Recommendations:

1. The initial stock should come from at least three pairs.  The

    number of breeders in each generation should be the maximum

    your facilities allow.  Stability of the strain should be maintained.

    A picture or preserved specimen from your initial stock is a good

    idea.

2. Care must be taken that the registered fish has not been unknowingly

    hybridized.  To avoid the future chance of hybridization, no two

    species within the same family (i.e. Cichlidae, Goodeidae, etc.) should

    be housed in the same room.  At the least, fish of the same genus 

    should be kept in tanks on the other side of the room and never in

    tanks above the S.M.P. fish.

3. Destroy deformed fish.  If you can, cull the parents of the deformed

    fish.  Only if you are maintaining a domestic variety should you select

    for an idealized phenotype.

4. Breeders should be selected through a random draw, not a random

    netting.  One method is to separate breeders into numbered containers.

    Each gets a slip of paper with its number in a hat.  The aquarist draws

    until the desired number of males and females is reached.

5. Introducing new fish from the wild may bring a new trait that is a

    problem or conversely improve the genetic diversity. You as a

    skilled aquarist will have to weigh the options.  Wild caught fish do

    make a good starting point.  An effort could be made to exchange

    stock with another aquarist every five generations.  Again there are

    advantages and disadvantages similar to adding the wild stock.  If

    your fish are not doing as well as they used to, you may want to 

    seek out another person in the S.M.P. for additional stock.