Through the U.S. Marine Shrimp Farming Program, the Oceanic Institute has established a breeding program where Pacific white shrimp Litopenaeus vannamei are selected for rapid growth and resistance to Taura Syndrome Virus. Until recently, OI produced maternal half-sib families by mating one female with two different males within a 2wk spawning period. The artificial insemination (AI) technique used to produce these families relied on the removal of both spermatophores from a single male and the application of the spermatophores over the thelycum of a ripe female. The female was then placed in a spawning tank where fertilized eggs were liberated. If a previously inseminated female developed ripe ovaries before the 2-wk period elapsed, she was inseminated again with spermatophores from a different male. In an effort to maximize the number of half-sib families and reduce the time that families are produced, a different AI technique was used to produce paternal half-sib families. With this technique, each of the two spermatophores from a single male was manually extruded and placed on the thelycum of two different females. This later technique resulted in a significantly higher (P < 0.001) spawning success (84% vs 58%) and females produced significantly more (P < 0.001) viable nauplii per spawn (24,400 nauplii vs 8,500 nauplii). Importantly, the time to produce selected families was reduced from 14 d to 9 d, and the number of half-sib families increased. These improvements have significant implications for a selective breeding program