Bad Advise On Mouthbrooders?!

[fishyfreak]

I remember physically removing fry from the mother's mouth. After about 2 weeks I would remove the female from the community tank, hold her over a half filled plastic container, open her mouth with a toothpick and dip her head in and out of the water forcing her to spit the eggs. At this point the fry are still absorbing their sack (egg) but always survived in a separate tank or a floating tank. lol...wow, I cringe just thinking about that now, it definately sounds like the wrong thing to do, as you have to handle her which would put a lot of stress on her. I did that because that's what the breeders taught me 15 years ago

 

[darrel69]

Aww... with a toothpick !?!? never heard of that before. It makes me cringe reading it... I cant handle a fish to try and vent it never mind releasing fry lol !! I thought just handleing a fish would make it spit fry ?? Not having to prise its mouth open ??

 

[kribensis12]

It's called "Striping"( i think!). Many big time breeders do it to ensure that they get all the babies from the mother, and sometimes the females can starve to death when they are brooding, so it is better for their health. It is quite stressful, but can be better for the fish( dotn quote me on that ).

 

[kj23502]

It's called "Striping"( i think!). Many big time breeders do it to ensure that they get all the babies from the mother, and sometimes the females can starve to death when they are brooding, so it is better for their health. It is quite stressful, but can be better for the fish( dotn quote me on that ).

Yep, it's called striping. Here's something from the cichlid forum:
"You can strip the fry from the female. This involves catching the female and transferring her to a bucket half full of her own tank water. With her in the bucket, gently hold her in your palm under the water. Make sure you do not cover her gill plates so she can still breath. Using either your fingernail or a fine tool like a toothpick or pencil, gently pry her mouth open by pressing on her lower lip. This will allow the fry to escape out of the mouth and into the bucket. You can check if most of the fry are out of the female's cavity by lifting her out of the water and looking in her mouth. A strong light may help to see better. After the fry are stripped, you can return the female to the main tank or to a recovery tank. Stripping is best done after the female has held for at least 2 weeks. That way the eggs have hatched and the fry are mature enough to take easy care of. You can either transfer the fry into their own tank or into a breeder cage to raise up until they are large enough to release into another tank. Stripping fry is often useful when a female is immature and known to spit prematurely or just does not hold to full term regardless of age. Stripping also ensures that the fry do not get eaten by either the female or other tank mates.

Here they talk about striping the fertilized eggs and putting them in a tumbler.
"A final method is to strip the eggs from the female after they have been fertilized. This method requires that you artificially incubate the eggs in an egg tumbler. This device aerates the eggs so that they hatch properly. Stripping the eggs is done the same way as stripping the fry, but done as soon as the mating ritual is complete and the female has a mouth full of eggs. This method tends to result in the most fry when done properly. It is useful when the female is known to spit prematurely or swallow her eggs. The eggs in the tumbler typically hatch within a week and are well developed fry before the 3rd week is up. "

Hope that helps. I don't think I'll be striping my females. I might move them to another tank and let them spit naturally. I haven't crossed that bridge just yet, but I'll see.

 

[TwoTankAmin]

The only african fish I have ever kept was a mouth brooder- P. Nicholsi. After watching mom eat the entire brood within 2 days of spitting them on her own, the next spawn i took matters into my own hands. However, I did not do anything like what is described above. I had a bucket with a mix of tank and new water ready and then I netted the fm. I placed the net with the mom in the bucket water and then raised the net untim the mom was over 1/2 out of the water and she began releaseing the fry. By moving the net up and down slightly so she was almost submerged and then almost completely out of the water, she spat ever single fry. From there it was easy to move her to another tank and put the fry back into the empty breeding tank which was then a growout tank.

 

[chishnfips]

yip its called stripping, I did it twice with two of my fish and to be honest I think it was more stressful for me lol, but nothing wrong with it if you want the fry to survive. The females health can totally dwindle while she is holding as soon as I stripped them she started eating again.

 

[fishyfreak]

Good to hear your thoughts on this, guess it wasn't all that bad advice after all. I've stripped a number of fish in the past and you're right, it was probably harder on me than the fish, and much safer for the fry, I did get lots of fry out of using this method. Thanks for your response.

 

[darrel69]

The only african fish I have ever kept was a mouth brooder- P. Nicholsi. After watching mom eat the entire brood within 2 days of spitting them on her own, the next spawn i took matters into my own hands. However, I did not do anything like what is described above. I had a bucket with a mix of tank and new water ready and then I netted the fm. I placed the net with the mom in the bucket water and then raised the net untim the mom was over 1/2 out of the water and she began releaseing the fry. By moving the net up and down slightly so she was almost submerged and then almost completely out of the water, she spat ever single fry. From there it was easy to move her to another tank and put the fry back into the empty breeding tank which was then a growout tank.

That sounds easy enougth with less hassle and awkwardness.

 

[australia]

i let the female always spit the babies out, as soon as she does i remove her

 

[dogboy]

i let my females spit naurally in separate tanks, leave them in for a few days after they spit to recover and then back into the breeding tank.

the only time i have ever stripped a female was after she got caught in a faulty filter inlet and i thought she was going to die. she had been holding about a week so i stripped the fry which still had large egg sacs and hastily made a tumbler for them. mum and fry all did well. but i agree it was stressfull to do