering giving it a sense of contrast between the black base color and face pattern. Here the facial pattern has to balance between big patterns but not covering the entire face. The legs are fully colored in the spider leg fashion. The back black line helps trace the shrimp framing itself into a beauty of it’s own.

Here is a picture where the Boa are grazing on the Lubao (Microorganism ball). It is vital to have a grazing material to help support the breeding program (Please read microorganism ball post here).

Color changes occur throughout the life of a Boa, when they’re happy through good water parameters without excessive feeding and grazing material than they will keep breeding and continue to look nicer with each molt. Here is one example of a female Boa where the first picture on the top is when i got it a month in and the bottom picture is in the 3rd month. The colors as you can clearly see intensifies to a darker shade of blue. Yes you are right both of the time when i took the picture she is berried.

People often ask me what i do to be successful in shrimp breeding? Keep it simple. No magic powder, nothing. I’m a plain old school aquarist where i do my regular water change, keeping things simple in the tank and don’t overfeed. There isn’t really a magic formula, the less i do, the better they breed and all i really do on a daily basis is to feed once or twice a day with Hwa version 1 food pad and have the microorganism ball to aid in grazing. That’s all. simple yet very effective. I find there are too many ‘bells & whistles’ in the market today that doesn’t contribute to the success of shrimp breeding. What it does is help is certainly confusing hobbyist and pulls them further away from success.

The grading are based off the grades printed on the certificates.

Right at the onset of this post i mentioned about enjoying the hobby and to me it is all about sharing with friends about my journey of keeping and breeding shrimp. Sharing the information, knowledge and the shrimps with everyone. More importantly i always believe to be inclusive in the hobby and to share the joy with immediate family.

Hope this post have shed some light on the Boa grading topic and stay safe wherever you are and wishing all breeders a happy 2021!