In a planted shrimp tank you cannot follow individuals, and you do not need to. Lineage in a breeding colony is tracked at batch level: each purchase becomes a coded batch, each new generation is linked to the batch its mother came from, and anything you cannot link is labelled honestly instead of guessed. That discipline, applied from the first purchase, is what separates a lineage record from a rough memory of roughly when some shrimp arrived.
Setting Up Batch Codes
Code each purchase in arrival order: P1 for the first purchase, P2 for the second, and so on, however small the group. Founder shrimp from a purchase are generation zero for that line, written as G0. When their offspring appear, that cohort is G1 with the purchase batch as its parent. A later purchase starts its own line at G0 under its own code, even if it joins the same tank on the same water. Write the code on a small label on the tank glass or the tank's notebook cover, so the code you are using is visible at the moment you are writing, not reconstructed later from a receipt.
The Batch Record Itself
For every batch, fill in these fields in this order: batch code, arrival date, source, number added, generation label, parent batch code, berried female date, colony photo reference. A worked entry reads: Batch code: P2. Arrival date: 2025-04-03. Source: local breeder, second group bought from that breeder. Number added: twenty. Generation label: G0. Parent batch code: none, founder purchase. Berried female date: 2025-05-18. Colony photo reference: P2 cohort photograph, 2025-05-18, feeding area at lights on. Notice that the photograph is dated the day a berried female from that batch was recorded, because that pairing is what lets you look back and see the mothers of the next cohort rather than a tank of unlabelled shrimp.
Linking a Generation to Its Mother's Batch
The link is made at the berried female, because she is the one moment where parentage is visible. When you spot a berried female whose colouring and purchase timing place her in batch P2, note the date against that batch, and when her shrimplets appear, record the cohort as P2-G1: generation label G1, parent batch code P2. If you want a cleaner line, move a berried female gently, in a container of tank water rather than a net, into a labelled nursery compartment fed by the same tank water, and raise her shrimplets there until they are large enough to join the colony; the cohort then carries her label with no doubt at all. Offspring that simply appear in the main colony, with no berried female recorded beforehand, are entered as a mixed cohort with parent batch code written as mixed colony, because an honest mixed label protects the value of every certain label beside it.
Keeping the Record Useful Over Time
Take the colony photograph the same way each time, at the feeding area with the lights fully on, and file it under the batch code it belongs to rather than in a general camera roll. When a batch line is sold, given away, or moved to another tank, write that destination against the batch code on the day it happens, so the record shows where a generation went as well as where it came from. Review the labels monthly while you feed, and correct a doubtful link by downgrading it to mixed rather than defending it. Stored in KinsLe, the Pet Passport gives each batch a permanent page of its own, preserving where every generation came from through tank moves, new notebooks, or a change of keeper.