Methods for creating new Isopod Morphs

[Coolherper]

I am interested in creating and isolating new isopod morphs in species such as p. scaber, a. nasatum, etc. Does anyone have experience keeping isopods with this goal in mind? I have a few ideas for how to go about the process. I could buy an absurd number of isopods (1000+) and separate them into several cultures, and take out an naturally occuring morphs that happen during breeding. The biggest issue with this is it seems like a big hassle to manage like 20-30 cultures at once. I could also experiment with crossing multiple already known morphs into new ones. But, I would really like to see some new, undiscovered morphs. Please leave suggestions of what the best method is!!

Side note- What is the best species to use for this?

 

[Psydeus565]

For my own small scale efforts:

I maintain one huge colony of about 300+ (I truly have no idea how many there are maybe less or more). From that colony I peek in every month or so and find individuals with particular traits and try to separate at least 10 or so that are similar. More is better and you need to get them when they are still small because they sexually mature at sub-final size. I let those smaller offshoot projects breed for awhile and then repeat the process. I think I have 3 or 4 different things going on right now with P. laevis that I found locally. I have a pure white morph almost fully separated and am working on orange, which is taking much longer because none of them were clearly orange to start. Everything takes time, I've been at it for over a year and a half, so pace yourself.

 

[AZCeptipede]

For my own small scale efforts:

I maintain one huge colony of about 300+ (I truly have no idea how many there are maybe less or more). From that colony I peek in every month or so and find individuals with particular traits and try to separate at least 10 or so that are similar. More is better and you need to get them when they are still small because they sexually mature at sub-final size. I let those smaller offshoot projects breed for awhile and then repeat the process. I think I have 3 or 4 different things going on right now with P. laevis that I found locally. I have a pure white morph almost fully separated and am working on orange, which is taking much longer because none of them were clearly orange to start. Everything takes time, I've been at it for over a year and a half, so pace yourself.

I'd love to see some pics, that sounds like a really interesting project.

 

[Psydeus565]

Give me a few days and I'll get down to my classroom and take some pictures. Might manage it tomorrow.

 

[Psydeus565]

Ok, so here's my shelves of isopods:

The small cubes are separate strains I'm isolating from the bigger bins below. I've got mostly P. laevis and A. vulgare and some P. scaber. Here's some pics of the insides of the enclosures before I threw in more leaves: